What can ya do better?

Well a reply and edit feature for comments would be super!
More Yotsuba!
A Japanator banner with various anime characters all over it? I always like those things :)

Other than that, I really love the site guys! Keep up the work!

I'll keep reading as it is, but I can do without the naked lolis and their image galleries that seem to be taking over Japanator.

As for adding things, I want more Karen Gellender. Don't ask me what I mean by that.

Oh yeah, the edit and quote buttons, like Shiro Senshi says. I can't believe I forgot about those two after all this time. Is there a particalur reason there's still no such thing?

First off: hire me. I'm only sort of kidding there but we're in the same city and I'd like to write for you in some capacity regardless of whether I'm paid in money or broken glass.

Second: The next "move" for Japanator should be the introduction of more "proactive" content, ie interviews, contests, historical stuff, reviews of things slightly off the beaten path, etc. The amalgamation and writing/reviews are cool but the more striking original content the better.

Third: Yeah, weekend waifu isn't my thing, but hey, kids is kids.

Fourth: The community growth thing has been a novel and rad idea so far. I like it way more than ANN's "I hate everything and know better than you!" forums. I have FUN reading Japanator, and I hope that the idea of anime as 'sirius bidnezz" stays way the hell away from J-tor.

More stuff geared towards the female readers, like a male weekend waifu edition and and some guys for idols of the week. Man day was nice but after it went back to boobies all week.

bring back tuesday otaku debate and do some video reviews and you are good.

Timestamps on comments.

pay Zac Benz more

I listened to Japanator AM for the first time today, and was somewhat disappointed. I don't expect everyone to know everything, but hearing someone completely pretend to know important details about Gundam was annoying.
I really like the concept of the podcast, but waxing faux-philosophic about series attributes and occasionally bad attempts to be funny drag the show down. Also, the usage of "an-NI-may" vs. "ah-nuh-may" is distracting.

I love the site. Just keep it classy and not Sankaku Complex.

By the way, I love Japanator Radio.

MOAR SEX

Edit/Quote buttons, and more free shit.
Actually I'm kidding about the latter. Free things are nice but I'm still grateful for the free stuff I got before.

On an unrelated note, did Brad ever find out what happened with the second Law of Ueki box?

@gwjunkie Could you email me about that? brad@japanator.com. I'm a little fuzzy on what happened.

@Psycho I hear the more stuff for ladies bit a bunch, and I'd like to include more of it, but...how exactly? Besides our obviously male-aimed galleries (Weekend Waifu, Idol of the Week), I don't see our content as overly male-centric. Then again, I'm a guy, and so I might be a bit more oblivious to the content. Also, what exactly appeals to you girls? Just galleries of pretty Japanese boys? Or something else?

I second the revival of Tuesday Otaku Debate, it was always a fun thing that got everyone involved.

As a girl Yotsuba appeals to me. But not in that way that pretty Japanese boys do. Err anyway
I second both motions for more Yotsuba and possibly more pretty Japanese boys. haha I don't japanator is necessarily male-centric, it might just be that the male-centric parts stick out more, I dunno.

Also I haven't checked recently but I know the first time you did the podcast it was hard to actually download it, so has that been remedied?

Oh and also more ducks. Just because.

I think we need a yaoi-lovin female editor to put together Weekend Husbando posts.

@Brad
Just like Mistypearl stated the male male-centric parts stick out more like the weekend waifu and idol of the week. Other then those two everything else isn't really male-centric.

The main things I can think of, feature-wise, would be the ability to reply to others' comments, a limited-time-window edit button (to append the great thing I just thought of two minutes after posting), and standard text tags for posting (are we able to use BBCode or HTML tags? If we are, I was unaware. I like to italicize words in posts).

Site content-wise, I don't have anything specifically in mind, but one thing I appreciate is the "editorial" feel of the site - I view Japanator as more the OP-ED page to ANN's "Here's your world and local news" feel, and so I don't mind it - and actually often enjoy it - when I see reviews that really laud a good series, or unapologetically (and often humorously) cut into bad ones. So...just keep doing that, I guess.

