Forum:Scanlation Allowed Images

It has been bothering me for quite some time now, but there are images that allow scanlations simply to provide information for readers, such as maps and Devil Fruit revisions, while others, such as Dressrosa's map here, retains RAW.

Now, I wanna clear this out for good. Scanlations are now not allowed on this wiki, and I don't think we should let this be an exception. After all, scanlators and subbers alike can have discrepancies in their own variations of translation, causing confusion, such as "Arabasta" instead of "Alabasta".

In a related issue, manga images that have emptied out speech bubbles are not considered RAW, they are just adulterated scanlation images that we use on desperation that we cannot get our hands on the actual RAW yet.

My point of this forum is: eliminate all scanlations, either by replacing them with raw or outright deletion. 04:22, April 10, 2013 (UTC)

Discussion Starts Below
If I remember correctly during the forum was specified that those images were exceptions. Although if you propose to remove (replace) them, then it's another story, but my point is they currently aren't against the guidelines.

I agree. 13:02, April 10, 2013 (UTC)

My understanding of the original raws forum is that it allowed for scans to be used when the raw couldn't explain what the image needed to explain (maps, diagrams, etc) or when the raw was poor quality. And even in the case of the latter, usually a good raw will show up eventually to replace it. I think the general attitude has been that blanked scans can be used temporarily until a good raw comes out to replace it. Using scans for a few hours (or days) is the only way for us to get images for several hours, and opens up image editing to more users than those who download the raws.

I think the current policy is fine, it just needs clarifications. 13:53, April 10, 2013 (UTC)

No reason at all to remove them. The images are fine. Blanked out ones are good and can be higher quality than most high quality RAWs. Personally I think we should go for the HIGHEST quality image and not just a blind "Only use RAWs" If we just blanked the scans it would be perfectly fine. SeaTerror (talk) 17:34, April 10, 2013 (UTC)

Uh no. Blanking every bubbles is gonna leave very ugly empty spots. And as for the scanlations allowed, some SBS images that have words do not have scanlations, while others do. I just see inconsistencies that makes somewhat of an eyesore. Besides, the translators tend to make mistakes like using "r" instead of "l" for a certain country's name, and there are so many other examples. 18:35, April 10, 2013 (UTC)

That was never a mistake. "very ugly empty spots" That is also just your opinion. Blanked images are actually much better images than most RAWs with low quality text. SeaTerror (talk) 00:25, April 11, 2013 (UTC)

Blanked out bubbles means the page has been edited. We want unedited, undiluted images. Otherwise, we can just add whatever we want into it. Here's an example of File:Tyrannosaurus.png: some guy edited this one, and RAW and undiluted. And that Hannyabal post-timeskip image, before it was properly replaced, some guy just filled in the lettered portion with pure black, doctoring it and not adding the buttons on his uniform. 06:15, April 11, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, when an image has been doctored beyond just cleaning, of course we should use raws. And have we ever considered getting someone who can make our own english translation images to match our own spellings? That would make things way more consistent for us.

And Yata, I understand you think preferring blanked scans for every image is wrong (and I agree with you there), but where do you stand on using them when there is no raw, or a raw is particularly low quality? 14:14, April 12, 2013 (UTC)

I understand blanking out things when we have no raw, but once we have it, I mean. 15:00, April 12, 2013 (UTC)

The funny thing is how eveery single RAW image on this wikia is edited by Calu or somebody else who can clean. So your "unedited" argument doesn't fit. SeaTerror (talk) 21:20, April 14, 2013 (UTC)

I guess cleaning is one thing we can allow, just to make the images cleaner. An exception, otherwise all other scanlation is not allowed. 02:09, April 15, 2013 (UTC)

Cleaning an image doesn't mean its a scanlation. You still ignored how there is absolutely nothing wrong with blanked out images. They are almost always higher quality than the RAW images. SeaTerror (talk) 17:17, April 15, 2013 (UTC)

Blanked out images: I see empty gaps in the image like the characters are just mouthing mutely to each other. Besides, when you blank it out, you can see pixels of the deleted dialogue compared to the background of the rest of the image. It stands out. 18:09, April 15, 2013 (UTC)

Point is, many SBS images are RAW, while some are scanlations. That is inconsistent. 05:36, April 17, 2013 (UTC)

You can't see anything like that at all. The blanked out images don't have pixels. SeaTerror (talk) 16:53, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

Some do. They have these large squared out blank white spots over the darker pixel background. 16:59, April 20, 2013 (UTC)

