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Manga DB Expands: More webtoons & digital-only manga to be added

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Jul 24, 2022 5:17 PM
#1
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Faerie Queen

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For many years, MAL's manga database has kept strict control over digital-only manga content, requiring webcomics to later be released in print or otherwise meet very specific conditions.

Today, we have updated the guidelines to relax these rules and include:

 ✔️ Series released on whitelisted webcomic/webtoon platforms by digital-only publishing companies
  • Whitelist as of July 2022: Cycomics, GANMA!, KakaoPage, Lezhin Comics Webtoon, Naver Webtoon

  • For now, only series that are translated in English and that begin exclusively on these platforms will be added.
  • This will help us process high-priority entries that many members want to add to their lists.
  • These restrictions will be removed and more platforms will be added in the future after internal review.

 ✔️ Official print publisher pages on other digital platforms (e.g. Gene pixiv, Niconico Yuri Hime)
 ✔️ Digital magazines from print publishers, even without an official web domain
 ✔️ Ebook volumes distributed and sold through retail sites by print publishers, as long as they are of sufficient length


For the last 3 months, our Manga DB team has slowly been adding digital-only webtoons from the above platforms and will continue adding more!
We currently have 800+ titles which were not eligible previously, such as...:
We've also updated some other sections of the guidelines, the following of which may be of interest to some members:
 ✔️ Anthology recollections of one-shots are now allowed under certain conditions (e.g. Shiver: Itou Junji Selected Stories)
 ✔️ Reprinted one-shots will be included in the chapter counts of all entries, not just the first (e.g. Bus Hashiru, Nanairo Sekai)
 ✔️ Regular novels that are a prequel/sequel/spin-off/side story to an existing anime/manga will be added (only direct adaptations were allowed previously)
 ✔️ Doujinshi printed and sold through mail order via doujin retail sites are also eligible (expanded from only those sold in doujin events)


If you are interested in helping us add webtoons and have a pretty good grasp of our digital-only content rules, please keep in mind that we're also recruiting Manga Moderators. If you know any Korean, be sure to include that on your application, too!

Full Manga DB Guidelines available here
KinetaJul 24, 2022 7:18 PM
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Jul 24, 2022 5:24 PM
#2

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92307
can you label them all as "books" then make a subtype for each of them like manga, manhua, light novels, etc, they are not called manga in general anymore
Jul 24, 2022 5:28 PM
#3
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What a beautiful day to be alive. I waited so long for this updated 💙
Jul 24, 2022 5:39 PM
#4
No.1 Rias Lover

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Lets go
Jul 24, 2022 5:51 PM
#5

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I've been waiting for so long omg. Nice to see a step in the right direction :D
Jul 24, 2022 6:01 PM
#6

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Yess this is amazing!!
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Jul 24, 2022 6:21 PM
#7

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Oct 2015
869
Any chance One Punch Man webcomic will be added in the future?
Jul 24, 2022 6:23 PM
#8

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Dec 2014
1053
There have been so many new features added in MAL lately and it's such a treat to see that! From badges, to Interest Stacks and now this!
Jul 24, 2022 6:24 PM
#9
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Feb 2019
1
No Tbate yet ;-;
Jul 24, 2022 6:30 PM
a lil bean ✨

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Yeah, that was nice to see. These series finally being added.
Good job to the manga team

HiScoreLoScoreAuction

Turn-InsAWCc

ᓚᘏᗢ

Jul 24, 2022 7:01 PM
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Yes! Finally! This is nice, I can no longer manually remove the wrong manga every time MAL-sync starting to sync to wrong manga instead so I had to remove it.. thank you for the update! ^^
Jul 24, 2022 7:51 PM

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gmb813 said:
No Tbate yet ;-;
TBATE is canadian comic
"If taking responsibility for a mistake that cannot be undone means death, it's not that hard to die. At least, not as hard as to live on."
Jul 24, 2022 7:55 PM
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27759
been meaning 2 get more in2 them so hopefully i'll find something good

Jul 24, 2022 8:03 PM

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Feb 2017
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cool cool, great update! was getting hard keeping track in my head of what i've read and dropped
 



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Jul 24, 2022 8:37 PM
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Yes, I've been waiting for this🥳🥳
Jul 24, 2022 8:58 PM

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Kineta said:
 ✔️ Regular novels that are a prequel/sequel/spin-off/side story to an existing anime/manga will be added (only direct adaptations were allowed previously)

Does this mean that the classic Japanese novels that were adapted in Aoi Bungaku will be added? The series didn't adapt the entirety of Ningen Shikkaku or Kokoro, so the novels are technically prequels.




