Board Thread:Wikia Discussion/@comment-26091666-20180918153805/@comment-26091666-20180929053856

The translation problems are almost non-existent considering how most of the English KC Wikia are offered in both Japanese and English. That said however, for combat rules and such whereby it is in English is where translators are more or less needed and/or where collaboration with a Japanese wiki, say for instance with Kouryaku wiki (wikiwiki.jp/kancolle) would be ideal. Then again having said that would make wikiwiki.jp/kancolle rather redundant if in the case of having reliable information being available on the Japanese version of KC Wikia. An alternative to that approach (presuming if we were to arrive at that bridge and to cross it) would be to have the information on their own Kouryaku wiki instead unless the information contains questionable content/sources that Kouryaku wiki cannot accept. Again this is hypothetical.

Yes the information is pertaining to any sort of official media that is coming from C2 themselves but no it won't necessarily hamper their sales. In the case of images, there are several unofficial KanColle artwork that are floating around which by having them available on notably foreign websites (danbooru is yet another prime example, thinking of it), these may be acceptable to the point that unless the illustrators/authors wishes to have such artworks to be removed they may be allowed to remain. When it comes to official media such as even C2 endorsed contents by via their own twitter and having it being made available in the game. These are technically freely accessible to anyone and doesn't necessarily infringe on a widely acceptable rule of publishing contents that are for non-profit purposes, and in which the niche case specifically pertaining to the likes of English KC Wikia this applies.

Now with the case of audio files, the majority of these are again freely accessible from the KC servers themselves and are not complete copies of the actual said music. You may have noticed that some events for instance features a short version of the music and/or the music played the in-game jukebox is an incomplete version of the said music. A recent example is 月夜海 or Tsukiyomi where on English KC wikia I personally have not seen a full copy of the said music is actually published on the page itself and is hosted by FANDOM themselves. There are however, users linking up Youtube videos containing possibly complete and/or extended versions of certain music but again, these are not hosted by FANDOM themselves and thus are not considered to be content that English KC wikia officially endorses.

In the case of voice lines that one can hear during their Kancolle gameplay are again freely accessible from the servers themselves. On one hand these are definitely proprietary content but on the other hand KC Wikia for instance, itself is essentially a non-profit group even if their backend provider generates revenues through advertisement streams. If one were to hypothetically dispute this case they need to question FANDOM themselves directly as KC Wikia is comprised of volunteers sharing proprietary content but are not selling them for any sort of profit to their end. A relatively similar example comes to mind are the wake-up alarm "ringtones" that one can use instead of whatever they use. Examining this case minutely, yes it is a paid content from a specific volume of Comptiq (in terms of release) but again these files alone are not available on a page itself in KC Wikia. It may be available as a page comment (similarly like here in threads on forum) either in part or in whole but again, this is not an "officially endorsed" content by KC Wikia themselves and thus would be a direct violation of copyright laws.

I could personally go into detail and explain the process with videos/movies and such whilst comparing with what is available on KC Wikia but I can assure you (and anyone else concerned) that this would warrant at least another paragraph of explanation and where KC Wikia stands. In short, KC Wikia isn't in direct violation of distributing copyrighted material. Not in the very least that the editors and contributors to KC Wikia themselves are making any sort of profit from distributing the said contents.

Looking at this from another perspective. The majority of these contents exists (on KC Wikia that is) lies in the purpose of making the explanations potentially easier for readers to understand. Undeniably, Kancolle is a Japanese game and therefore the contents are in mostly Japanese which to most foreigners who aren't familiar with Japanese have difficulties understanding how to play the game let alone being able to "succeed" in the game. In the past, foreigners playing a game written in another language would have had to resort to walkthrough and guides written in a language they can accept or understand and in most cases it is English. The problem with that approach is that the readers are faced with a "wall of text" which is no different to me writing out an "assignment" worth of explanations. With that in mind, it would potentially bore the readers as you can readily witness gamers these days are not keen on reading lengthy amounts of explanations in order play a game "properly". A good example of these are smartphones, you don't readily see users would love to take their time reading through a thick and thorough user manual on how to operate a smartphone and what not but instead a simple quick guide to getting started. Even with a simple quick guide let alone a simplified user manual would contain only text and no images of any sort. So instead, the use of media is not only to make explanations easier but also to compliment with the description that one needs to understand.

In the case of Kouryaku wiki, they do not use much of the said media simply because:
 * It is written in Japanese and it goes hand in hand with Kancolle being a Japanese game and with contents mostly in Japanese,
 * It is to avoid potential copyright issues should C2 clamp down on such use of their own assets.