Bump for the reply and edit features for comments... that would be hot as all get out. Topless Robot's system is pretty rad, so is Anime Vice's.

Other than that... Keep on RULIN"!!!!

-Definitely edit/reply for comments.

-Fix old japanator radio links...

-More contests if you have free stuff to give away. That 20th century boys contest was cool.

Maybe have a weekly Endless Thread where we post whatever comes to mind.

It is a community thing on Pharyngula where everyone basically posts whatever they like until the thread fills up, and then a new thread is opened where we inject more inane comments and links until that fills up, ad infinitum.

Yeah, Edit and Quote options. Maybe timestamps.

Can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe less Idol of the Week and Weekly Waifu. It's getting slightly distracting - maybe make it biweekly or something, or alternate.

Appeal to the women with not just Yaoi?

Having something like a "Cute Corner" of the week and stuff it full of cuteness! Girls like cute right?

Hmm...interesting comments. Regarding the more risque galleries (weekend waifu of recent note), what is the point of warning people that the following article is NSFW when directly below is the thumbnail gallery? The last waifu post pushed the boundaries a bit, so perhaps with gallery articles the thumbnails and/or fullsize photos should be kept hidden behind the jump.

That way Jon and co get to keep sharing their galleries, while those that are objectionable about it all can SOD OFF and not click the 'continued' link...

Woops...referring to the Japanator team as "jon and co" was probably a mistake...^^

Good things:

+ Original content, columns & editorials
+ Anytime Ben Huber starts up Adobe Photoshop
+ All Karen Gellender contributions (these kind of things are so full of win)
+ News segments that are not just copy paste, but with added spicy opinion flavor

Things that can be better:

- Less shallow softcore porn galleries (if you must, then hide the risque pictures behind the jump, like xsirhc just said)
- More community involvement (for some reason I never see a c-blog promoted to the front page anymore, nor are there any monthly c-blog themes)
- Edit & Quote buttons, yes.


Overall, I just want more thought provoking, columnist-style articles and less shallow shit. I'm missing an equivalent of Chad Concelmo's "Memory Card" feature.

I agree with the Cblog promotion point, Mandril. As far as the galleries go... well, I only post 'em once a week. They're easy and fun to put together, and attract a bunch of pageviews... in other words, good filler for the weekend. I can understand why some of you might not like them, but I think enough of our readers enjoy them to make them worthwhile. Just remember, if the galleries aren't your thing, they're easy enough to ignore.

That's just my opinion, though.

Well, I still think it'd be better if the gallery images thumbnails are hidden behind the jump... If it were just the weekend waifu posts, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. However, because of this and this and this and this are just a few recent examples about how the sofcore porn creeps into my workplace regardlessly.

The gallery thumbnail thing is just the way the software we're using is built. I'm afraid it's up to the programmers to decide whether or not it changes.

As far as last Sunday's gallery posts... well, it's not every year that Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year fall on the same day. You can't blame us for going a little crazy and celebrating on holidays, can you?

I would really appreciate it if Japanator's Twitter account would make more updates at around the same time as when the actual articles go up. Plus, I've noticed Ben and Karen are using Mouseover text with hilarious results. The rest of the staff needs to get in on this action. And what happened to Japanator Kitchen? That thing had potential. Delicious, yummy potential.

Like the rest, I'm in agreement with the notions of more C-Blogs, editing comments, timestamps and Tuesday Otaku debate.

Less porn in the galleries. I like reading Japanator at uni and my god have I been lucky sometimes. Like xsirch said, there is no point warning about NSFW content when the thumbnails show it all anyway. Keep it to the C-Blogs perhaps?

It's hard to get more non-booby content when anime in general is extremely male-oriented. Can you just change the industry in general? : 3

(Also, when there IS a yaoi post, could the asshole guys looking at it not bitch about in the comments? If you don't like it, don't look at it, huh?)

But, yeah, balance the 'Loli du Jour' and 'Weekend Milk Sow' with some guy exploitation, plz.

Also maybe add the ability to follow the comments to individual posts as an RSS feed? Not sure how that works, but J-tor is one site whose post comments I want to keep track of.

