Please access a compiled list of all existing sidebar related proposals on:
This Google Docs Page.
Please place your suggestions there, so we can keep better track of everything. Do not repeat points, and keep it concise.
Please do not discuss the suggestions on the Google Doc. The Google Doc is for short points only. Add your feedback and comments to this thread.
NOTE: Cloud has hijacked Kira's post. Sorry! @____@ Read Kira's original post below this line:
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TL;DR at the bottom for the ones that are too lazy to read this.
Since the beginning of the year, around 35-37 novels have been added to the sidebar. That's a lot. Obviously, it is always better for BT and for the community to have more novels to read, but the sidebar might grow more and more unorganized. A few changes would be for the best, I think.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Add a separate category or page for stalled projects.
Considering that many stop being updated after the one and only translator stops working on it, I believe we could bring some changes. Some projects have been stalled for a very long time. 7 Nights, for instance, has been stalled since 2009. I think it is pretty safe to say that the project is dead. Hence, we can either create a new category in the sidebar called "Stalled", between the "Light Novels" category and the "Visual Novels" one, or create a separate page called "Inactive Projects" between "Pending Projects" and "Teaser Projects" that lists them all. This should differentiate active and inactive projects while reducing the size of the list of novels that are getting regular updates.
If a project should brought back from its tomb, it should follow the same procedure as the promotion of a teaser into an official project. It would require the equivalent of 2 chapters to become active once more.
2. Add a separate category for completed projects.
BT never had to deal with this in the past, since, unfortunately, not a lot of projects get finished (I can only think of Toradora and F/Z). However, there has been many single-volume LNs like Iris on Rainy Days or Gekkou, and even more or less big series, such as Oreimo and probably Baka-Test, that will get translated entirely. By the end of next year, I think we could get about 8-10 series under that category, so I don't see why we can't create this category. Again, it would reduce the current big "Light Novels" list and make it more organized than it is.
3. Add a separate category or page for hosted projects.
There weren't a lot of LN translation websites back when BT was created. But since then, there have been some groups such as CE and ND that bring a fair bunch of novels to the LN community. So if they want, they could list their projects in a page called "Hosted projects", which would be place right between the "Teaser Projects" and "Categories" in the sidebar. It would kinda be a list of novels like this:
- Novel Title+Cover illustration
- Translation group+Link to the project page
- Summary
For the projects that have a version hosted directly on BT, they don't have to be listed since they are pretty much the same as a solo translator with automatic text lock.
For projects that are fully hosted on another website, this becomes handy since there's no need to create a project page on BT to advertise their series.
For the hybrid projects that are both being worked on by both BT members and other groups' people, it will be treated the same way as right now.
4. Raise the standards for a project to become an official one
We should raise the standards for a teaser. Not every translator will be dedicated and translate 3-4 volumes within a whole year, and that's pretty obvious. Some will come, translate a bit, leave after a few chapters. That's how in the current LN list, there are so many series with about half of a volume done and hanging there. Instead of 1 prologue+1 chapter, I suggest we raise the minimum to 3 chapters or half of a volume, whichever is shorter. Of course, we're talking about half of a normal volume, not some 1000-page Horizon one. While I do know that for new project starters, this might not sound very fun, it is not that unreasonable.
I do think there are also bad sides to my proposals, though it wouldn't hurt to consider them IMO.
TL;DR:
Official project standards should raised and new changes could be made to the current sidebar format:
Preview of the new sidebar suggested:
P-S: Guys, please don't quote the whole thing if you want to reply.Project Presentation
Recent changes
Alt. Languages
Pending Projects
Stalled Projects
Teaser Projects
Hosted Projects
Categories
Network
Active LNs
Completed LNs
Visual Novels
...........