theOtaku vs. AnimeFF / OB vs. theOtaku?

[Shy]

[size=1]Adam, this site's founder, has recently suspended all anime news coverage on theOtaku.com[url=http://www.theotaku.com/news/view/theotaku_news_embargo/2113/] (link.)[/url] In case you weren't aware, our parent site is in the midst of a full-fledged war with the Anime Film Foundation (AFF) which may eventually in legal actions. The entire situation is very complicated, and may only get worse as time progresses. If ever there were a time for this community to show it's support of Adam and theOtaku.com, now would be it.

Anyway, that's not the whole point of this thread. This thread is to call into question why someone else hasn't started this thread already. myOtaku.com's community came to aid of Adam almost immediately. Meanwhile, I'm not sure anyone here but Panda or Kei were even aware of the situation.

theOtaku.com and OtakuBoards have never been united in anything, at least not in recent memory. Over the years the two sites have drifted apart, and it has gotten to the point where this connection has little meaning anymore. Just as we are so oblivious to the day-to-day happenings at our parent site, if James hadn't put so much work into OB already, it's likely that theOtaku.com wouldn't have a message board [i]at all[/i].

Where, if at all, does OB fit in under theOtaku's network of anime sites? Is calling the site 'OtakuBoards' simply a throwback to the early days, and what exactly does this disconnect mean for OB's somewhat-distant future?

Post your thoughts and stuff.

-Shy[/size]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR=DarkRed][quote name='Shy][size=1']Anyway, that's not the whole point of this thread. This thread is to call into question why someone else hasn't started this thread already. myOtaku.com's community came to aid of Adam almost immediately. Meanwhile, I'm not sure anyone here but Panda or Kei were even aware of the situation. [/size][/quote]I just have to laugh Shy since I literally just got through reading the articles over at theOtaku and sending Adam an e-mail with information I thought might help him. ;) And I?ve seen a number of members from here commenting over there so I know they are aware of the situation.

Personally I think the whole thing is pretty sad and sick that someone would use the gimmick of claiming they were going to donate the proceeds to charity only to take the money and run. And I can?t imagine that Adam would have posted such things if that were not the case.

I?m sure it was easy for him to verify with the breast cancer foundation that they never received the money in question. I sincerely hope that the persons responsible for this are brought to justice. [/COLOR]

[Boo]

[quote name='Shy][size=1']Anyway, that's not the whole point of this thread.[/size][/quote][size=1]I could not resist a little smile when I read the above post. :)

Anyway, I myself hardly ever visit theOtaku. It has a lot to do with the fact that I don't even like anime that much (no, I have no idea how I winded up here). There are more people on OtakuBoards who I know don't like anime, so I would imagine them not visiting theOtaku much either. Nor do I really visit myOtaku, for that matter. Only once in a year to act like I update it.

Well, it's not very obvious that OtakuBoards is the forum of some anime site. When I first came here, I only knew of these boards. It even took some time to find out there was a pretty big site attached to it. OtakuBoards is pretty complete on it's own, as far as I see it. I could imagine seeing the OtakuBoards seperate from theOtaku very well. The only connection between the twothat I deal with - from the OtakuBoards perspective that is - is the footer of the forums and the fact that they both have [b]Otaku[/b] in their url.

But I bet that experiences are different for people who are actually interested in reading about anime and the likes.[/size]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][quote name='Shy][size=1]Anyway, that's not the whole point of this thread. This thread is to call into question why someone else hasn't started this thread already. myOtaku.com's community came to aid of Adam almost immediately. Meanwhile, I'm not sure anyone here but Panda or Kei were even aware of the situation.[/size][/QUOTE]We know about it. ;) [QUOTE=Shy][size=1]theOtaku.com and OtakuBoards have never been united in anything, at least not in recent memory. Over the years the two sites have drifted apart, and it has gotten to the point where this connection has little meaning anymore. Just as we are so oblivious to the day-to-day happenings at our parent site, if James hadn't put so much work into OB already, it's likely that theOtaku.com wouldn't have a message board [i]at all[/i'].[/size][/quote]I haven?t been around long enough to know if the sites were ever deeply connected, I joined myO and immediately moved over to OB and didn?t become active at myO/theO until much later.

