I used to think Batoto was a good site to read manga (especially as you could choose between scanlations ...and the fact that you could see which translation it was).
It was great ...until recently.
Now I can get to a page for a manga ...and see the general info about the manga, as well as the comments, that people have made about it.
Everything ...except the actual manga.
No chapters.
No ability to read it.
...
WTF?

You need to register now, there were some announcement about it

https://bato.to/forums/topic/23683-batoto-becoming-registered-o nly/
https://bato.to/forums/topic/23703-moving-forward-upcoming-cha nges-and-schedules/

Now that registration is required, it's an even better site to read manga.

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Ah.
So when they say that you get access to more stuff, if you register, that's actually just a lie, and you actually you won't get access to anything, unless you register?

It would have been nice if they had announced that, somewhere other than just the forum, which most people, even most who are registered, don't read
...and made it clear, when you get to the page of some manga.


How so?

Also, how is it better for the people running the site?

Last edited by lambchopsil at 3:22 pm, Nov 15 2015

Odd I am able to access manga when I am signed out but I noticed you can only access the latest scanlations. What is the point for batoto to even do that.

Last edited by RS456 at 9:39 pm, Nov 14 2015

Well, I think you can still access the newly updated chapters without an account.

For me, speed + feedback.

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You could always go to batoto's thread topic about the change, in which they explain why they made their decision.

That would usually be the most logical place to check for information regarding changes to batoto.

For the manga where only latest chapter is shown, you can just click on it and once you get into the reader, you can change chapter.

Was about to say the same thing, it only shows most recent chapters unless you're signed in then you can see all of them; it doesn't make it so you can't read them, as they're still there just hidden except for in the drop down menu.
Another thing I noticed which is quite useful is that they now gray out what you've opened which besides the title name using it to see if you've read something recently or not is pretty cool if you're the type who doesn't keep track.
If anyone is really worried about it just make an account and sign in, shouldn't take more than a minute.


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Well that's because the links to those chapters, are visible from the front page.
You can still read everything, without an account ...you just can't get a link to where you might read it.
I'm reading a manga on batoto, right now, despite not having registered an account.


Well it took me a while to be able to access the thread (my internet connection is shit, at the moment. I've tried to contact my ISP, and they wanted me to do some tests and send them the results ...but I can't download the testing program... I'll have to call them again, tomorrow)
They seem to have made the change to avoid being a source for other pages, where you can read manga online
...which makes no sense, whatsoever.

The change hardly makes it all that harder, for such sites to use batoto as a source.
It's just something that requires a slight adjustment, and a very slight amount of extra effort. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
Do these people not understand how computers work?
...or how the internet works?

All it does, is make batoto a lot less accessible, for people wanting to read on batoto.
It creates a significant hurdle for casual readers (and practically none, for the people who grab manga from batoto), making most of them not bother, and going to other sites instead.
This means a great loss for the people behind batoto.
...with no commensurate benefit.
No benefit at all, as far as I can see.
Not for batoto, not for the scanlator and, most certainly, not for the readers.

Heck, this may well be the beginning of the end, for batoto (which would be too bad, as they are really good, being the only place where you can read different scanlations, for the same chapter, rather than just the first one that got uploaded)

On most sites, you wouldn't need to, as such a large change would be properly announced, at least on the front page, if nothing else. (with more detail in the forum, perhaps, but...)
They way they've failed to properly announce their change, makes them look very incompetent and unprofessional.


Speed?
Probably a bit, sure, but unless you're using an old 56k modem, or something, that shouldn't really be an issue.
It's a manga site, not an anime one.

As for feedback... How?

Last edited by lambchopsil at 3:23 pm, Nov 15 2015

I'll take any improvement in speed. Batoto used to be painfully slow, and I'm a fast reader. Plus I don't even use it to read, but I often need to scroll through pages quickly to find something I need (e.g. in case of flashbacks). As for feedback, forcing previously invisible leechers to register causes some of them to add to comments and follows, making scanlation more interesting for me.

You seem to think this is somehow bad for Batoto, but the details of how this would help Batoto were explained by grumpy in the thread you were pointed to. I'm going to trust that he did the required cost benefit analysis. Also, the announcement was on the front page for several days, that's how everyone but you knows about it. If you missed it, it doesn't give you the right to call people "incompetent and unprofessional".

Also, if you're pissed that it's become inconvenient for you, as far as I'm concerned, people who silently leech are useless to the community, and their convenience or lack thereof doesn't matter. There is no difference to me between 10000 silent leechers and 10 silent leechers.

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Apparently you didn't read the thread correctly, they are well aware that they will quite probably keep being a source for others.
The real problem was the automated part of it (aka "crawling"). Many sites had implemented automatic bots that would check Batoto nonstop to see if new chapters were available.
It might not be that big of a deal to you, but this created a great load on the servers, and those cost money. Just imagine one bot checking ALL mangas on batoto for new releases every five minutes, then imagine that theres not one bot, but many, one for each aggregator.

On the side of the results, Grumpy (the main administrator) has stated a decrease of 30% of the load on the servers, and only a slight decrease in popularity of the site...

Fair enough, I guess...

Leechers?
The people whom batoto rely on, to get the money that allows them to operate the site, you mean?

If you get tons of visitors, you'll get some of those who register.
If you barely get any visitors, the amount who bother to register...
Yeah, you're not really making a convincing argument.

That's not nearly enough.
Batoto is not a site, whose front page, you'd generally visit.
How often do people see the front page of Wikipedia (for example)?
Almost never.
Does Wikipedia restrict their announcements of big changes, to their front page?
No.

Then you are clearly unqualified, to speak about this subject.



...
I was not talking about how they might manually download the individual pages, from batoto.
I was specifically talking about automated downloading, from batoto.
I found this so obvious, that I didn't think it needed to be mentioned.

The change to batoto, does not cause any significant problem, for automated downloading, of the manga on batoto.

...until the other sites adjust, accordingly.
Which is fairly easily done.

For now.
The change hasn't been in effect, for that long, and some people might not have realised the change (since, if they are in the middle of reading, they can still read. It's just when they want to read something else, that they'll notice the lack of links)

Last edited by lambchopsil at 10:57 pm, Nov 15 2015

It seems I was given a warning for making a double post (WTF? When? Where?)
As I see no point in responding to a bot (it's not like I'd get a response), I will respond here, due to a lack of a better alternative:
Where/how/when have I made a double post?
What the heck do you mean? What are you talking about?

Edit: I just checked the forum rules.
I have not broken a single one of them, in any way, whatsoever.
Certainly not the the double post one, that I was accused of breaking (maybe the mod in question, doesn't understand what a double post is?)
Granted, I may not be following the "Respect the mods!!" rule, all that much, with this post, but...
I don't care what you may do, as a consequence, even if it were to go as far as a permanent ban:
I cannot possibly respect such obvious and unambiguous slander.
Such complete disregard for truth, is simply not something I am capable of tolerating.
A misunderstanding or something, would be one thing, but...

I have not made any double posts.
All my posts have been separate and distinct.
There were none that are even particularly similar to each other.
All of them have different content, responding to different posts, by different people.

If you're going to accuse me of breaking a forum rule, then that rule needs to exist, and state a thing that I have genuinely gone against.
If it isn't and I haven't, then you are wrong. You are just plain wrong.

If you wish to warn me, because you simply don't like how/what I post, regardless of what the rules say, that's a different matter.
It'd be worse, but...

Edit2: It's not often that something on an internet discussion, makes me angry...

Last edited by zarlan at 6:26 pm, Nov 15 2015