Seconding the Kitchen column. I'd be happy to submit my ramen recipe!

Also, more Colette please! More Colette!!! (and someone requested Zac be paid more, and I'm just going to go ahead and second the motion ^_^)

A few things:

-Roger on the galleries. Also, we'd like to be able to hide them when they're on the front page, and we've put in for that feature on the next software update.

-Glad to hear we didn't have a "back in the kitchen" attitude that was present and I was missing. Will do what we can to space out the male-focused content a bit more, and mix it up some.

-The Twitter account is set to update with the RSS feed, and that's the best I can do. If we've got important news, I'll go in and pre-empt the feed, posting the story. If you've got a suggestion for an RSS to Twitter program other than Twitterfeed, let me know.

Seconding monthly topic (they help when I've got writer's block!), tuesday debates, edit and quote buttons over here.

Otherwise, things are pretty good . I'm happy to see that the new blood like Karen, Ben & Jon are doing as awesome as the "old" guard.

I appreciate the fun atmosphere of Jtor, but it would be classier without all the softcore galleries. The answer is NOT to balance it out with yaoi/husbando galleries, but just to get rid of it all.

Other than that, I do like the humour articles a lot. I may be a sucker for long academic papers on the subject, but its nice to come here and be surrounded with joy. That said, the writing is good here so I would like more editorials and such.

Monthly c-blog topics are relevant to my interests.

Awesome. Please keep 'em coming!

@BakaTanuki
Japanator...being classy? Japanator not posting galleries that make me chuckle?


What you trying to do?! Make this NOT Japanator?!

Thanks for the support guys! *does a dance*

I think the gallery thing is a really complicated issue for us. While I can see the appeal of doing away with it, that's one step closer to the "we're a SERIOUS and IMPORTANT anime site" approach. It's not that I'm trying to make the slippery-slope argument- as though if we did away with Weekly Waifu, we would suddenly become a hard news site like ANN, but there are still real problems with taking the 'we're too classy to post this' route.

Obviously, I'm not in the target audience for the galleries (not even the yaoi one!), so my opinion on this isn't based on what I like personally. It's based on what my interpretation of 'the Otaku's companion' is- I think we want to have stuff for all kinds of otaku. We're going to try to refine that balance as much as possible, especially in light of these comments (as Brad was saying)- but even as someone who doesn't enjoy them, I think the galleries have a place on the site.

I guess that's all I have in response to the comments- although it's great to hear that the longer editorials are appreciated, AND I would like to know what differentiates waxing philosophic from waxing 'faux philosophic'; is it anything like the difference between intellectual and psuedo-intellectual? Because I think I've got a handle on that one.

I don't think anyone would want Japanator to become super-cereal-serious, but it's nice to atleast have a little hint of thought provoking material now and again. Right now I get the feeling that Japanator is leaning a bit too much towards the sensationalist "anything for the pageviews" mentality. Not that I want to condemn that attitude, but I think it's better to build upon what makes Japanator unique. Besides, Sankaku Complex has already perfected the "otaku-tabloid" business model.

While I personally have no interest in them, I definately think the galleries should have their place (as long as it's in the weekend) and add to the diversity that Japanator has to offer.

When people like your opinion, you're waxing philosophic. When they don't, it becomes 'faux' philosophic. Same goes for 'psudeo' intellectual.

Doing away with the scantily clad galleries won't make this place serious. If anything, it will allow the staff's own creative endeavors to get noticed more. I know people who have mentioned not going to Jtor because the galleries make the place seem to cheesy.

Basically- the galleries should go, but its the fun articles by you guys that give this place its personality and those should definitely stay.

Also, Jtor radio makes my week.

More manga coverage, everything else is perfect.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the monthly Cblog topics. I'd love to see more of those.