However, in the case of English KC Wikia because not many can understand Japanese this is where having it translated into English and/or to have media enhancing the contents of a said page on even a website for instance makes it easier for non-Japanese readers alike to have a somewhat equal footing to the Japanese themselves. Without making use of any of the said assets hence media would indirectly turn down readership and thus make the game harsh towards foreigners. This is essentially where a fine line/balance needs to be struck between what is deemed acceptable and what isn't (acceptable).

Coupling this with what is essentially a wiki, by definition a wiki can also be seen as an encyclopaedic reference to the said content. Now, if a wiki were to forgo all form of media that is seen as proprietary (and thus incompatible with it being re-distributed) it would make any walkthrough/guides substantially more complicated to foreigners. Again this is where KC Wikia stands with in terms of what is acceptable (for reference purposes) versus what isn't and what isn't are none other than condoning piracy which would not only bode well with FANDOM but also US Copyright laws.

I am not a lawyer nor my profession lies in laws but it is relatively easy to understand the fine line where the likes of KC Wikia are treading on. Therefore the explanations above are of my own personal and non-lawyer perspective on the what I would like to term it as the "fair-use" of the said content.

As for the relations between English KC community and Japanese KC community, that is understandable actually. Just as there are issues in Japanese KC community it is not like English KC community is completely immune to fundamental differences in opinions on certain matters. At the end of the day, we are all humans, no two are born alike and therefore everyone has their own opinion/approach to certain things. The same could be said as well to Chinese KC community and any other KC communities in their own respective languages. As for having malignant person or people damaging the relations within the newly formed bonds, this is also expected and for now there are no immediate plans to force Japanese to collaborate with us (English KC Wikia in the very least). Same goes with a continued observation of what is happening in the Japanese KC community rather than being oblivious. I would also like to state that even though this is technically the second time Japanese KC community has faced a fiasco but it is not like English KC community never had issues with collaboration. Even internally, there are disputes and varying stances amongst ourselves and these issues I personally deem are on-going even if publicly it is not as evident as it may seem. This is where I would love to re-emphasising that as a result of the fiasco/differences in approach, I don't personally intend to force collaborations whilst feigning complete ignorance to the underlying issue but rather to seek for a workaround solution if the collaborators are wishing to forge ahead with creating new ties. At the end of the day, these are all negotiable provided that a mutual understanding can be readily acknowledged between two or more parties.

It isn't necessarily just a simple matter with language barrier for Japanese themselves but rather it is a complex problem which consists of language barrier issue. For them, they have their own traditions and customs in addition to their own rules and regulations. These indirectly forms as part of how they "should" behave and how they shouldn't behave along with how their approach to certain things would be seen as different to the west for instance. Furthermore, in their own respective communities they do not generally allow such deviations from their typical approach or otherwise they may be shunned by their own fellow members of the community. This is a complicated matter that is woven very tightly and that a simple "language barrier" issue is just a mere facade to their underlying (and potentially) fundamentally different ideologies.

With the topic about how there is an event within KC itself, it is true that there are potentially Japanese visitors or at least visitors with a Japanese IP addresses visiting KC Wikia to learn about the information gathered by others or to otherwise comment about KC Wikia and their different approach to things (in other words, potentially "memeing"). Again it is undeniable that most Japanese may not understand English well enough, as well this part I understand from hearing a Japanese living in America explaining the situation, to the point that it warrants an essay long worth of explanation. I won't go explaining that as it is somewhat irrelevant for now. What I do want to say is that it is unlikely a Japanese will be wanting to visit English KC Wikia in order to obtain potentially pirated contents free of charge. In most cases, they would rather be wanting to focus on getting the event done in addition to dealing with their daily routines, not to mention that Japan herself is being battered with natural disasters in real life. That said, there are no real pirated contents on KC Wikia that is officially sponsored by the editors/contributors themselves on the actual page itself.

Originally, the intentions (from what I can gather) with Kensho wikia (ja.kancolle.wikia.com) was to create a full-fledged walkthrough wiki basing on how English KC Wikia is formed. With that in mind, it was understandable in the very least this would not only help Japanese themselves avoid the language barrier but to also potentially evade the complicated matter surrounding the laws and customs. The latter unfortunately, is a very complicated matter and without say for instance a Japanese lawyer able to address the issue legally, it will remain disputed and unanswered.