「 𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤, 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕞𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞 」


Jul 24, 2022 9:06 PM

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92307
XquisiteWig said:
Any chance One Punch Man webcomic will be added in the future?


im guessing they will add it later
Jul 24, 2022 10:26 PM

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Oct 2008
216
A step in the right direction. Now, if only MAL would update existing manga, such as Miquiztli: Taiyou no Shinigami. The series has 112 chapters collected in 13 volumes, but you would never know it. I've been submitting this stat for change to MAL for YEARS, but they refuse to update the entry. It is truly such a shame.....
Jul 25, 2022 12:01 AM

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Dec 2009
9479
Sigh. Your staff can barely keep the original manga database updated as is with simple dates, finished status and volume/chapters count. Let alone add Manga/One-Shots.
Jul 25, 2022 12:33 AM

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Mar 2016
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It's good to see that MAL is improving itself by having important changes such as this. Great work!
Jul 25, 2022 12:33 AM
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waalex11 said:
Sigh. Your staff can barely keep the original manga database updated as is with simple dates, finished status and volume/chapters count. Let alone add Manga/One-Shots.


This exactly. They really gotta get that under control first before they release updates like this.
Jul 25, 2022 12:50 AM
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Junelovesanime said:
waalex11 said:
Sigh. Your staff can barely keep the original manga database updated as is with simple dates, finished status and volume/chapters count. Let alone add Manga/One-Shots.


This exactly. They really gotta get that under control first before they release updates like this.

Same opinion as the two above. I’m happy to see the database grow but there’s way too many entries that qualify under the older rules and are still not approved. In the current state the site can’t really afford to “broaden” further.
Rating things is overrated.
Jul 25, 2022 12:52 AM

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Mar 2022
20
Thank you so much! I read a lot of webcomics so this definitely helps expand my manga list. :)
Jul 25, 2022 1:02 AM
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Jul 2019
33
Visual novels next 🤞🤞
Jul 25, 2022 1:13 AM
★★★★★

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Sep 2008
19244
Yay, having more webtoons in the DB is great \o/
I'm looking forward to seeing more series being added.

This would also be a good time to rework how the time spent ("days") for the manga stats work. At the moment, the algorithm calculates a total chapter score and a total volume score for the entire list and takes the higher number (details here).

From what I've seen, most manga lists use the volume score. But this means if you add a series that has only chapters specified, it will not count towards the time spent (days) at all. I just tested this again and added a webtoon with 388 chapters to my list. The chapters were added fine to the stats, but the entry added zero time to the "day" stats.

The easiest solution would be to decide for each entry on the list individually if the chapter or volume score should be used and then sum up those individual values. This way every entry will count in some way even if it's missing either a specified chapter or volume count. It would still only be an approximation of the real time but better than the current solution where entries with no volume count (most webtoons) simply don't add to the time at all.
Jul 25, 2022 1:17 AM
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Sep 2018
28
Cool changes~ 파이팅 mod team!

Kineta said:

 ✔️ Anthology recollections of one-shots are now allowed under certain conditions (e.g. Shiver: Itou Junji Selected Stories)


Does this include English market exclusive compilations (ex. The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud) or just original Japanese compilations (like the Junji Itou ones)?
KatayoneJul 26, 2022 1:37 PM
Jul 25, 2022 1:35 AM

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Feb 2014
702
-Crys said:
Junelovesanime said:


This exactly. They really gotta get that under control first before they release updates like this.

Same opinion as the two above. I’m happy to see the database grow but there’s way too many entries that qualify under the older rules and are still not approved. In the current state the site can’t really afford to “broaden” further.
MAL just doesn't seem to care about their db staff, also when am I gunna get notifications for oneshot merges? 800+ shitty manwha titles is a pathetic allocation of resources.