They are connected, but in the last year a lot of those connections have been disappearing, at least in terms of more tangible ones in that a lot of the links from theO leading to OB have been removed.

When I joined the connection was from my viewpoint pretty slim other than it was fun to see that members here had a blog over at myO and occasionally I click on those links to check out other members here. [QUOTE=Shy][size=1]Where, if at all, does OB fit in under theOtaku's network of anime sites? Is calling the site 'OtakuBoards' simply a throwback to the early days, and what exactly does this disconnect mean for OB's somewhat-distant future?

Post your thoughts and stuff.

-Shy[/size][/QUOTE]I kind of wonder about the level of disconnection since theO is taking very different directions than what it had when I first started over there, most noticeable the removal of the articles and reviews last year as it?s switching over to a more art based site, something that though fun I find a bit stale without the other stuff to make it more balanced.

Right now it seems like it?s become more of an affiliate instead of part of the same network of sites. Not quite there but definitely leaning that way.
[/COLOR]

[John]

I think what makes OB different from other offshoot forums is that there is, oddly, no forum dedicated to theO and discussing it. This might be something to think about while we're already in the middle of big forum section changes.

[Nerdsy]

[color=deeppink]I don't recall theOtaku and OB [i]ever[/i] being explicitly connected. At most, there was a post or two by Adam about the version updates and a theOtaku and OB upgrade that happened at the same time. There was also a thing where Adam was selling hosting on theOtaku, but that never actually materialized so I don't count it.

It has gotten farther apart, but as far as I can tell, only by theOtaku removing (or hiding very thoroughly) any links to OB.

I'd say even when OB didn't [i]have[/i] it's own url, it was still very disconnected from theOtaku.

As a side note, is it really a good idea to try and link Gaia for credibility?[/color]

[Allamorph]

[quote name='Shy][Size=1']Anyway, that's not the whole point of this thread. This thread is to call into question why someone else hasn't started this thread already. myOtaku.com's community came to aid of Adam almost immediately. Meanwhile, I'm not sure anyone here but Panda or Kei were even aware of the situation.[/Size][/quote]
[FONT=Arial]I almost started this thread last night at about 9:30, but I was worried about the whole solicitation thing, since I wasn't sure how much OB is connected to theOtaku.com either. I really just didn't want it to get closed for ridiculous reasons after starting it.

I am actually only here because last year theO still had a link to this site. I am quite glad I came here, but theO came first for me. So, yeah, I think we here need to throw whatever support we can behind Adam as he follows AnimeFF's paper trail.

I logged onto theO just before Adam posted the first story, and I immediately began an internet scouring for anything on AnimeFF. Conveniently, I turned up exactly dit, aside from sites advertising TFTC that had links to AnimeFF's site (which was [I]also[/I] conveniently down :sneer ). From the looks of things, AnimeFF went to ground Pretty D*** Quick and tried to cover themselves, though obviously Adam has already found information to track them with.

I wish there were more ways us unequipped civilians could help out.

I also wish vigilante-ism wasn't illegal.[/FONT]

[eleanor]

[QUOTE=Boo][size=1]

But I bet that experiences are different for people who are actually interested in reading about anime and the likes.[/size][/QUOTE]

[color=dimgray]Not for me, really. Which is weird, because if I remember correctly, I found OB through theOtaku, and then never really looked at theOtaku a lot afterwards. I remember looking through their anime sections before theOtaku had its current layout, but found it more entertaining to talk about anime/manga on a forum than to look on a newsite.

It might be different now, who knows? Maybe the influx of theOtaku members and OB members will increase because of MyOtaku and the comments section on theOtaku. On the flip side, I've always seen OB as just becoming its own, simply because theOtaku seems such a distant sister site. [/color]

[Panda]

The entire AnimeFF situation really bothers me. Yeah, I personally lost money and I only made it as far as the airport...twice. In fact they said they would call me back with my "new" flight information as I waited at the airport. I am still waiting for that phone call. I feel awful that I helped them by asking my friends Dan and Kyle to attend as guests. If not for Adam and the crew from Anime Vegas the voice actors (and Adam!) wouldn't have had a place to sleep! But to cap it all off by using all of those involved under the cloak of helping those suffering from Breast Cancer...

Linking to Gaia, as well as other websites, is to show others what the buzz is around the web from people who actually went to the con and saw what happened. If any of you have tried to look at the AnimeFF message boards you will see that they locked those down.

