this time I want to talk about the usage and the purpose of Watermarks.
Recently I'm noticing watermarks nearly everywhere, be it on scans or be it on raws. And everytime I see them I'm asking myself "Who gave those teams/providers the right to stamp other peoples work with their own watermarks!?"
Scanlation-Teams who commonly put Watermarks on their scans now would say "because we've put effort in it and don't want anybody to alter it".
RAW-Providers who commonly put watermarks on their raws would say "because we've bought the magazines and took the risk to distribute them in the internet".
As for the Scanlation-Teams
Yes I agree with you. It's hard to clean and it takes a lot of time to get a HQ-Scan ready. But your amount of work is nothing in comparison with the one of the author and his assistents. It only takes you at most 10 (at least 4 to 5) hours to get a 17-20 HQ Scans ready. But the author's team needs a whole week to accomplish a single chapter.
But still you're putting watermarks on your scans marking it as your own's.
Definiton of watermark: People generally put a watermark on a picture to acknowledge the creator and because they don't want the images to be altered or used without permission.
Now you'd say: "There you are! That's exactly the reason why we do so." But you slightly got something wrong there.You're putting your watermarks AFTER you've altered the pages. So you're a not the ones who acknowledge the creator through watermarks but the ones who alter and use his work without permission.
But don't misunderstand this as well. Scanlating means plagiarism and thereby it's illegal. So you got no right to use watermarks in the first place.
As for the RAW-Providers
Yes I agree. It's expensive to spend about 5$ (or 500¥) every week for each magazine. And sure, it's risky to scan them for distributing via i-net. But don't forget, only buying the magazine is a far cry from having the right to distribute it in any way. And it doesn't matter how risky it is. A crime, how risky it may be, remains a crime. Above that it's either your intellectual property nor you'r holding the licenses of it. So you got no right to watermark the pages with your own emblem or url or whatever.
To say it clear: Watermarks are answering the purpose to protect the author's wish for not altering or using his work without permission.
That means if you're not the creator, then you've no right to use watermarks on your scans or raws.
If Teams or RAW-Providers put watermarks on their scans/raws, then it's only for one purpose: Glory, Courtesy and Webfame. And all three of them should be solely assigned to the creator and his assistents.
If you still want to watermark your scans/raws so badly, don't use a mark wich benefits yourselves but the creator or/and publisher.
Concluding I want to show you a statement of a RAW-Provider I've read on his website:
Also, all my raws will henceforth be watermarked from here on out. Since nobody seems to want to hear me out as far as my policy on rehosting goes, they’ve ruined it for everybody!
You want to complain? Talk to Raw-Bunko. They’re the new Raw Paradise who’ve been stealing my work.
In response of something like that i'd say:
Do you mean only "Raw-Bunko" by saying "nobody seems to want to hear me out"?
I'm asking because it appears that you only searched for a reason for watermarking your raws and now you finally found one. (correct me if i'm wrong but please don't lie to us)
Besides that it seems that you're happy about ruining it for all the others who've respected your policy or how's that smiley over there to be interpreted? It feels like you're mocking the ones who always respected your policy. If you want respect show respect towards others first.
Beyond that i don't think they were stealing "your" work. It's not your work in the first place. Buying the magazine is a far cry from having the right to distribute the chapters via i-net. So they didn't steal "your" work but the work of the mangaka wich you've distributed illegaly before.
That's how it goes, folks.
Best regards,
Al~
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