askerian | Was asked to pimp this, and hey, why not. u.u *flexes pimp muscles*

Kamina Saves was created by a group of friends to help a mutual friend pay for her breast cancer treatment bills. We are not claiming that any of this money is going to any kind of charity. We'll be honest: it's not. But we can promise you that none of it will be used for any personal purposes.

Basically you give them a little money and they write fic/draw pics/make icons/translate doujinshi for you. See info page for *gasp* more info.

kaminasaves

kaminasaves

Note, I haven't tried it or anything, seeing as I can't use money online T^T but I spy a couple of users who have been around a good long while, have a nice internet rep, and wouldn't hopefully blow it all on a scam, but on the Internet you never really know. But the prices start very low, so hey, in the unlikely case they all disappear you'd only be out five dollars. XD;

I'm actually reasonably sure it isn't a scam. I mean, there's no mention of cameroun inheritance anywhere in their user info. u.u

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Oh hey, I might see if I can pay them to translate some doujinshi for me! *_*

Ooooh hey they're offering a service like doujinshi translation for pretty cheap, so if it's not a scam this is pretty much a win/win situation.

okay, this... really cheeses me off. ^^;;;; Why? Because of the fandom aspect of the fundraising.

The reason that so many companies look the other way when it comes to fandom is that no one but them makes money off their creations. When someone else sells fandom-related stuff, they now have a financial incentive to come down hard with both feet on fandom -- see also LJ's various hyperreactions before anyone had actually even done so.

I don't care how good the cause is. If the cause is that good, they should go on and do their fundraising by using original characters and original scenarios. Bake some goddamn cookies or something. Just don't get the lawyers involved by announcing to the world how they plan to use someone else's intellectual property for profit.

I can see your point of view, but please go tell them, don't tell me.

I don't think a big company is going to sue for a five dollar doujinshi getting translated -- they don't sue for the doujins themselves, and art commissions aren't exactly what I'd call uncommon so if they wanted to sue over that, they would have a long time ago already. The fanfic side, now, eh. Being given money and THEN writing a story to specifications for the personal pleasure of the commissioner, and hopefully the free enjoyment of the rest of the public, is different from binding your great fanfic masterpiece and trying to have it sold in bookstores -- people at auctions do it all the time and they've never been sued as far as I know. From what I can see, they're just offering commissions and that's not exactly new in fandom.

Anyway, it's not me you should debate it with. I'm posting this because a friend asked and it took me five minutes, not because I'm espousing a grand cause I'd be willing to end on fandom_wank for.

I would tell them about it, except that they've got their contact info locked. ^^;;; Since you'd posted about it by request from someone who I assume is involved, I'd figured that you'd know people who were involved in it and would have a better chance of passing along the "WTF, guys, make your money using legal means please" than I would...

Here's the slippery slope I've seen happening over the past 6 months:

Last year: either this wasn't happening or I wasn't involved in communities where this happened, I dunno.

Several months ago: "We're all fans and we make awesome stuff so we'll auction whatever we make (both fandom-related and non-fandom-related) for the sake of defeating Proposition 8, and here's all our info so you'll know it's actually going to charity!" The non-fandom part of that was fine; the fandom-sales part was getting dangerous, but I could see the fandom allure of doing something illegal to fight a law that should never have been passed, and by the time anyone got lawyers mobilized, it would all be over with anyway.

The problems I see with this one that I haven't seen before:

(A) They say up front it's not for charity and have offered no objective proof to the fandom community that it's not a scam.

(B) They've set it up to go on indefinitely.

(C) They say up front that it's *specifically selling fandom-related works,* not "anything our members can create and our members are joined by the concept of belonging to a fandom".