But since this isn't the focus of the thread, moving on topic...

To answer your question Shy, I did not start the thread since I just hadn't gotten around to starting one yet. Adam wanted to try to working things out with them first and wanted me to wait before posting anything. You can see how things have been going by reading through the threads in the news section. Plus talking about it just ties my guts into knots.

I found the OtakuBoards via theOtaku.com. Until then I never knew the OtakuBoards even existed. I started out using myO as a blog site. I liked that it was anime related with a friendly community. I did pick up quite quickly that the two sites are run separately but they are not without shared roots. More like cousin sites than sister sites if you will.

I know of people who never come over to the OtakuBoards and vice versa. I think the relationship between the two is to let their members know that the other exists, even if it's just little, subtle links. theOtaku.com has links to the OtakuBoards on myO profiles while the profiles here do the same. There is also mention in the "about us" page on theO while the OB links back at the bottom of the message board page. I see it as being a "Hey, if you're looking for a great anime site/message board check out theO/OB!"

Who knows what the future holds for both. If I have my way both sites will continue to grow and prosper. :D

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]I feel like there's always been distance between theOtaku and Otakuboards. Mind you, I came during the middle of v4, so I dunno about earlier. I was always visiting the both of them in the beginning, because GinnyLyn's digimon site was pretty damn awesome at the time, but when she left, and when theOtaku & the anime lounge were remodeled.... *shrug*

Although I found Otakuboards through theOtaku, nowadays, I don't really check up on the latter (except for wallpapers, occasionally).


I'd also like to say that I think it's terrible that the con in Vegas turned out to be a scam. My condolences to everyone who got screwed, especially the people in the theOtaku community. >_< [/color]

[TheResplendent]

[FONT=Tahoma]I'm not sure if i have a 100% grasp on the whole ordeal quite yet, despite knowing that it has to do with the recent con event. I skimmed through the headlines on TheO's main page since I was between short breaks during school today. After having more time to read it now I understand the general idea of what happened, and have to say that it's a huge dissapointment and that Adam (and those directly involved as well) have my moral support and my hopes that everything gets resolved with little or no complications from here on out.

As for the whole deal between TheO and OB, I also was not aware of any tension between the two as I had figured it was just the forum for a parent site. I, like many others found OB through TheO. Of course, I couldn't help but feel something was up though when the link to OB was taken off of TheO not too long ago. I didn't bother asking anything though as I figured for myself that the bond was not as cohesive as I once thought. To me, there really isn't anything there...out of MyO, TheO, and OB I spend 90% of my time here on OB. While there may be differential feelings between some of the major inhabitants here and those on TheO or MyO, I harbor no such ill feelings.

.[/FONT]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]I have to admit this is the first I've heard of it, as Josh did point out OtakuBoards and TheOtaku have become very separate entities over the last five years, heck this was the first time I've visited TheO in about six or seven months.

The whole situation is tragic, and those responsible should be subjected to the full force of the law, stealing is wrong full-stop, but to steal under the guise of donating the money to breast-cancer research, what kind of morally-bankrupt individual could sink so low.

I think that since OtakuBoards really developed it's own separate identity to TheOtaku the two sites really drifted apart. I mean as Boo pointed out if both sites didn't share "Otaku" in their name, you probably wouldn't realise they were part of the same network. I can't really say more than has already been said, OtakuBoards grew from catering to just anime fans to being a multi-aspect site and thus it was only natural that it developed away from TheO and MyO.

The future of OtakuBoards is something that's always been talked about, the forums themselves evolved over time into this, and I can't see them not continuing to evolve into something else as time goes on. Maybe they'll go more in line with the TheO network, maybe they'll become even more independent, I don't really know. Personally I've no problem with the level of interaction between OB and TheO at the moment, I'd even go as far to say I'd rather not put the onus back on anime at the expense of what's been developed here.[/SIZE]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]I seem to recal not to long ago when everyone had linkage to their myO profiles in their sigs.(tis how I discovered myO) Was around the time of all the sig fan clubs where you'd join and never talk to the host again XD

But recently, it reallly does seem like the connection is lost. Most of the new members probably don't even know about myO.[/COLOR]

[desertphoenix]

Not that I've been here a very long time, i honesty do agree with Shy in why no thread was made OB about the whole ordeal. I thought about it, but then i guessed someone who could do a better job than me would be on it.