"For the sake of humankind, I forsake my humanity." - Cherry
Jul 25, 2022 1:48 AM

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Feb 2021
6860
Thank you so much for this amazing update! Finally we will have webtoons and published doujis here!
Jul 25, 2022 2:34 AM

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Jul 2019
15236
MAL users when MAL adds non-Japanese work to the DB 😭😭😭😭

Was wondering what the hell was Teenage Mercenary doing here. But this will prolly expand my horizons so thanks for the change guys c:

Let's see if these copy-paste webtoons are truly as bad as people say or if they will be worth my time.
Jul 25, 2022 2:57 AM
Offline
Jul 2022
6
Kineta said:



For many years, MAL's manga database has kept strict control over digital-only manga content, requiring webcomics to later be released in print or otherwise meet very specific conditions.

Today, we have updated the guidelines to relax these rules and include:

 ✔️ Series released on whitelisted webcomic/webtoon platforms by digital-only publishing companies
  • Whitelist as of July 2022: Cycomics, GANMA!, KakaoPage, Lezhin Comics Webtoon, Naver Webtoon

  • For now, only series that are translated in English and that begin exclusively on these platforms will be added.
  • This will help us process high-priority entries that many members want to add to their lists.
  • These restrictions will be removed and more platforms will be added in the future after internal review.

 ✔️ Official print publisher pages on other digital platforms (e.g. Gene pixiv, Niconico Yuri Hime)
 ✔️ Digital magazines from print publishers, even without an official web domain
 ✔️ Ebook volumes distributed and sold through retail sites by print publishers, as long as they are of sufficient length


For the last 3 months, our Manga DB team has slowly been adding digital-only webtoons from the above platforms and will continue adding more!
We currently have 800+ titles which were not eligible previously, such as...:
We've also updated some other sections of the guidelines, the following of which may be of interest to some members:
 ✔️ Anthology recollections of one-shots are now allowed under certain conditions (e.g. Shiver: Itou Junji Selected Stories)
 ✔️ Reprinted one-shots will be included in the chapter counts of all entries, not just the first (e.g. Bus Hashiru, Nanairo Sekai)
 ✔️ Regular novels that are a prequel/sequel/spin-off/side story to an existing anime/manga will be added (only direct adaptations were allowed previously)
 ✔️ Doujinshi printed and sold through mail order via doujin retail sites are also eligible (expanded from only those sold in doujin events)


If you are interested in helping us add webtoons and have a pretty good grasp of our digital-only content rules, please keep in mind that we're also recruiting Manga Moderators. If you know any Korean, be sure to include that on your application, too!

Full Manga DB Guidelines available here



WOHOOOOO!! Super amazing best new of the day
Jul 25, 2022 3:02 AM

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Oct 2017
463
NextUniverse said:
MAL users when MAL adds non-Japanese work to the DB 😭😭😭😭

Was wondering what the hell was Teenage Mercenary doing here. But this will prolly expand my horizons so thanks for the change guys c:

Let's see if these copy-paste webtoons are truly as bad as people say or if they will be worth my time.

This website is for Asian comics lol
Jul 25, 2022 3:04 AM

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Oct 2017
463
MAL already has a terribly sized manga database team, id hate for them to have more pressure, especially when its about adding more shitty manhwa clog here
Jul 25, 2022 3:47 AM

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1773
Where do Twitter works fall into? Don't see it being mentioned

Stuff like the divorced crybaby that is popular on r/manga
Jul 25, 2022 4:05 AM
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+ Manga DB Staff

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2301
dadnaya said:
Where do Twitter works fall into? Don't see it being mentioned

Stuff like the divorced crybaby that is popular on r/manga

Twitter and pixiv manga released unprofessionally will still be ineligible, as stated in the updated Manga Database Guidelines:
I.3 Submissions Etiquette
    I.3.1 Ensure your submission does not fall into one of the following:
    • Comics that are uploaded to twitter/pixiv accounts of authors and not published professionally
However, Batsuichi de Nakimushi na Otonari-san (My Divorced Crybaby Neighbour) is already eligible and has been on the database for a few months since it was officially published in printed volumes by Kadokawa (which I can confirm since I was keeping close track of the status of this series and added it the day it was eligible) :)
Jul 25, 2022 4:10 AM

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17
Finally I can add more webtoons in my list thanks for the update

“Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death.”
// Atri -My Dear Moments-
Jul 25, 2022 6:55 AM

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-Crys said:
Junelovesanime said:


This exactly. They really gotta get that under control first before they release updates like this.

