New here, just wanting to know how mangaupdates finds out these new manga releases so fast! I have the "New Releases" section bookmarked so I can hit refresh whenever a new manga's released. Is the stuff reported, or is there some other method?

Nowadays most things are reported. We check websites and irc topics of popular channels on a regular basis as well. You just have to be dedicated! Thankfully we've got a lot of dedicated individuals helping out who are also involved in the scanlation community.

Or just think we're gods!

Maybe I'll just go down the list of what each admin focuses on...

Manick
The god of us all. It's thanks to him for all those great features and even some secret admin-only ones~ Nowadays, he leaves all the searching to the rest of us and sits on the "approve" button. Part of it is that he doesn't have a lot of time anymore...I guess you could say he's already done a lot and deserves a little slack.

mellowmut
An all-around kind of guy who's also very lazy (at least right now...) Avoids yaoi like the plague...(was it also yuri? Can't remember..) A lot of the stuff he does is summed up by pressing the "approve" button~ (You know it, mellow~)

lambchopsil
Me~
My main thing is all those new releases. I have contributed the most releases to this site (over 6000, seconded by Manick's 4500+). I do my share of the other stuff, but I say leave it up to the experts~

Yamikumo
A lot of what Yamikumo does it updating series information and adding new ones. Yamikumo also has added his very nice share of releases (1000+). Only problem I have with Yamikumo is that he doesn't talk to the rest of us a lot...

faye
Yaoi, enough said. faye specializes in anything about yaoi~

KingFish
All KingFish usually does is be involved with his groups, including Adachi-Manga. Of course, we sometimes beat him to the punch and add his own group's release before he does~ He also has his own distro site. If you haven't visited it yet: http://www.blubbblubb.net/manga/

Hostile
Not much I can say about Hostile. He does everything...I just get pissed when he adds the Negima releases.

carthae
The other admin that focuses on all yaoi, all the time. Ok, fine, carthae does other stuff once in a while, but it's mostly yaoi.

strawberrie
Not much that I know about strawberrie. Used to be a lot more active, but I guess real life is kicking you around. Still around, don't get me wrong.

Everyone else isn't important~ (and I just don't have a lot of info on you...)

A just ruler amongst tyrants