I can give the icons and such a pass, because it's almost like hiring a few minutes of Photoshop skills. But they really, *really* should not be selling fic for profit, because although they don't care much in China, Japan, and in some parts of Europe, the lawyer-happy US (where LJ is based) is more than happy to slap $200,000 copyright-infringement lawsuits on college students for making 6 MP3s available on their hard drive. (In one case, it was literally less than a dozen MP3s that triggered the lawsuit.) I have no idea how the RIAA picked their victims, but that was part of the point -- nobody else knew how they picked their victims either, and the threat of "OMG it could be me next" was part of their psychological warfare on the culture of piracy. That's why LJ freaked out so much when the crazy crusaders decided to take pitchforks after the Harry Potter porn writers who *weren't even selling their work.* In the US, the point where money is involved is the point where lawyers are involved...

I'm sorry to be rambling at you, but the fact that they've locked the contact info makes it hard to get in touch with them if you're not already in the inner circle or, in your case, know someone who is... which seems to me to indicate that they know what they're doing is more against the law than the precedents. :(

There's contact info on every post they made to the comm, plus it's easy to go to their personal LJs and check there. Or leave a comment. As for the rest I thought it was clear that they meant it's not going to a charity as in it's going straight to their friend. I admit the lack of name and info for said friend is bugging me a bit, but it's not easy to talk about either so maybe they just wanted to shield her from the stress. *shrugs*

But like I said, please don't discuss it with me. I'm not involved. My friend isn't participating either. She just knows them. Just go post a comment bringing up your concerns, it's not locked. And take screencaps just in case, I suppose. ;p

Well, let's take stock of their offerings, shall we?

Commission for fic, yeah I can see where you are coming from there. Especially if it's ML or Anita Blake fic, they have their panties in a twist about fan fic. Remeber the good ol' days of fanzines? I don't, but my fandom does, had to pay for them since they had to be printed on paper and mailed to you. Much better quality fic though.

Chibi drawings, don't see the problem there--it's not their fault if someone asks for something fanish, and people sell fanart all the time at the conventions. You're dattebayo Naruto looks to be in that style, cute.

Icon sets, manga character. Something people can and DO for themselves, but they can hand over some money and feel better about themselves and get it done. Not a big problem. Esp. given how the Japanese seem to feel about this thing.

Art on demand. Again, conventions. Also, emphasis seems to be on OCs!

Profile layouts. No issue.

Headshots of your OC. No issue.

Scan translations of...Doujin. Yes, Manga chapters are also mentioned, as are sites and etc. However? Hands down it's going to be mostly doujin, which is technically illegal anyways, and the Japanese love it, free research/promotion and all that jazz. NEXT.

Icons again. Only this time, GASP, they're colored.

They could do bullshit of "Oh my, you donated five dollars to help my friend out? lemme draw you a picture to thank you!" Which would amount to the same thing. There is OC stuff in there too, so...

Anyways, I will say this, yes, in some of these cases the copyright holders can bitch, but it's going to save someone's life, and that would be a massive PR fallout, hmm? These people are using the skills they have, in the furthest reaching manner they have, in order to save their friend's life, not that you care *points at your comment* could be to adopt a puppy, or put him to sleep.

And you know what? It worked. I saw it on one of my comms, a small one for doujin, and not in any fandom Askerian is in. Now it's Askerian's LJ, which has a high readership levels. That's fandom circles for you.

*pokepoke*

Nice explanation, but I would be thankful if y'all could keep it civil in my lj, pretty please? I don't want to wake up tomorrow with snark and flames filling my inbox to the top.

As you command, Your Divinity. *bows and scrapes and such and such*

BTW, I recognize the manga panel in your icon, but in your mind, who's penis does Sasuke not want to touch?

(Funny thing, grandma always says the word with with the honorific O- suffix.)

\o/ I know a few of the people in this group from role playing and such (well..more like two fjd) and I can say that they're really nice people. I don't see them scamming at all and I only wish that I didn't have my own bills to pay so I could help them orz

Was asked to pimp this, and hey, why not. u.u flexes pimp muscles

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