Same opinion as the two above. I’m happy to see the database grow but there’s way too many entries that qualify under the older rules and are still not approved. In the current state the site can’t really afford to “broaden” further.


Yeah, that's not going to end well. The queue of unapproved manga is already more than 7.000 entries long. And god knows how many other edits and other submissions are unapproved for manga. Medium need for manga mods? (throwback to this post) If that's medium I don't want to know what high looks like. Even with a team of 20 people clearing up that list will take months. Allowing even more to be added to that list will only make it worse. And since MAL has no way to give sources, basically everything has to be researched twice. Look forward to a lot of not so popular stuff that will now be allowed being stuck in the queue for years to come!
Jul 25, 2022 7:13 AM

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Feb 2010
34597
How about instead getting some work on the existing DB done? God knows the manga sides is just one endless work in construction. Honestly, I don't care if you allow webmanga or not, but it is a terrible idea when the manga DB already takes ages for literally everything (it took 2 years to get one of the main characters of Lone wolf and Cub (a majorly influential and iconic work) accepted and I am still waiting for his picture to get accepted a year later) and even the most important and iconic mangaka have incomplete accounts of their work in the DB (like Tezuka, Tatsumi or the Tsuge Brothers for example) and it is impossible to get anything done about it. I don't know if the DB modification request thread ever gets read by a mod either so idk, there is so incredibly much work to be done even without adding more to their workload so why do this instead of making sure the manga DB is properly staffed and work actually gets done in a somewhat timely fashion before you make a big change like this? Right now, and it has been like this for years, there is almost zero motivation to try and add any manga entry to the DB because it is likely to never ever get the attention of a mod and actually be approved unless it's something relevant for a recent anime entry. And I assume it's only going to get more depressing after this and we will never ever get any older manga entries from Tezuka & co to get approved ever again. I hate this tbh...
But hey, who needs stuff in the DB that actually has a physical, international release when you can just have a ton of digital only stuff or entries that are only available via scanlations, am i rite?

Here's hoping the new recruitment bears fruit and improves the manga DB as a whole and is not just there to pander to the webmanga fans and still ignore the queue and the rest of the DB outside of stuff relevant for new anime entries, although I'm not very optimistic and expect them to focus on the new stuff and nothing else just like it has always been...

AlcoholicideJul 25, 2022 7:18 AM
I probably regret this post by now.
Jul 25, 2022 9:52 AM

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92307
they have to automate some of the submission approval process for sure if they want to expand the DB without expanding much the DB Staff since i heard from them admins that its hard to even recruit new DB Staff people
Jul 25, 2022 10:32 AM

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436
Multiple people bringing up the fact that MAL can't keep up with it's current database with a large backlog for approval. Honestly instead of expanding the work of volunteers, would love to see an announcement that MAL was introducing employment positions in the mix. Actually paying someone to spend time working on the database would yield faster results more consistently than people donating their limited freetime. Not saying people shouldn't be free to volunteer their time if they're passionate but with how large this site is now it's a little sad it still relies so heavily on the good will of mainly the young to operate.

Edit: corrected language
DroebieJul 25, 2022 10:41 AM
Jul 25, 2022 10:52 AM

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2976
Droebie said:
Multiple people bringing up the fact that MAL can't keep up with it's current database with a large backlog for approval. Honestly instead of expanding the work of volunteers, would love to see an announcement that MAL was introducing employment positions in the mix. Actually paying someone to spend time working on the database would yield faster results more consistently than people donating their limited freetime. Not saying people shouldn't be free to volunteer their time if they're passionate but with how large this site is now it's a little sad it still relies so heavily on the good will of mainly the young to operate.

Edit: corrected language

True, and such propositions have been made repeatedly (to no avail), but it's not like you can't have a good DB with volunteers only. Look at anilist or mangaupdates, at least when it comes to manga MAL is not even close to those, even though they don't have any paid staff. Same with anidb for anime staff credits, for example - much better than MAL even though it's not commercialized.