I didn't used to feel dirty when visiting Japanator. I'd like to have that feeling back again. When you first started these galleries they were just Moe and slightly ecchi pics, but they've slowly grown more and more ecchi. And more recently, its turned into "yup, they're completely & unapologeticly naked. We're total pervs." It wasn't that long ago you guys called Sankaku Complex a wannabe porn site. Now you guys have become a wannabe Sankaku Complex. It feels like a really cheap ploy to attract visitors. Japanator should be above that, or at least it used to be. I understand if you don't want to be a serious news site, but you don't need nudity to accomplish that. Stand on your own merits if you want hits. Or at the very least, seriously dial down on the porn. I can't stress enough on how seriously this site has let me down in this regard.

-I also agree with the gallery stuff. It's fine if you want it, but keep the images off the front page please.

-I would like to see more of the food recipes too, I thought it was going to be a recurring segment, but only saw that one thing.

as a whole i think you guys are doing a bang up job. Nothing to complain about, but yea i would like to see more recipes.

Agreeing with BakaTanuki. Just get rid of the "image gallery for image galleries' sake". Readers can do Google image searches as well as writers. Let's save them for series previews or figure reviews.

as much as I love my hot nakid ladies idols as much as the next person, I think I've been seeing it everywhere. I'd like less of that please? The headers/galleries I have to avoid this site at work, even though it's NSFW material it's a bit much and I get uncomfortable.

I like Shiro Shishi's idea:
"Appeal to the women with not just Yaoi?" it's always stereotypical of girls wanting more yaoi

DVD reviews would be helpful or anime reviews in general.

1. Tighten up the layout of the flash/other images in the sidebar. I'd say re-order the segments.
2. I think its awesome having the nearly nekkid girls. Maybe move that segment down a little bit lower on the browser page and also confine the main waifu content separate from the front page so its more SFW?
3. Oh, and definitely keep the nearly nekkid girls.
5. RSS feeds for podcasts, blogs, comments. Separate RSS feeds in a clear identifiable manner. Not clear (for me) as it is. Feed for JapanatorAM.

I'll say it here just like I said it on Tomopop: View Count on Community articles.

You could try being more awesome, but frankly I'm not sure how that's possible ;)

Less pin up pictures and more news. I enjoy reading Japanator's spin on current anime news and wacky Japanese stories, lately it's just been over shadowed by too many galleries. Prehaps limit, but not get rid of some of the pin up post? People do love them. Other than that keep up the good work.


@Jon Snyder

"I think we need a yaoi-lovin female editor to put together Weekend Husbando posts"

----> yaoi fangirl, Hi ^^;;;

@Nebs: Thanks for letting us know, as I said before I don't think our galleries need to be abolished, but I can definitely understand how you feel.

@John "Madninja": Yeah, I think so to- you should be seeing more of that from now on.

@Lady Une: I'm trying to work up the guts to do more Yaoi coverage, it's just that my background of being raised by nuns makes it difficult to overcome the initial "OMG scary!" factor.

I meant "I think so TOO" above- pardon me while I go commit sepukku.

Which one? Or both?

A bit late, but I agree with anyone who said more c-blog promotion and encouragement. I would post more of them (and believe me, I have 3 or 4 c-blogs written that I never posted out of embarassment), but I feel like a pretentious douche whenever I write a blog unless there's prompt.

Also, this one already happened, but the return of Tuesday Otaku Debates was nice. Definitely try and keep it going this time!

And keep the galleries. You only post them on weekends anyways when news is slow, not like it's a big deal. When the Yaoi gallery was posted, I just ignored it and moved on with the rest of my life. Just keep it (relatively) SFW.

1. Threaded comments with threaded replies or run Disqus/IntenseDebate
2. Coverage is fine, though if you guys are going to do full H and idol galleries to compete with Sankaku, I suggest pulling it off of the front page for unregistered users and run a javascript banner on the related galleries prompting a login or registration before viewing. You don't want to risk pissing off people that browse at work and getting the site blocked.
3. The C-blogs need a better toolbox for posting content instead of the barebones formatting found now. FCK Editor integration is a good start.
4. Pimp the badly neglected forum more (fix it first) and add a plugin to sync posts to the forum for more in-depth commentary outside of the article comment section.
5. Fix your featured content slider and add selectors for arrows within the slider to make scrolling easier instead of having to wait for the slider to scroll through to a desired article.
6. Allow logins via Facebook/Twitter

@Gee-Man: You shouldn't ever feel like a douche for posting something that happens to be on your mind. Even if there's no prompt, there's a good chance someone will get some enjoyment out of it

@Japanator Staff: The galleries are perfectly fine on a once-a-week basis, but they should be more balanced.

