Oh, hey... If you're still checking this site and reading this news post right now, all I can say is wow. You're freaking AWESOME. I love you all, loyal readers. You make my day every time you leave a nice comment or come onto the IRC channel and say hi! Anyway, onto the story of our dramatic past...
So it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, huh. Maybe over a year ago since my hard drive crashed? You're all probably wondering what's the deal with no releases in forever and the promises of aliveness in the last news post. So here's what's up.
SUMMARY if you don't want to read the rest of the post:
Lots of technology drama = long hiatus. I just got most of the data back. Sorting through it now and seeing who's still alive. Will let you know how it goes.
Backstory:
As Siu (MidnightStar) mentioned in her post, my hard drive crashed over a year ago because of a defective drive (I HATE YOU SEAGATE) and I lost EVERYTHING. And of course along with all of my personal data, I lost everything I had for MangaArt, including any work in progress I didn't upload yet, new scans I didn't get a chance to upload yet, etc. Luckily we still had our ftp, so not *everything* was lost (except for the rest of my life). I was too bummed out about my hard drive and in a state of distress, along with school, so I passed the baton onto Suyara, who continued to run MangaArt for me. She did an awesome job running it! But alas, she too fell to the technology monster (and life). Our ftp was going to expire, so as you can imagine, we were in a state of panic. Some of our staff (Suyara, keppim, and Lenners I believe) managed to download everything (I hope) on the ftp and keep it on their computers as back up. So we were okay there. But we didn't have a ftp for a long time, so everything went on hiatus for a long time. I then got us another ftp, but then Suyara already got to experience a life without MA work, and so did I so neither of us wanted to do any work, so MA was left to the wayside in our pursuit for actual lives... Yeah. MA is cursed. The technology gods hate us. :(
Fast-forward to a couple of months to the near present. Siu messaged me out of the blue one day and was like... So... MA. Let's bring it back! I resisted, really I did. But alas, I have a sort of MA addiction. It's like my baby I've nurtured and seen grow/devolve over the years... It was hard to let go, and there are just some projects I really wanted to finish. I hate leaving things hanging. Also, I really do love our little group. We have some of the BEST STAFF EVER I think, and our little IRC channel is always fun and wacky. Anyway, yeah. Once you've done this for so many years, it's hard to leave, as Siu and I can attest to (both of us supposedly "retired," although we kept helping out in secret). In any case, I really missed doing some of the MA work, even though I'm probably suicidal for thinking that (it's really stressful running the group sometimes... see crazy Anniversary releases). And school was almost out, so I figured why not.
Present story:
So I messaged keppim, who has been with us FOREVER to grab all the stuff from him and see what we managed to salvage. That was over three months ago, around the time Siu made her newspost. We had some problems. So anyway, I FINALLY managed to download all the MangaArt data we managed to salvage after my hard drive crash and loss of ftp. All 33gbs of it. Special shout out to the always amazing KEPPIM for being so cool about it all and backing it all up during the emergency and sending everything to me TWICE (first time, half the data got corrupted, the second painfully slow time finally succeed).
I'm in the middle of sorting through all the information now and trying to figure out who the staff were again as well as who might still be interested in continuing work (we're probably down to less than a handful of people now, but meh). So stay tuned and we'll see what we can do. If we're lacking any translators, we might be screwed since that's the one thing I can't really do (at least not without it sucking out my whole life).
My plans now are to just sort out everything. If everything's fine, I might aim for at least one chapter a month. I'm still in the middle of school, and it's my last semester, so I imagine I'd be really busy/rather do other fun things. We'll see. I'll try to keep you all posted for the few people who still check this site. We really are grateful for all of your support over the years!
Lastly, I want to take some time out to thank all of the staff who have helped to keep this group going for as long as it has (despite all the problems we've ran into throughout the years).
Siu - You've always been the phantom of the MA, cheering us on and giving us moral support!
Suyara - This group would've died a long time ago without you! Please come back~ We miss you so much!
keppim - You are seriously the pillar of MA. We wouldn't have been able to come this far without you, that's for sure! Thanks for putting up with all the abuse all these long years!! And seriously, your edits are GODLY.