P.S. I share some degree of skepticism about the mod workload but if they have people who're into manhwa/webtoons add those - why not? It's not like these people would've been adding Tezuka and Otomo otherwise :) Specializing like that is OK

P.P.S. Maybe annoucing mod recruitments should be done via a notification/message to all users rather than a post on the forum. Compared to MAL userbase, not too many people constantly pay attention to forums.
St0rmbladeJul 25, 2022 11:03 AM
Jul 25, 2022 11:47 AM

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Feb 2022
436
St0rmblade said:
Droebie said:
Multiple people bringing up the fact that MAL can't keep up with it's current database with a large backlog for approval. Honestly instead of expanding the work of volunteers, would love to see an announcement that MAL was introducing employment positions in the mix. Actually paying someone to spend time working on the database would yield faster results more consistently than people donating their limited freetime. Not saying people shouldn't be free to volunteer their time if they're passionate but with how large this site is now it's a little sad it still relies so heavily on the good will of mainly the young to operate.

Edit: corrected language

True, and such propositions have been made repeatedly (to no avail), but it's not like you can't have a good DB with volunteers only. Look at anilist or mangaupdates, at least when it comes to manga MAL is not even close to those, even though they don't have any paid staff. Same with anidb for anime staff credits, for example - much better than MAL even though it's not commercialized.

P.S. I share some degree of skepticism about the mod workload but if they have people who're into manhwa/webtoons add those - why not? It's not like these people would've been adding Tezuka and Otomo otherwise :) Specializing like that is OK

P.P.S. Maybe annoucing mod recruitments should be done via a notification/message to all users rather than a post on the forum. Compared to MAL userbase, not too many people constantly pay attention to forums.
Yeah I don't have a problem with volunteers being used as I mentioned and agree with your idea. Just making the obvious criticism even though as you say it's been suggested for a long time on MAL. It is what it is, I don't expect much to change. Overall I do think this news was good though. All for less strict guidelines.
Jul 25, 2022 1:23 PM
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I've noticed a lot more webcomics have been appearing which is awesome! I was a little concerned that they would get taken off but I'm really glad it's official!
Jul 25, 2022 2:04 PM
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Loving this, I've read a decent amount of webtoons so it Will be nice to see if I can add them to my list at some point
Jul 25, 2022 2:27 PM

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585
Interesting update, thanks for being transparent about these DB changes. Speaking of DB changes, I'm still waiting for Hoshizora Meteo's Fate/Requiem to be approved.
Jul 25, 2022 6:14 PM

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May 2021
1224
Shouldn't you focus on increasing your manga mods instead of adding even more things for the current mods to manage? I mean the situation with manga and light novels and doujinshi is sooo bad. Wrong official English titles everywhere and it takes so much time for them to get corrected , takes months for things (manga, light novels and especially doujinshi) to get approved(a doujinshi I submitted got approved after like 6 or more months and I am still waiting for many more that I have submitted much earlier ) , it takes months for you to approve new authors to be added in your database it also takes months for the publishing dates to be corrected(for example I have submitted the date of a light novel which ended since March and has yet to be corrected) etc . But of course I don't blame the mods, I am fully aware that they have irl things to do too and they have also helped me many times. Please don't take the wrong way and please don't see my post as ''whining" but as an honest thought from me which will hopefully make you reconsider your priorities .
YubisoftJul 26, 2022 10:35 AM
Jul 25, 2022 7:05 PM

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10447
Kineta said:
We currently have 800+ titles which were not eligible previously

How are you going to find the time to add those titles, when you have yet to add all the novels that have been eligible since 2019? You haven't even added every MANGA to this database!

Yubisoft said:
it also takes months for the publishing dates to be corrected

I found an obscure manga with its date off by 10 years. I submitted a correction last year, yet the date remains wrong.
その目だれの目?
Jul 25, 2022 7:32 PM

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86
Thank you for this, been waiting for a long time.

Jul 25, 2022 8:51 PM

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562
oooooh this is so good!! i'm so happy this is so great thannk youuu 😭❤
Jul 25, 2022 9:56 PM
Ceasefire NOW

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3698
Thank you for this update! Hopefully I no longer have to update my blog post to document my reads.
Jul 26, 2022 1:01 AM

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1224
Lucifrost said:
Kineta said:
We currently have 800+ titles which were not eligible previously

How are you going to find the time to add those titles, when you have yet to add all the novels that have been eligible since 2019? You haven't even added every MANGA to this database!

Yubisoft said:
it also takes months for the publishing dates to be corrected

I found an obscure manga with its date off by 10 years. I submitted a correction last year, yet the date remains wrong.

Holy Ra ...seriously ? 😂
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