If they're worth donating to, then yeah, they work hard, they're doing a nice deed, it's like giving a tip to a waiter/waitress. Like some of the other posters said, they gotta earn it.

With regards to obtaining raws/server:
- I think it's a cool idea to pool money, as long as the scanlator is trustworthy.
- But personally I feel uncomfortable taking money from others for that. My group took a batch of donations initially because we were caught off-guard, but even before that, we were determined to be able to make it on our own. We're grateful for the support we received, but we feel cool being able to support ourselves.
- Also yeah, I do agree with another post that said that it's unbecoming of a group to say that they're in need of donations. Find a sugar mama/daddy somewhere at least, lol. In our case, we were at a point where we bit off more than we could chew after the first year, so the second year we were like, oh shoot, we don't have enough money, LUL. So yeah, pretty situational, but in general I don't think a scanlation group should expect donations.

Of course you.......all of us.......have a "right to judge" in this context, in any context for that matter, you shouldn't ever think that just because you're not perfect it somehow negates your ability to recognize right and wrong.

No, what most people are saying, in this and in the previous poll, is that it's one thing saying "hey, it cost me 50 bucks to get this tank, anyone wanna help/throw a buck or two my way to help out...?" and it's an entirely different one to say "I'll do this work when/if I get two hundred dollars" or "I've done this work, go to my private site and pay to see it first"

Yeah, you're darned right I can judge those very small number of "groups", they're actually, really stealing now, they're openly creating revenue/income that artist/publishers can point to as concrete, verifiable losses, something actual fan scanlations doesn't produce. As you say, none of us are authorized to redistribute any of this stuff, but in effect selling it.....yeah, that changes the equation entirely, sure I can judge.

yes, they can ASK for donations, translators are expensive to hire and they work for essentially free, but demand is where I draw a line because in the end it's still piracy.

Are you sure you're not contradicting yourself within the same sentence?

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To anyone that answered "NO":
Let's say you absolutely fall in love with a manga - but no one is willing to scanlate it, and you don't know Japanese.
Would you be willing to hire a professional translator to scanlate it?

The question is about scanlators though, not about leechers.

What's the point of asking me whether I would pay for a scanlation? (I wouldn't, I can read it as is.) The relevant question here is whether I should charge for my translations that I already do as a hobby. If I do, then it's not scanlation as we know it anymore. It's not a hobby, it's a job.

The only way to keep a hobby while getting paid is to accept payments in the form of tips, i.e. gratuity for work already done, not any kind of explicit or implicit contractual obligation to provide work in the future. However, when leechers offer money, that is not their understanding. It's always about "Do more and faster, and I'll pay you five bucks, maybe".

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While I can see what you're saying in concept, you also have to remember that the amount of money people are likely spending on a donation to a scanlation group is much less than they would spend if they bought a series, so the amount of money isn't exactly analogous to what they would be spending on an official release (even an untranslated one).

Sure, in an ideal world, every person would buy everything they wanted to read, and money would go to the creators, the translators, and everybody else involved in the project... but that's not the reality that we live in.

Still, I've heard some people say they not only donate to scanlators but also buy the currently in-print version of a scanlated series that they're reading to support the original creators. These guys are the true MVPs of support, and I truly respect them. However, it's unfortunate, but not all of us have the luxury of having that amount of disposable income.

I suppose in some respects this is turning into a conversation of "do you support piracy or not?", and, well... I guess my opinion is that I appreciate it existing because of my own situation, but I can understand the damaging effects it can have for creators. Still, I blame the structure of capitalism and a dwindling economy for that damage more than I blame piracy... even though both of them cause some amount of damage.

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Jammin' Scans

::End of Transmission::

The point is that a major portion is thinking it is only OK to pay for scanlator's expenses like "raw and server bandwidth", and that they shouldn't be compensated for the actual work done at all.
So the question is a kind of "but what if the scanlator had other expenses, like having to hire a pro translator?"

And asking about "leechers" is to make them put themselves into the scanlator's shoes instead of looking at them from their high moral horse.

The trend I noticed now is that scanlator use their platform to ask donation for other stuff that is not scanlation related despite some not that active in scanlating i.e 4chps/year or less.

I saw scanlator asking for donation in their scanlation website for pet insurance, pet medical fee, house moving fee, family in need of money, rent, money for new *item* etc.

This is no longer scanlation. Scanlating is essentially a hobby. If you cannot afford it than don't do it.

Also scanlators are voluunteers, if they're missing a core member they should recruit not resort to HIRING.

The general understanding of "scanlation" has always been "for fans by fans". If you want to hire someone who doesn't care to do the work, don't call it scanlation, call it something else -- for example, "piracy" or "copyright infringement". Then the question becomes "Should pirates ask for donations?", and the obvious answer is "Pirates can do whatever the hell they want."

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The one that does the hiring is a fan (and much bigger fan, as he is willing to spend money on it)- he's just not a jack of all trades and don't want to waste his time looking for another volunteer then the same work can be done much faster, easier and with higer quality by a pro. If you have no problem paying for his distribution services - translation shouldn't be any different.

P.S. Hiring a translator to translate a copyrighted text that was obtained legally is not a copyright infringement, so your options are invalid.

It doesn't matter who does the hiring, once "hiring" is involved, it's not scanlation as we know it anymore. Come up with a different name.

Also, it's not the action of translation that would be copyright infringement, but distributing it afterward.

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I agree on everything you said