The delicate art of criticizing a saviour

Abstract

Following the discussion of silences and absences in user participation, this short paper aims to analyze the limits of participation in defining and evaluating quality of user-generated content. It focuses on user reviews of the fan-made Czech subtitles for the HBO series Game of Thrones on the fan subtitling website titulky.com. It works from the discovery that many users tend not to `review' the subtitles by evaluating them, choosing instead to praise their author or remain in `silent gratitude'. Based mainly on qualitative analysis of user reviews, the case study identifies two main reasons for this lack of participation, mainly the dependency of the non-contributing users on the translator (who is called a `saviour') and his authority and merits in the community. His dominance in the discussion is bolstered by the fact that his work was approved by the local fandom of the show's source material. Based on the case study, I argue that while gratitude drives participation in creating content, it may also thwart attempts at critiquing the content.