Let me start of by saying as a multi-website owner / administrator, I can see the need for several software improvements.

First off elephant is not very user nor staff friendly, is it? A user edit / delete feature would be very nice. There are times when in the heat of conversation your mind either gets ahead or behind your fingers, you hit the post button and "oh nutz" there is no way to fix it.

Page breaks would also solve a lot of your N.S.F.W. and other issues, nothing like being able to HIDE something behind the break.

I don't know how your software / development / administration structure is, but in my case I'm it.. If it needs something extra, I do it, if it needs fixed, that again falls squarely upon my shoulders.

As for your Cblog it's nice but I've avoided blogs for several reasons .. first being the inability to categorize, then any search function fails miserably. I use the forum format, this way it's categorized and those post that NEED NSFW or similar warnings can get them. In fact with forum software I can limit who or whom can see a section or topic (Members only, Admin / Staff only) I'm not suggesting a complete overhaul of the site but If elephant is customizable software see what your people can or can't do.

As for your content and those complaints pro and con.. I've not been a member long to pass judgment, but I'll make a suggestion.

NSFW incidents are on the rise the latest well publicized one being

"Macquarie Analyst Looking at Porn During a LIVE Interview with Martin Lakos"

http://www.escoflip.com/2010/02/macquarie-analyst-looks-at-nsfw.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAx23Rt6dPk

Setting up the site where the viewer doesn't immediately see objectionable, to some, but not to others, content is a major plus. Why do I say objectionable to some, but not to others, you ask.. it's true the limits of objection are an individual preference. What is objectionable to one person the next may find acceptable.

However sociality also dictates what is objectionable and what is not..

It's up to the site staff / management to decide those things ..

Your having this open discussion among the readers is a good start....

I'll correct a couple of errors...

Let me start *off* by saying as a multi-website owner / administrator, I can see the need for several software improvements.

However *society* also dictates what is objectionable and what is not..

Yep that Edit/Delete function would be a definite plus...

I'd really like a way to link c-blogs with Wordpress.
Wordpress is superior blogging software and I'd like to be able to just post a link or have some other way to link Japan related blog posts to c-blogs and have it look good on the c-blog.

Everyone already pointed out what could be better, so I will say what I want from Japanator:

More posts about japanese things, outside the anime/manga/games world. I'm not saying to stop with anime/manga/games, I love all of that, but I also love japanese weirdness. Stuff like japanese TV shows (Gaki no Tsukai provides infinite amounts of laughter), japanese artists (from singers to actors to even those random talento), japanese lifestyle (like having an editor writting from Japan about his/her everyday life, or something like that), and more japanese music would be great!

To piggybck on Rank57's ideas, I really love the Japanese "experiences" you guys have and share with the readers. It's interesting and sometimes useful like Karen's trials and tribulations of learning Japanese.

I like the site because it has enough variety of news on pop culture stuff as well as coverage/review type stuff of what goes on in the community of ours outside of the site. Maybe a stronger focus on what Rank was talking about would be nice. I love the news coverage, as there are not many sites that cover eroge PC games and burgers in Japan out there(!), but having something to call your own that gets featured would make you guys stand out with this pretty cool community.

Definitely stay nutty! Getting sexy and freaky-deeky is fine too!

one more vote for the edit/reply buttons. Also it'd be cool to see more reviews of US anime releases, i.e. how you think the dub was, what sort of extras if any, was it a good show. I know such a thing may be sort of tedious especially since you may have already seen a new show when it was broadcast but I've never been much for fansubs or the new broadcast season shows, I'd rather read a good review of the latest box set or what have you. Also bring back the Fun Friday AMV I miss it, I know it was one of God Len's things but to see it reincarnated in some form would be cool.