If that's so, then that would relieve me greatly, yes.

When talking about webnovels that are 'not traced to professional publishers' (whether print or online organizations), are we talking about some total amateurs who may have merely posted their own unedited, unreviewed novel on their personal blog or something? Or are we talking about something else? Maybe some clarity would help here.

I agree with you about the need to change things to preserve a certain quality standard. And it's true, everyone and their mom can publish web novels and doujins of varying quality nowadays. In only allowing those officially published/sold on MU we can uphold these principles. But we can't deny the fact that specifically web novels are very popular in Japan/Korea/China, and that by listing them on MU so far we helped spread that popularity in the English speaking community. We shouldn't just abandon that by changing policies now; if anything, I'd prefer that we keep it the way it is. After all only here can you keep track of releases, aho-updates being only a fancy rss feed aggregator. It would be a big blow. Adding filter options would be preferable.

MU has been here for a long time to help us pursue (one of) our interests, but now its users and their interests have changed. This has always been a community site, and I hope it will continue to be. I know that this change would benefit the quality standards we set for ourselves, but at what cost? In my opinion, it's the difference between technology adapting to our needs and us adapting to our technology.

Just some food for thought: What if a novel without relation to manga/manhwa/manhua gained popularity and got a manga adaption, possibly even one we purged from MU? Wouldn't it have to be readded then? Would that be worth the hassle?

________________
(ㆁωㆁ*)

Seeing how baka-updates currently have 2 websites, one for anime and one for manga, how about making a third one for light novels and web novels seeing how popular they are getting.

You... haven't read many (any?) webcomics, have you? At the least, you've definitely never read any webtoons.



This just in: cclark777 does not like rape or yaoi! Therefore, any material containing elements of rape and/or yaoi should be removed so as not to interfere with his/her MU experience!

Do you even realize how moronic that sounds? This is a discussion on how to better streamline the site, not to censor Things I Don't Like (TM). Plenty of people enjoy reading stories with rape and/or yaoi in them, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

As to the actual discussion, I agree with the suggestion of an option to filter out novels, similar to doujinshi. I personally don't care for light novels, but they are irrefutably an important part of manga culture, and removing them entirely would be highly inconvenient to those who do read and enjoy them. As for doujinshi, restricting it to published works might help ease the clutter if there is a lot of Pixiv stuff making its way in, but I don't read much doujinshi, much less track it, so I don't know how severe the issue is. And for webtoons, they absolutely MUST be kept. They are a growing industry and share many of their characteristics with traditional manhwa and manga, and I honestly can't understand why anyone would even think to remove them. I wouldn't object to drawing the line at officially published webtoons and rejecting anything from the Challenge League and similar, though.

________________


"Now, everything is... just..."

writer | librarian | critic

Yeah, it made the same point in my post already. Though I wonder if that increases the rate the owners of Baka-Updates have to pay per webpage being hosted. I hope not.

It only says that if it has a manga adaptation it won't be taken down. So most Chinese and Korean novels would be out. Only some Japanese (and very few Chinese/Korean) novels would survive. Even LN's are included in this, those that don't have Manga adaptation. So yes, not all novels would be taken down, just most of them.

________________

That's pretty much how I see it. If those works are allowed then even fanfiction should be allowed.

But of course, I'm hoping my understanding of the situation is correct and in line with the admins'.

It's pretty clear from the OP though that this purge is not about quality control, but about keeping MU a manga centric site.

________________

I'm guessing (and - believe me - hoping) that the admins will eventually relent and allow those to stay. The way I see it, the purpose of this move is to eliminate possible "grey area" in the definition of a "novel" (or "doujinshi"). The light novel category is very specific and not open to other definitions unlike those that can only be accessed online.

I said in my opinion. Not that it interfered with my MU experience. Everything is fine the way it is and it doesn't need to be changed.

Why a specific reference to webnovels, then?

Also, as a regular reader of doujinshi I can tell you that the proposed policy changes to doujinshi are exactly the ones for novels. MU simply wants to be consistent and fair with how it handles all media.

Just to clarify, I actually agree with the proposed changes to doujinshi. It's just less confusing that way.

... Which is why I agree that the same policy be applied to novels (and other media on MU). It's only fair.

No, read the OP again. It says "We will only be accepting novels that are directly related to existing manga, manhwa, or manhua (according to MU)".

By that definition, even an LN, which ofcourse would have been quality checked by a professional editor, would be taken down if it doesn't have a manga adaptation.

________________

This sounds terrible. I concur with making it a genre to filter.

I know. It also says "pending comments" and "feedback is welcome."

I guess the point I'm making is that users can make a very strong case for LNs (regardless of adaptation) and other similar novels. Almost a hundred comments in and only very few have pointed this out.

At the end of the day, though, I couldn't care less if the admins push through with these policies unamended. The fact remains that Manga-Updates is a free and non-essential service (and it is MANGA-Updates); that we are being asked for our opinions is already a big deal, and I am very disappointed that a lot of users are not handling the situation rationally.