Don't see anyone talking about this so I thought I'd bring it up.

I've had my eye on Mangalator/Raffmanga (M/R for convenience's sake) for a few days now, ever since this lovely discussion (bring popcorn) was created. Interestingly enough, the creator of M/R stopped posting raws on Mangalator the day that topic was created, though Raffmanga continued to update with the newest raws, though no new raws were actually posted.

And then a few days later, bam. Both M/R sites are down. I've been checking both sites for the best part of a year, and it's the first time they've been down for so long. My guess is the exposure Mangaupdates brought to M/R likely had someone file a DMCA complaint against them. Maybe it's just scheduled downtime, maybe not.

Honestly don't know whether this is good or bad. On the one hand it's nice to get raws early, but on the other hand it's killing shoujo scanlation (since the bulk of scans on that site are shoujo), and you can't tell whether the translation you're reading is half-assed or not (if you don't understand Japanese, that is).

Last edited by CharlotteDF at 2:41 pm, Jul 14 2015

Yes, I've noticed along with a few of my manga comrades that the site has been down for almost a few days... I'm going to be sad to see it go (if it is something bad), but I guess we will be better off...I think?

But it could also be down because of the "high traffic" that has been pouring through, so maybe they are fixing it? Who knows...only the creators can tell us the truth...

If you go on Raff Manga's Facebook page, you'll see that they said that they are currently trying to fix both sites. I don't know if it's detrimental, but they haven't vanish in the middle of the night and are currently working on it.

Edit: Well, it seems like a copyright issue, not sure how this will end: Number 83

Last edited by Cherelle Ashlee at 6:34 pm, Jul 15 2015

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Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero need her theme music...

*sigh* this is why I didn't want Mangalator to be posted in MU, since MU has considered it an official scanlation team, that might make the site more vulnerable to copyright stuff with its increasing popularity.

Anyway Moderators, can't we please have a poll to decide whether ML should be considered as a scanlation team? That way leechers and those involved in scanlation team have an equal chance to vote whether to treat ML as a scanlation team or not.

Ugh, this is terrible. Granted, I rarely read shoujo anymore, but the ones that I do still read have mostly been translated on Raffmanga. I mean seriously, where else can I go to read a series when the scanlations are six volumes behind and the last scanlation was over a year ago? Even the most popular of shoujo stories don't see scanlation completion nowadays. I always lamented the fact that you couldn't download or keep a digital version of the translations because I knew it was going to come down sooner or later. If they get their site back up, I'm going straight to my favorite series and transcribing all the translations. Raws are easy to find, the translations are invaluable.

Chilling Effects is Google's DMCA transparency tool; which means it's for their services only. It has nothing to do with the downtime of Raffmanga.
This doesn't mean it is about copyright issues, just that Chilling Effects can't be used as proof.
I would be more worried about mangaupdates being on that list than anything else.

My guess is that the server couldn't handle the pressure.

You should check the actual dates on both facebook and chillingeffects: They're outdated.

I suppose the traffic became too much to handle.

Last edited by Himmelsfeder at 4:44 am, Jul 16 2015

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I'm not sure if I wanna do this

I agree, it's the only site for many of us to read on because shoujo and josei are extremely far behind on regular scanalation sites. I love the sites, sometimes the translations are poor but many times they are good and many times there are multiple translations so you can pick the best one.

I'm not sure what's going on with the website as for some other people, Raffmanga and Mangalator has been down for them since June. Someone on their facebook page posted the link to Chilling Effects as their name was on the list, so I said it "seems" like a copy right issue, not that it was.

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Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero need her theme music...

If it's a DMCA issue, they should try making the site private with access through registration only. Maybe ban Japanese IP addresses too.

Publishers don't care much for English scans hosted online, but the Japanese raws are a thorn in their side.

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I'm kinda glad it's gone personally. Now if only 'real' scanlation groups will pick back up all those series that got dropped due to Mangalator and Raffmanga.

Ah, so that's why I haven't been able to access the sites lately..

I liked to read the raw scans from that site. Though I was never really interested to become a translator, I do understand the appeal some people may have for the concept.

Looks like it's back under Otakumole.ch

Don't know what to think >.>

Don't think anything.. it's a waste.
Don't like it, don't visit it. Simple as that.

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Raffmanga and Mangalator are now back in action. You can read what happened on Raffmanga. Apparently the "OtakuMole and Mrs. Earthworm" story which she posted on Otakumole for awhile was drawn by her father based on the reactions of the many people who were missing the site.