I was surprised to see the quality of writing go up, not really knowing which group posted it. So I read the page with the long text. Usually, I think of them as advertising, a 'we-need-a-translator' page. Because some works here include advertisement pages that I've learned to ignore it.
I thought it was some weird internal fight. Really not sure how to take upon the comment of sniping, as I've never really known about much of it before.
Basing on what's already happened, here is what I honestly feel: the sniping announcement needs an edit.
The tone of writing sets off some kind of indignant feeling. It's not because of the sniping part, but the part where they assume that they have an authority to give permissions to other groups to allow them to translate something. It's not mentioned as a fact that, as a group, no one can translate without the AUTHOR'S permission. Assuming they have a hold on this work is kind of silly. It's one of the parts that put me off the whole note. Don't worry, I support you. (Just not that note.)
Another part of the note that caused confusion is sniping being a bad thing to do – for me, who has not heard of this, I would have wanted an explanation from the translator: what is it, and why is it bad? Give an example of what it has caused. Getting this information from the announcement would have helped a ton, because I assumed that the translator was angry about competition. I had to sift through the comments section to understand what it really meant, and I'm glad I did.
From what I've learned, sniping isn't a polite thing to do. Someone tried to take over this work by posting the NEXT chapter of D&A's last release, instead of posting from chapter 1. That's not a good sign, because it can cause the first group to be disheartened and discouraged, which in turn could make them drop the release.
Another thing to note is: D&A has a community that loves and supports them, and has a lot of people anticipating their release. They probably have announcements there of their releases, delays and other things. They are held accountable for their actions, and therefore would be observed if they muck around their announcements.
(Though they did the same thing, didn't they? They posted chapter 9 of the second group's last release. Which made them a sniper, too. Probably a bad example to set, after mentioning that sniping is BAD.)
The second group has no such thing, I think. That's what is bad. There's no promise they can uphold their words unless they put themselves out in the open. This means no future chapters if they get tired of translating. No idea what kind of work they do, too. We know nothing. They're hiding in the shadows, and trying to goad people into commenting stupid, useless comments.
(I hate that part, because it's reminding me of social media people who beg for "likes" or other similar points that give someone attention. It's useless, and it makes a mockery out of the people who genuinely want to comment with more words than what they want.)
Sure, the fast updates nice. (Grammar needs work, and a lot.) But the lack of plans for the future is not nice. If the first group drops this, what happens when the second group does it? No translations. Another group picks it up? Start from the beginning. Perhaps with high expectations on them, too.
Things that can possibly happen: second group posts the first few chapters they have missed, so they are not considered as a sniper. First group could also try not to be too angry that someone else is trying to translate the work because they love the work, too. Both of them could post. Maybe they could take in the other group. Teach each other.
(Or they both drop it, so someone else will pick it up.)
Edit: didn't know it, but the other group has posted chapter 9, too. They mentioned the DM.