I wanted to specifically highlight these three. Two of them (Siu and keppim) have been with MA since the beginning and still continue to push MA through all the hard times we've been through. Siu, the reviver, has always been the one who brings MA back alive whenever we're about to die. Keppim has consistently edited for us since the very beginning and always someone we've been able to rely on to help us out in times of problem. And Suyara, she's just awesome. She's only been with us a couple of years, but she's done so much work in that short amount of time that it's really crazy. Not only has she done so much work for MA, but she's also super fun on IRC! The channel's never the same without her!
Now, for the rest of the staff (former and present) who have really made a big impact on MA in one way or another in alphabetical order:
Arlein - Thanks for all the Angelique manga you sent me! I'll try my best to finish this series for you. Good luck with everything!
Asahina - Even though you've retired a long while back, we're still working on a lot of your scripts! You've been able to provide us with so many translations in the short amount of time you were here, it's ridiculous! We wouldn't have been able to be as productive as we were without you! Even now. If you ever want to return from retirement, you know where to find me ;)
cutiepie - You're still a new editor, but I love your enthusiasm! Thank you for working on the edits even after me and Suyara have disappeared into oblivion!
Daffyd ap Morgen - You've provided us a lot of quality proofreads in the short amount of time you were with us, so thank you!
deanna - Thanks for sticking with us despite the many problems we've been having! You're one of few translators who haven't ran off! And your translations are so awesome. Oh, and you're a great sensei too. ;)
Galen - We wouldn't have been able to finish several of the series without you! Your scans have always been amazing. Sorry for all the ftp problems we put you through. :(
gika - Thanks for all the Andante edits you did for us! If you ever get bored of retirement, we could always use your skills again :)
icemarle - Dude, MA would NOT have turned out this awesome without you! You always had the best quality in everything you did, and I'm jealous. You're going to be a kickass professional translator one day, if you haven't already. Stop by sometime so we can catch up.
Infornography - Oh info, I don't even know where to start with you. You're like our secret pimp, always supporting us in the sketchy shadows. Thanks for believing in us and supporting us for so long. In many ways.
Lenners - You kick ass in so many ways. I've wanted to steal your talents away from your group and monopolize it for our group. In any case, thanks for putting up with my nitpicking and continuing to help us despite your other commitments.
MiMi-chan - Oh great founder, the cult that is MA would not be in existence without you. All hail /o/
Nekomusume - Thank you for supporting us since the beginning, even before I was here. Hope you're having a blast in Japan, and here's to many more years of IRC fun!
njursten - Thanks for coding this site so well and all the times you helped host our releases. Hope you'll stop by again sometime and catch up. :)
Oren - Oreo, you are great and a fast learner. Thanks for all the moral support and QCs. And thanks for actually thinking we're cool despite our dorky ways ;)
projectGenesis - You're weird. One of the few people from the very beginning who still stick around. You must have the MA bug like I do. But I love you for it. And we WILL go snowboarding eventually. Here's to another 10 years of fun ;)
Quteapie3 - You would've been a super staff if circumstances were different. Whatever you're doing now, I hope it's going great! Pop in from time to time if you ever get bored.
ranoshi - Thanks for all the great proofreads you provided. Take your MA-trained skills and kick butt at school!
zira - You need to go on IRC more. So we get to relish on your awesomeness. But in any case, cheers to being with the group since the beginning! Now moar trans... :p
I'm sure I've missed many more staff, but there were really too many over the years! If I've left you out, I blame it on my goldfish memory. Feel free to message me so I can correct this error and find some work for you ;) (Just kidding on the work part, but I could be serious about it if you want... *hint hint*)
And of course, I can't leave out the IRC people. Our IRC channel is one of the things that makes this group great, despite the zany characters present there. We've had many a fun late nights there. Shout out to: Potato, ceres_gal, highwind, isengaurd, cccnnn, Gari, Puma, be0wulf, friday, Raspberry, RPG_Gamer, shibomi, Thousand_Master, whiteboo, Khris, Delta (yes, even you D:), etc. I'm sure I've missed many and there are some new people I've never talked to before, so sorry! You all know who you are though.
Lastly, but obviously not least, thank you to ALL the leechers and fans! You guys are seriously sometimes the main thing that motivates us to continue at times. Thanks for all your support! Let's hope we can continue the fun.
(Wow, that was the longest post I've ever written. Never again.)