So I take it we should start filling images up with RAW, for ALL of them unless anime? 06:44, April 22, 2013 (UTC)

No. You're the only one who wants that and you have yet to prove blanked out scans are bad at all. SeaTerror (talk) 17:41, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

I can say the same for you on the opposite end. Blanked out speech bubbles are like characters mouthing mutely. And we will NOT use scanlations when possible. 21:22, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

I agree with blanking out speech bubbles being a bad thing. I'd rather have something than big white boxes with nothing. 21:48, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

I don't really care. I can't read Japanese anyway, so it doesn't matter if they're blank or not. 21:52, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

Blanked out look terrible. 21:55, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

Blanked Images aren't that bad, we should used them temporary until there is a Raw Available to replace it. -- 22:05, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

When a new chapter is out, we use blanked scanlation images till somebody uploads a raw. 22:08, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

Well, of course. If there's really no other clean option, we kind of have to use blanks. 22:08, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

But ST make it sound like it's okay (if not insisting) to keep using blanks after the Japanese version comes out. If I remember right, he also said it was okay (if not we should) to use scanlations. I disagree on both claims, blanks are terrible and scanlations have copyright issues. 23:02, May 2, 2013 (UTC)

I'm one to support the usual argument of "if it looks better, let's switch to it". But if the image is infringing copyright, and the scanlator's scan (it's technically stealing to re-use it), then of course it shouldn't be used. I bet most of the scanlations we've used have been stolen without even the scanlator's permission, which is both legally and morally wrong. I heard an argument a while back that we could try having our own original scans. I'm not sure if that was in this forum or another, and I'm not sure if it's been established on, but would it work? We'll have our own scans, it might not be copyright infringement (I'm not sure on that), and we don't really have to change the text. 00:32, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

Of course it would still be copyright infringement. The manga picture is the copyright part, not the text. As for using the scanlator's scan without permission, it really doesn't matter at all. There is no legality behind the scanslators, and if they couldn't sue us even if they wanted to. 00:39, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

If we DO use a scanlator's scan, we should at least give credit. I did something like that for the Sprite images. Not that it NEEDS to be required, but more for an honor/moral sort of shite. 00:44, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

They don't look terrible at all. The idea is to use the best quality image possible. That Fujitora image you reverted to RAW was downright awful quality compared to the blanked out scanlation image. Nada if you want to use an argument like that then every single image on the Wikia breaks copyright law. It also isn't stealing to use those images but that's an entirely different argument. If the quality is better then we should use it. SeaTerror (talk) 16:18, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

A blanked out speech bubble is like the character is muttering mutely. 17:11, May 3, 2013 (UTC)
 * At least Japanese it has words to fill in those spaces, giving the (better) impression that a dialogue is being done. And scanlation sometimes have the freaking watermark blocking the crucial part of the picture. 17:13, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

Seriously your arguments to be against blanked out speech are all awful and opinion based. Watermarks can be removed and I'm pretty sure the scanlators that upload to Mangarule don't use them. SeaTerror (talk) 18:04, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, Mangarule doesn't use watermarks. Though the raw is usually out by the time they release. 18:22, May 3, 2013 (UTC)

==Poll== Since the talk seems inconclusive and halted, let's just go to the polls to resolve the entire thing once and for all.

''This poll will decide whether we allow scanlations. To vote you must have 300 edits and be a registered user for at least 3 months. The poll is now closed and the options are below. The poll will end in one week, on June 6 at 12:00 UTC.''

Replace all scanlations with RAW

 * 1)  16:00, May 28, 2013 (UTC)
 * 2)  16:09, May 28, 2013 (UTC) There are not many scanlation images on this wiki so it won't be hard.
 * 22:18, May 28, 2013 (UTC)
 * 23:13, May 28, 2013 (UTC)

Keep them as they are

 * 22:12, May 28, 2013 (UTC)
 * 02:43, May 29, 2013 (UTC) (I believe in what image is better.)

