@dope0420
Here is the neutral version:
Dex has long been transparent about going legit if they could manage bring forth the majority of titles currently hosted and to hire "good" (not clear what this means) scanlators. Needless to say this is highly unlikely.
-About 2 weeks ago, a group sniped (translated and posted before the more established group did). This is fairly common. What is less common nowadays was in their scanlators info page in the chapters, they mocked the established group for being slow at translating, putting delay on posting at MangaDex and being exceedingly demanding of donations (I toned down the rhetoric a bit).
-The established group wanted MangaDex to intercede to take down the sniped chapters and changed the rules to disallow taunt pages in uploaded chapters (for those not in the know, rival scanlators and even subbers have done this for decades, targeting each other).
-MangaDex said no they do not take sides.
-The established group got into comment wars with MangaDex community and the other scanlator.
- A couple allied (not sure if right word. Friend groups?) told MangaDex to start policing the comment section, to protect scanlators and scanlators who have larger following/important series should be given more consideration.
- MangaDex originally refused both requests and told them to take it out of comment section, and instead do rival pages in the chapters
(MangaDex does not take sides), but later did a community poll if they should tighten moderation. Community said no.
- What followed was a bunch of drama on discord and lead to about a dozen (allied) scanlator groups leaving justified it using highly edited discord captures. Their claim was MangaDex was out to only make money and was using scanlators. The irony is all of those who left had Pateron accounts, many had highly aggressive ads on their sites and highly encouraged donations.
My take away? There might be malfeasance on the part of MangaDex but at this moment, it looks like it was mostly scanlator drama wanting more say in how MangaDex was run and wanted special considerations more than anything. The fact they avoided originally talking about what started the drama and used edited captures does not help their cause.
Also, reminder: MangaDex vs other aggregators
-Has no ads
-Does not rip groups work
-Gives full control over chapters a group uploads, from the delay, to the link to the scanlator's site, to official sites, to even allowing groups to take down their works.
- Has always been upfront of wanted to go legit if able
- Has some of the best quality images of any aggregator.