And they mention the cost of raws, the man hours and skills required to actually clean/translate/redraw/etc, as well as hosting costs. But really, on the matter of operative costs, I think the bigger cost is developer costs to actually develop features, maintain general operations, etc. As far as actual hosting goes, for most needs a simple fixed shared hosting plan is enough (even mangadex didn't start upgrading until what, mid-way into last year when it started hitting 4000 CCU?). I think that's the really nice thing, and where its real value beyond exposure lies, it takes constant feedback from its readers, scanlators, and other developers, and implements that feedback on best effort basis. Just wanted to throw that out there.
And yes, this stems from the context of the recent drama, and I am not a scanlator, just a reader. Shoot me.
And yes, this stems from the context of the recent drama, and I am not a scanlator, just a reader. Shoot me.