Yeah pretty awful. If this stuff was around when I started reading manga in the mid 2000s who knows how many series I might've skipped out on. Even though most of these are just early access, I feel like it totally goes against one of the main purposes of fan translations, accessibility. My favorite part of translating manga is knowing I'm providing otherwise unknown series to others and helping people discover something new. Not everyone can just pick up Japanese (日本語上手！！) so helping people access their hobbies is really fulfilling and gating that behind a patron is shitty. I know the pain of being a poor kid whose parents wouldn't support their interests.
Yeah pretty awful. If this stuff was around when I started reading manga in the mid 2000s who knows how many series I might've skipped out on. Even though most of these are just early access, I feel like it totally goes against one of the main purposes of fan translations, accessibility. My favorite part of translating manga is knowing I'm providing otherwise unknown series to others and helping people discover something new. Not everyone can just pick up Japanese (日本語上手！！) so helping people access their hobbies is really fulfilling and gating that behind a patron is shitty. I know the pain of being a poor kid whose parents wouldn't support their interests.