My Fans

This, sadly, is typical of the feedback I get on a nearly weekly basis.

“Is that how you get your stories? Stealing”

I don’t feel like explaining the difference between a translation and a original to Pirate Jenny. Or that all my translations are linked backed to their sources and marked as such. Or that, often as not, especially when it comes to Facebook “op-eds” and original artworks, I ask the writers and artists for permission to translate their stuff and publish it here. Or that I snap most of the photos I use on the website myself, and I credit the images I occasionally borrow. Or that I frequently write my own editorials when the Holy Ghost moves me. Or that this website is tons of work, all of which I do myself.

I have never got even a ruble in outside funding and little thanks for this work, only a steady drip of crap comments from stealthy Russian and non-Russian creeps like “Jenny.” I’ve been doing this gig for eleven years and I’ve just about had it. I think the website serves a good purpose, the readership has been going up year after year, but nearly all of the people who read it are, apparently, freeloaders who think that sharing posts—the only tangible reward I get, because reposting turns more people onto the site and makes me feel like getting up early in the morning to translate or write yet another post—is a luxury they cannot afford.  {TRR}