Poll Discussion
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where's this poll coming from? I never saw any test poll or anything. According to the poll rules, we should have had some kind of test poll up before this thing got started. I'm all for resolving this, but I don't like this poll. I don't like either option, and I feel like there could be more, but we need to discuss that first. I move for cancelling this poll. 22:32, May 28, 2013 (UTC)

Well, since nobody was participating in this forum anymore after a few days of talking, even after bumping it, I thought we should just start the polls to get it all over with. 23:19, May 28, 2013 (UTC)

You can put up a test poll if nobody posts for awhile, but polls shouldn't be started without giving people the opportunity to see what the poll format will be. I really don't like this poll, since it leaves out the option for compromise where we edit/create scanlation images to match our own spellings, etc. 00:18, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

Hey, I haven't made a poll for a while... So please, do make changes as you see fit. My bad. 00:35, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

Then the poll should be closed and redone after discussion. SeaTerror (talk) 01:22, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah I'm closing the poll. Not even the "use blanked scanlations if they are higher quality" option was used. This needs to be redone. SeaTerror (talk) 03:11, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

Alright, then. Feel free to reset the poll in your (reasonable) terms. 05:14, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

How about one with 3 options: 1) Keep them the same. 2) Replace them all with RAW. 3) Edit or create new scanlations to keep them consistent with our spellings and guidelines.

Does that sound fair? 16:53, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

No point in creating the extra work. Using blank scans is the best way to go if they are high quality. SeaTerror (talk) 18:26, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

Just add the blank option, so ST will stop mentioning it. We all know it won't win anyways.

Other then that, I support the new poll proposition. 18:31, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah because people love low quality RAW images. Nobody actually cares about quality images on this wiki. SeaTerror (talk) 18:40, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

Some are LQ, but XScar has been cleaning a bunch of them, and they look just as good, if not better then the scans. 18:40, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

We also shouldn't delete the allowed ones but keep them the same. SeaTerror (talk) 18:42, June 25, 2013 (UTC)

In any case, here's a draft on how I think the poll should be: Conditions are 300 edits for 3 months to vote. How does this sound? 01:57, June 30, 2013 (UTC)
 * 1) Change all the "allowed" scanlations to RAW.
 * 2) Keep them as they are.
 * 3) Make some personal edits that are deemed allowable.

Bad because you refuse to listen to anything related to blanked out scanlations. Quit being so bias. SeaTerror (talk) 02:04, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

There's no point having a blanked out scanlations for maps and diagrams...if they could be blanked they don't belong in the Scanlation Images Allowed category in first place. But for clarification, is this poll just restricted to images in that category, or all scanlated images used across the wiki, including those with blanked text bubbles? 05:21, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

All of them, I guess people just didn't have time to find those blanked out ones in the past. And ST, blanked out scanlation is bull-and-cock. Might as well use some other language scanlation that is available at the first mark, if you put it your way. 07:31, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

You really don't get it. Most of the time the blanked out scanlation images are higher quality than the RAWs. Even AFTER they get cleaned. SeaTerror (talk) 08:10, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Blanked out scanlation is still scanlation. Rules are no scanlation in general. Now we are trying to eliminate the usage of scanlations altogether, so blanked out scanlations are the targets. 16:14, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Stop being a troll. You're own arbitrarily and asinine hatred for scanlations is making you blind and bias. Not to mention the fact that blanked scans are allowed until RAWs are available. The point has always been we should use the highest quality image available and that usually the blanked out scans are higher quality than even cleaned RAWs. SeaTerror (talk) 18:28, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Apparently you're the biased one, against RAW. Blanked out looks like white blots all over the page. Can we just start the polls? 19:02, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

That's a giant lie and you know it. I support the highest quality images only. Even after RAW images are cleaned they are usually awful and the blanked out scan versions are still higher quality. Even a well cleaned RAW is usually beat out by the blanked scan images. You just have some extreme hatred for scanlations and scanlators in general. Maybe they stole your lollipop when you were a baby? Who knows what the arbitrarily reason is. SeaTerror (talk) 19:05, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Keeping on topic, the most problematic images are the ship diagrams for the Going Merry and Thousand Sunny. I can't see an effective way of using the RAWs for them without losing necessary information. All the other images could probably be replaced without too many issues. 19:14, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Well, the captions can serve as information legends and whatnot. To solve this issue, I suggest that we just start the poll. 20:42, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

The blanked out scanlations option has to be on the poll regardless. But nobody takes you seriously since you're so bias. SeaTerror (talk) 20:46, June 30, 2013 (UTC)


 * This kind of comment has nothing to do here. As you've been asked many times, discuss using facts, not personal attacks.

I see no comment asking me any time so there is no "many times". What I said is a fact and not a personal attack anyway. Just read Yata's comments and you will see him give no real reason for not wanting them and won't even CONSIDER having them as an option on the poll. That is the pure definition of the word bias. SeaTerror (talk) 21:13, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

I say include them on the poll, just for fairness sake. We all know they won't win.