TheO really grew as a site. I first glanced at it in 2002 when there were only 8 or 9 hubs. When i revisited 3 years later, I was just surprised on how much it grown. I honestly didn't think it would still exist. So, i guess i missed out on how things came to be.

I'm not a big player in either sites. I only connected both of my accounts yesterday just because i was bored. I don't submit art. I have done a lot of drawings for my highschool art classes, but i just don't have a scanner anymore. I find myself only critiquing art works and collecting wallpapers. On the OB,............who knows. But, i didn't think there would be a issue between the two sites being cut off from each other. I didn't see this as a problem till the whole scam issue, but i guess we all know now.

conclusion sucks but, i haven't said this before. My hope goes out for TheO in the whole ordeal they are in.

[Allamorph]

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange']Most of the new members probably don't even know about myO.[/COLOR][/quote]
[FONT=Arial]Some of us do. We just don't use it.[/FONT]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR=DarkRed][quote name='SunfallE][COLOR=RoyalBlue']Right now it seems like it?s become more of an affiliate instead of part of the same network of sites. Not quite there but definitely leaning that way. [/COLOR][/quote]I forgot to address this part of Shy's opening post, but I see the connection between the two in the same way. More like two seperate sites that stand by themselves and yet are connected like affiliates and as such we get tiny benefits such as linking our page with our user account here.

Though even that seems to be becoming less used around here. I do have a myO account since I joined that site first, and then at the advise of members here who also have accounts over at myO I came here. And now most of my time is spent here though I still do things over at myO/theO from time to time.

Which is why I knew about the current deal with AnimeFF as I usually check theO's main page and Adam's on a regular basis to see what's up.[/COLOR]

[Ellerby]

[COLOR=DimGray][FONT=Tahoma]@ 2007, I would bet you that every single active member on OtakuBoards knows what myO is. Although a lot of us never visit theO, that doesn't make us [i]blind[/i]. It's below almost everyones username.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[James]

[font=arial]First of all, regarding the dispute you mentioned...I am not so sure it is wise or appropriate for OtakuBoards to make any official statement about it. This is especially true if there are legal issues involved. That no threads were made doesn't have much relevance to the support we have for theOtaku, I don't think. I'm sure there are plenty of things that happen within each of the three network branches (theO, myO and OB) that the other branches have no involvement in - this does not necessarily mean that the sites aren't close or that they aren't working together.

In terms of the overall relationship, I think you just have to look at the realities of running this network. Adam himself is incredibly busy with major new projects all the time - whether that's Art of Otaku or another network site/hub. This, combined with his day-to-day responsibilities, leaves little time for him to become directly involved with other aspects of the network on a frequent basis.

And the reverse is true for me - I used to post items on theOtaku.com's front page and I used to be heavily involved with myOtaku development and things like that. Due to my own time constraints and responsibilities, I can now only really focus on OtakuBoards itself. Does this mean that the relationship has changed fundamentally? I don't think so. It just literally means we can't do everything we'd like to do.

For years Adam and I have talked about closer OB/theO integration. But a lot of people do not realize what this entails - we have enough trouble gathering the resources necessary to update and run our own corners of the network...building major connections would require the kind of resources that we just can't produce at the moment.

I think each site in the network has its own place, honestly. There are people who live at myO but who have never registered here and who rarely have anything to do with news or articles at theO. And there are plenty of people who live at OB and have no interest in the rest of the network. And there's nothing wrong with that - all we can do is try to encourage more connections all the time.

So those are my thoughts on the matter. Unfortunately most of it just boils down to time/responsibility issues. I know this is true for both Adam and myself, anyway.

If both of us could do what we really wanted, I think you'd see a very different network. We have often talked about the "what ifs" and we do have a lot of big ideas. It's just tough to turn those into reality at times.

[/font]

[Ellerby]

[COLOR=DimGray][FONT=Tahoma]Just a quick thought... What if you had a front page that you were directed to everytime you entered one of the three sites URLs? It would basically say "theOtaku.com > myOtaku > OtakuBoards" or something and you just clicked whichever you wanted to go to.

