MangaDex Forums

Sorry to hear this.

Unable to check the link, guessing it's a channel with permissions that only allow entry for certain users?

Yes, you need to be Group Leader or above (this is metadata contribution related)

So this is the rumoured channel Atifus once told me about... and yes, you need to report your own profile with your Discord username to give you privileges (in case you qualify, of course).

Why is this paywalled now even though all of the scripts were once all open source? And why was there was a disagreement between staff?

For some context: A community member started a non-profit project called MangaBaka, meant to bring together multiple manga trackers while staying connected to the sources and helping with metadata contributions. Many people welcomed and joined the project, including some MangaDex staff.

The owner talked about possible ways to cover server costs in the far future, like using affiliate links (which MangaDex has been doing for years). But then a NamiComi staff member forced the owner to stop using MangaDex as a source, claiming they owned all the metadata and making baseless accusations. Afterwards, they sent the owner a legal document to sign, demanding that they either never collect any money or pay a 50% fee.

Keep in mind that MangaBaka is just a hobby project for the owner, didn't violate the API AUP, and that MangaDex’s metadata is mostly copied from other sites and maintained by community contributors.