Okay, thats the ethics of fansub watching… what about the ethics of fansubbing?
This is trickier. If you just watch fansubs, then it’s fairly easy to reduce the harm being done to the industry on an individual basis; just don’t do any of the bad stuff. On the other hand, if you make fansubs, people will abuse them in your name and you -do- have some culpability in it. What can you do? Unfortunately, not a whole fragging lot. I’ll try to hit the high points here. First, look at the reasons that you’re going into fansubbing. “Want to spread awareness of a cool title” is good. Still good, but not quite as, is “I saw this and can’t wait for a pro translation… I’ll do my own!” Not so good would be “I can do this better than (x) company”. If “I can make a good buck” crosses your mind, -change it-. Fast. You’re choosing to go into fansubbing. This means that you’re going to put a lot of work into making the sub, timing the sub, getting the translation, tweaking the masters, mailing off tapes, and what have you. For all of your hard work and effort, you will be lauded b