For those that are used to just typing in [url]www.otakuboards.com[/url], you could make the front page link [url]www.otakuboards.com/somethingshort[/url] so that they don't have to click the link everytime they want to go back to the index.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[James]

[font=arial]I think the problem is that this would add another step to the process. I am already of the view that our sites are too difficult/annoying to navigate as-is...splash-pages are notoriously bad for slowing down navigation further. The fewer steps involved in reaching your goal, the better.

But there are other things we can and will do to connect the sites further. It just tends to be somewhat gradual (frustratingly so for some, I acknowledge).

Regarding the situation with AnimeFF, I think my thoughts on it (as well as the thoughts of any reasonable person) would have to be pretty obvious. I'm not sure what good it would do to have some kind of campaign on OB though (I think Adam is doing a good enough job publicising the issues in detail as-is), but it's not necessarily taboo to discuss. [/font]

[Raina]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Blue]Um, I have a question. If something happened to theO (may God forbid), how much of it would affect OB and myO? I understand that the sites aren't as close to eachother as it once was, but the sites are still connected to eachother. For example, you need a myO account to be able to launch the JukeBox here on OB.

I first found theO, then myO. I then discovered OB coz it has a link at the top of the myO's login page. I log on to all 3 sites everyday for the past 6 months or so.

I'm not sure if I could be of any help, but I would like to support Adam and everyone involved.

And this is my personal view: everyone on AnimeFF should get breast cancer! (yes, men can get breast cancer too. it's rare, but it is possible.)[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=Raina][size=3][font=Times New Roman][color=blue]Um, I have a question. If something happened to theO (may God forbid), how much of it would affect OB and myO? I understand that the sites aren't as close to eachother as it once was, but the sites are still connected to eachother. For example, you need a myO account to be able to launch the JukeBox here on OB.
[/color][/font][/size][/QUOTE]
My understanding is that the network is pretty safe. AnimeFF don't have grounds for defamation and all legal action would do is expose their own illegal activities. AnimeFF woukd be shooting themselves in the foot trying to go against TheO and it's reporting of the [b]con[/b]vention.

I don't go to TheOtaku anymore since my interest for Anime has diminished in they years I've been here, but I will keep up with Adam's expose of AnimeFF and offer the network my support in any way I can.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='James][font=arial'] That no threads were made doesn't have much relevance to the support we have for theOtaku, I don't think. [/font][/quote]I would agree, seeing that I joined myOtaku before I wandered over to OtakuBoards. It never occurred to me to post a thread on it since it seemed like it was getting a good amount of support from members of both sites. With all the comments I saw on the news updates over there.

As for the question about how closely they are associated, I haven?t been around long enough to understand how they are associated. Other than some of the links to OB being removed over at theOtaku, I haven?t really noticed any difference in how closely they are associated. Or not for that matter.

But then I understand the site has been around for quite a while so that sort of leaves me out of the loop as far as comparing them goes. Both sites seem like they could easily be run if the other one did not exist. As if they are just associated sites instead of part of the same network of sites. Of course I'm assuming they are part of the same network.

[James]

[QUOTE=Raina][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Blue]Um, I have a question. If something happened to theO (may God forbid), how much of it would affect OB and myO? I understand that the sites aren't as close to eachother as it once was, but the sites are still connected to eachother. For example, you need a myO account to be able to launch the JukeBox here on OB.
[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[font=arial]Well, all three sites are fundamentally linked. We share the same server, we share staff and we also share content and other things. So I'd say we're pretty close.

I view the sites as three sister sites. Each play their own unique and important role in the broader network. The network (and thus all three sites) is owned by Velegant Media LLC.

As far as what would happen to OB if something happened to theOtaku...it just depends. If theOtaku had to shut down, then that would be a massive threat to us of course (since we are all funded by Velegant). Although if it ever came to that I'm sure we could sort something out.

As far as AnimeFF...don't be concerned. There are many people out there who are sue-happy and who love to throw threats around. Ultimately if you are confident that you are doing the right thing, that isn't much of a problem.[/font]

[Adam]

Thanks all, it's good to know OB members are thinking of us in these troubling times.

James expresses everything about theO/OB beautifully, I have nothing to add.

Don't worry, if anything ever happens to theOtaku, I'll ensure that OB can get on a lifeboat and can drift away to safety :-)