I was wondering, what's your preferred method of supporting a translator? and why? Outside of licensed pay sites, I personally mostly just use Ko-Fi whenever I can because I'm in a tight budget. Patreon where the "Tiers" just give you advanced chapters are, for me specifically, weird, but I understand the reasoning of it (specially since some paid sites use the same method), although I don't know why I don't enjoy the idea of using "Patreon", but I tend to overlook those because I don't want to subscribe to a free service, and going to the lowest tier doesn't do anything to increase the release date of the next chapter for free users... I understand it from a translator perspective, but I just can't use it... I don't really have anything other than "I feel dumb if I give this translator money monthly and I don't get any kind of encouragement"... I know I'm wrong, it's just a feel I have... even if I'm aware that this translations are usually better than the ones that just ask for donations. And lastly, "Paid Translations" are... quite expensive per chapter, but I also understand them because their translations are usually top notch and you're basically funding it on your own. I personally try to donate more to someone with a "Ko-Fi" (or other one time donation thingy) than paying a straight up subscription in Patreon, or single handedly funding a translation. I'm averse to subscriptions because I don't want to go trough the hassle of canceling one if I can't pay that month... but when I have the chance I try to be generous in "Ko-Fi" That's my reasoning, I wonder what other people think about this.
personally? none of them cuz this cat actually just read free stuff~ sound bad? maybe~ it because this cat passion not as deep as game perhaps~ there was time this cat have no hesitation to spend money to buy item mall, hmm you know buying in game item such as cosmetic or enchant helper~ pay subscription method and such~ but for novel translation this cat never have same passion~ at best just clicking ads or say thank you or spread da word~ still this cat can understand other reader who have similar passions toward novel translation as this cat have toward games~ it just don't expect this cat will do da same to novel translation~
Honestly, i don't like common payment models where u pay to read earlier per chapter even so i normally dont support with cash. An exception to this is if i can buy it till the end of a book. Imagine supporting something and they just stop midway. (Webnovels im looking at u) I read ALOT. I am not financially comfortable with spending on every title i read. Specially if the story is just so-so. I'd prefer an app subscription. Something like kindle unlimited or even just netflix where i can pay a fix amount monthly for unlimited titles/chapters. Another way to support is through reviews. Coz even if i don't contribute cash, hopefully a wealthy guy or two may be encourage to try and read then like the story enough to donate.
Tbh, I only pay for professionally translated books, and I only pay the price that the volume is being sold for, I don't pay anyone to translate them... My money is too limited to spend on fantranslations, it's just not cost-efficient enough for me. In any case, I like the patreon model more than any other because it gives a reliable income to the person providing the service. All other methods tend to be unreliable and not give the content creator a feeling of safety that they'll be able to pay their bills next month.