I'll draft the poll below. 21:19, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

I fixed the last option to what it should say. The issue the entire time has been that we should be using the HIGHEST quality image. SeaTerror (talk) 21:21, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

Good, we can start right away, if no more opinions. 21:44, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

I'm quite interested on the third option, but can you clarify what it means? (I know I can't vote, just curious). Oh, and I also agree that higher quality images should be considered more, over images with lower quality. I'm sure the fans of One Piece would rather view a higher quality scanlation than a uncleaned, low quality RAW, they don't really care as long as the quality is good (and most clean raws don't look as good as Scanlation, most of the times). 23:30, June 30, 2013 (UTC)

You know, our own scanlations. 01:52, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Do you mean that we use scanlation images and replace the text with our own english text? 01:58, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

We can use even RAW and add our own scanlation text into it. 02:13, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

That is not what it means at all. It means we can use blanked out scanlation images. SeaTerror (talk) 02:14, July 1, 2013 (UTC)



I proposed that rule, and what I intended it for was only for images in the category Scanlation Allowed Images, which were pretty much mostly SBS images/diagrams, with a few images from Chapters. I do not mean for us to self-translate every single manga image, just the few images that really need English translations, and featured incorrect translations by our standards. I made an example on the right.

Regarding the poll, I don't think option 4 makes sense to have on this poll. The way ST intends the option to be is that we replace all manga images with blanked scanlation images, because in his mind they're always higher quality than raws. However, every other poll option deals only with the images in the category. It doesn't make sense to have one option in the same question that has a significantly wider reach than any other option. It should be removed from this poll and discussed as a separate matter in a separate forum. I don't intend to say this as a way to silence ST's opinion, but I just don't think it belongs in this particular forum. This forum and poll should deal only with images in the category. 02:17, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I just want to know: Why do we want to get rid of scanlations? If the problem is the english text, we can just blank it out. I don't see any harm of using scanlations, the way I see it: high quality > low quality. 02:35, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I don't see any reason with removing the scans in that category. If those images were in Japanese, what would be the point in having them? 02:55, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

They're honestly kind of pointless, since we can just use the captions. 03:10, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Locked the test poll so it doesn't look like the poll is already over without any votes.

@ST, your love for blanked out scanlations have gotta stop. JSD is right, with that 4th option, you'd get rid of all RAW and use scanlations all the way, with your love for scanlations here and there, and you say I am biased. 04:59, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Sorry for not letting this go, but there have been problems in the past with issues being not fully discussed before starting the poll. Here is an image with a lot of Japanese text, whose equivalent is currently on the wiki as an Allowed Scanlation:

https://imageshack.us/a/img823/3958/j2q.png

If Option 1 wins, how will you fit all of that into a caption? Even if you wrote out all the information in a separate paragraph, you wouldn't have the arrows pointing to the elements in the picture, and the text is arranged too haphazardly for directions like "left to right, top to bottom" to be effective. 05:45, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

None of you are right. I said the highest quality image should always be used which is USUALLY the scanlated images. The RAW images could possibly be better but it is pretty damn rare. You have not once given a real reason as to why the high quality blanked out scanlation images should not be used. So yes you really are the bias one. SeaTerror (talk) 06:17, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I told you my reason so many times, and blah blah blah, you said no reason. It looks crappy, blanked out bubbles, like blots on the page, like characters talking mutely, like white marks on the center of the bubbles that telltale the markings of the scanlation text have been erased. Also, sometimes you can see the scanlation marks here and there, even if most of them has been cut off. And let's face it, sometimes people add in their own fillings for things being cutoff due to scanlations, and sometimes there are scanlation texts that can't be erased so easily due to them being part of the images (which would leave a blanked out spot in the middle of the image). Here are your reasons, happy? 08:20, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

We could always blank out the box, then add the RAW Japanese text in, like what I've done, although I did a really hasty job at it. Someone could do it way better then I. And what do you mean by scanlation marks? Are they the scanlation logo or watermarks? We could always exclude the mark from the image or find another scanlation image without the mark if we really needed that particular portion. 09:21, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I wouldn't really have a problem with using scans with raw text added back in, as long as the scanned image hasn't been significantly doctored, like this one of Marine base 6-5.

And is everyone in agreement that option 4 doesn't belong on this poll? As I've said, we can have the conversation about raws and scans in general, but it needs to be outside this forum. I would actually like to make some changes/clarifications to the general policy, so I can promise such a forum will not go ignored. I won't make that forum until ST agrees that it doesn't belong here though. 13:06, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Yup, option 4 should at least be altered, if not removed. InSaiyan actually has a good idea as well, if we could add that as an option for the poll. 16:55, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I guess I'm the only one who actually read this forum.

