A “scanlator” leaks their releases on manga-reading sites. Then makes her projects private and imposes the condition that interested readers must make a “donation” to gain access to their translation.
Scanlation has always been considered a “grey area”, and the only way scanlators justify their actions is by claiming that they personally make no profit from it.
I can totally get behind groups not providing DL links or setting up their own readers. I can understand asking for donations when scanlators need to buy raws (which often involves costly shipping charges) and to meet web hosting fees. But this person, in my humble opinion, is cheating both the artist and the readers.
This person is not being commissioned for translations. What she’s doing is to take someone else’s intellectual property, modify it and then essentially selling it. What’s more, the projects she picks up - most of those mangas are actively being worked on by other groups -  she just translates the extra chapter (omake). Welp, you’re free to work on whatever you want and I don’t really get the logic of doing only the extra chapter, but I thought I’d mention it anyway coz it struck me as weird. Maybe she doesn’t want to disrespect the original scanlator working on that manga, but then why touch that project in the first place?
But I digress. I know for a fact that this person lives in Japan and holds a job, so it’s not like she’s a poor student living in some distant or backward land where raws are hard to come by. I won’t take names because I’d rather she doesn’t get any more publicity or get harassed. Suffice to say that she used to be on the scanlation scene some time back, before quitting, and now she’s popped up again under a different name.
If you’re an artist or, in this case, a translator, it’s only fair to ask to be paid for your own work. But this person (or pirate I’d say) is not a licensed publisher, nor has she asked the mangaka’s permission to translate into English. What makes her think it’s fair to demand money for something that the original creator will get no benefit from?
Are we witnessing the birth of a new Tazmo?
Whatever the case here may be, it can’t be denied that her tactics are classic bait-and-switch: first lure in readers then put up a pay wall for substandard work. Readers shouldn’t fall for such dishonest methods, but since it’s their money, it’s up to them how they choose to spend it. If you’re still reading this post, I’d advise: don’t get coerced into paying for half-assed translations that in no way support the mangaka. Either wait for the manga to get licensed or a scanlation with no hidden terms and conditions.
tl;dr if someone’s demanding that you pay for stuff that they have no right on, give them the finger & walk off.