Reposting from chapter comment bc from what I can tell, I don’t think people understand why sniping is perceived the way it is
—-
@Agathafk
In the grand scheme of things, yes, fan scan/translators don’t own the series. As individuals, at the end of the day, you’re free to make your own decisions and owning up to them.
What I just want to clarify is the reason why sniping is perceived the way it is: yes, all scan/trans groups carry the risk of potential legal trouble. But the reason why they risk it is bc they want to make series accessible to readers who otherwise may not know about it or able to obtain/read it. With this sentiment, most groups share the same intention.
With sniping, it takes those intentions and turns it into a competition. Whoever updates last starts to feel discouraged & that they wasted their time & energy, since that effort was suppose to go into making something that was previously
unavailable now accessible. More than one group working on releasing the same content just isn’t productive and doesn’t add anything new to the scene (if they’re both of passable quality; in cases where the quality is starkly different then more than one option would be more openly embraced). It’s more productive and respectful for the scan/translation community in general (not readers, readers would arguably benefit) if sniping is avoided when possible
Rather than it being “right or wrong”, it’s more like acknowledging that sniping was disrespectful to the former group. But if that’s something you’re fine with doing and you end up releasing first consistently, then by all means, that’s the decision you choose to embrace. It’s not really about the readers bc at the end of the day, they’ll continue to read what they want to.