In a related issue, manga images that have emptied out speech bubbles are not considered RAW, they are just adulterated scanlation images that we use on desperation that we cannot get our hands on the actual RAW yet.

My point of this forum is: eliminate all scanlations, either by replacing them with raw or outright deletion. Yatanogarasu Talk 04:22, April 10, 2013 (UTC) So yes this forum is also about blanked out scanlations. SeaTerror (talk) 17:14, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

The issue of the raw never being available anymore is gone ST. It's been released the moment Mangapanda releases (or earlier) consistently since Chapter 694. 17:15, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Doesn't change the fact that those RAW images are still usually low quality. SeaTerror (talk) 19:29, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

The best way I see is: If the scanlation has a better quality over the RAW then we use that BUT we blank out the english text and replace it with the RAW text. That's what I've been doing and nobody seems to notice, or just ignore, except for one individual. So people complaining about the english mistranslations can be pleased and the people who wants higher quality images also pleased. Examples of some I've done are here:  and. As I've said before, noone seems to notice, it pleases both sides of the argument and it's easy to do. Although the ones I've done had been hastily completed, I'm sure somebody else can do a much better job. 03:00, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

I don't think anyone is opposed to the idea of adding Japanese text to scans, so I don't think we need to poll that at all. If there's ever an issue with the scan though, we should obviously revert to a "true raw" after discussion on the image's talk page.

That takes care of the issue with blanked scans overall, but it still doesn't deal with images in the category. Are we all ok with proceeding with the 3 option poll to settle the issue of Category:Scanlation Images Allowed? 03:19, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

Adding Japanese text to scanlations would just be stupid. You might as well just be using the RAW. SeaTerror (talk) 05:20, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

Didn't you already establish that the quality of RAWs are lower than the quality of scanlations, it wouldn't be the same as using the RAW. I thought your goal was to allow scanlations to be used or do you want the scanlation to to have english text? 05:59, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

It makes absolutely no sense to add Japanese text to scanlated images. It would be basically editing images twice for no reason. The images would be fine left blank. SeaTerror (talk) 08:47, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

It'll be no problem for me editing the images, I actually find it very entertaining to do, like a hobby. I wouldn't mind leaving it blank either but the problem is, the others don't want blanked scanlations. However, they seem to agree on having scanlations with RAW text. 09:01, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

Apparently ST doesn't get it: blanked out images with too much speech bubbles are just ugly. 16:35, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

Only Yata doesn't want them and doesn't have a real reason for it other than "ugliness" that doesn't even exist. SeaTerror (talk) 18:07, July 2, 2013 (UTC)

No, he's not the only one who thinks that. And we're better served to have the raw text rather than a blanked image, because we can then refer to our own images when we need to make a decision based on translation. Since we are dedicated to staying accurate to the original publications of One Piece, and therefore the Japanese version first and foremost, we should keep images that are as close as possible to our Primary Source, the Japanese manga. I can't overstate the encyclopedic value of having our images be from the primary source. It just makes us more accurate, whereas blanked scans just show laziness and aren't helpful. If people are willing to make raw/scan hybrids, you shouldn't complain ST, since you won't be doing the work related to them. 02:03, July 3, 2013 (UTC)

Raw/scan hybrids aren't primary source though, since scan groups tend to redraw parts. If there's text outside of a speech bubble, then the scan group has erased it and filled in the blanks, which is clearest on the cover pages that are filled with ads. And InSaiyan has been using MangaPanda scans, which definitely shouldn't be used under any circumstance (they're so smudgy that they look worse than the raws). When I see Japanese text on an image, I like to know that that's the way the image originally appeared in the magazine or volume (barring cleaning to compensate for the cheap paper they use in the magazines). 05:38, July 3, 2013 (UTC)

I think the quality of MangaPanda scans are better than RAWs, guess it's just me. But since you don't like the quality, we could always use another scanlation group, there's another out there that may have better quality. I only plan to use Raw/Scan hybrids for character infoboxes, locations, scenes etc, not for cover pages. The cover pages should only be RAWs since it's really hard to make hybrids of them. 06:05, July 3, 2013 (UTC)

After comparing MangaPanda scans with other scanlation groups, I agree with Zodiaque, the MangaPanda scans are very smudgy and ugly in comparison to other scanlation groups, although I still believe it's slightly better than uncleaned RAWs. However, I've found a different source that has no watermarks, and could be used as the base for Scan/Raw Hybrids. 06:14, July 3, 2013 (UTC)