Unlike many here I grew up before everything got digitized. Neighborhood libraries and bookstores had a distant collection and allowed us to read in house. My friends and I had this plan where we would buy what we couldn't find locally and share it amongst ourselves. Etc. . . In comparison I find this platform to just be a digested version of what people did then. Everyone is donating what they bought and sharing their fan-works (translations), running similar to public libraries and manga cafes.
So I think there is a misuse of speech by saying what were doing is illegal b/c then you have to rule public libraries or book cafes under the same ruling. None of the uploaders, from my knowledge, have stolen or profited off of sharing these works.
More or less I think this platform has benefited us in unseen ways. Since a lot of us don't speak the language of these authors, no one has confronted them on some of their explicit story lines. Instead readers investing in the stories they find appropriate has influenced what we've been see released.
Just my 2c, would like to read your opinions.
