Leecher
Synonyms: | leech, freeloader |
See also: | bittorrent, Fansub Distribution |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In general usage, a leecher is someone who gains benefit without effort on their part—a freeloader. The term is commonly found in several online contexts. One of the most well-known is bittorrent, where a leecher is anyone who is still downloading a file (as opposed to a seeder, who has finished downloading and is only uploading).
Fansub Fandom
In English-speaking anime fansubbing, the term leecher has come to mean the people outside the immediate anime fansub community who do not contribute to the creation of anime fansubs or do not participate socially with the fansubbers, but who still download fansubbed files.
Leechers: These people are generally those who are not involved with the creation of subs and distribution. Generally, the consumers of fansubs, who give nothing else back except for the little bandwidth through .torrents and file servers. Otherwise known as the "masses," they are the unseen faces that download the 300k copies of Naruto for personal use and watch the fansubs in anime clubs.[1]
Arguments regularly pop up regarding which fansub groups are catering to leechers, rather than the inner community, since download numbers are one way fansubbers can one-up other groups subbing the same series.
Leechers are often parodied for asking questions like where?, sometimes even before a series airs in the original country.
References
- ^ What is Fansub? - Anifecta Accessed Nov. 24, 2012.