This conversation is somewhat unfocused. When Is started this thread a year ago, I was so interested in containing the conversation I didn't think of how it should be had.

So, I asked myself "what are we asking?"

1) Is it unethical and/or bad business to paywall your own content?
2) Is it unethical and/or bad for the guro industry to steal and share pay walled content?
3) Because data online is infinitely and immediately reproduceable, paywalled content almost inevitably leaks. Because it's almost a law of nature, is there a point to retaliation? In otherwords, should be people stop complaining or do they have a right to complain and, potentially, a right to retaliation through lobbying for copyright rules on websites or some such.

===

I do want to say. Try to remember that artists are not your enemies. They work just as hard as you do or harder to produce their works, some spending greater than 12 hours a day on training and drawing.

And: artists are not rich. Ayaswan doesn't make ends meet off of guro. Most artists also have to work a 9 to 5 on top of their hours of daily drawing.

The artists who become well paid through a mix of luck, community outreach, and skill are often placed under the harshest and strictest of expectations. They already react to the facts that we're discussing with new business models because their careers are at the whim of the market we're discussing.