masher14

While I certainly understand where this is coming from and can sympathize to a certain degree, I'm also angry at this development.

Why angry?

Because you did not give us an appropriate reaction time at all.

Let's take us small scanlators who only release here (and on relatively unknown forums).. Had we known about this, we would have, at the very least, written a message to our readers in our last release and brainstormed with them for new options. Now we're either forced to push out half finished chapters (if possible) to get such a message across or hope against all odds that people will find their way onto our respective forums, facebook, tumblr and whatnot sites or simply go down with the tide. And that is only for those groups that actually possess these sites. At the very least you should also create an option to export the scanlation groups catalogue, so that one may look up the links collected on there and check which manga was scanlated by what group. Mangaupdates does not have site links any longer if you remember.

As to your own words, this has been in the run for several months, yet you did not bother to inform the community. Had you not wanted to pass on the torch to someone else, people could have tried to realize an alternative by now. In this thread alone (I've read up until page 47 or something) and on /r/, there are a bunch of people offering help in either continuing batoto or creating something new. There were even those who claimed they were software/website developers and the like and had the money to finance such an endeavor. By keeping the information to yourself until the very last minute, you are, in fact, acting terribly selfish because you actively hindered people in stepping up before this goes down. I respect that you don't want to continue this site and am grateful for all the work you've put into it until now, but with your modus operandi you're throwing rocks into the path of those who do not want to see the scene go down. And that is so self-centered, I could scream. Up until page 47, not even ONE person was able to name a decent alternative or go-around because you've put us on the spot. Private trackers are not an option for everyone, the same goes for IRC, and let's forget about the chances of getting into a private community now, and you know it. You're sort of spitting on the efforts of the small scanlators with your refusal to share the info well in advance if you don't want to give some else the opportunity to continue batoto (And I'd like you to remember that the contributors also put in a lot of work over time uploading and managing the chapters). And that I cannot and don't want to forgive. I had been wondering for some time now why batoto seems to have become a lawless area and mods were not removing spam etc anymore. But it makes sense now. Y'all were tipped off in advance and the rest of us now takes the brunt.

Even if one of the locust sites would open up the submission of new chapters by hand, some of us would not post or read there due to our moral compass. For one, they actually enrich themselves upon the hard work of the mangakas and scanlators (on top of being ad and virus infected ...holes) and, two, they (with their scraper bots) are actually a big part of the reason you got so stressed and, in the end, decided to quit. So supporting the very sites who are to be blamed partly would be an affront.

For these reasons I find myself incapable of just sending you off with a smile and wishing you only the best. The bitter taste and the "what ifs" remain. But, for what it's worth, thank you for providing us with an option for some years and working so hard during that time.