Quote Originally Posted by Quild View Post
Could I pirate Snip, Snail and Dragon Tales, I would. Without the slightest shame about it
If you're looking for me to give you my blessing or forgiveness for being willing to steal from me, it's not going to happen.

You are still saying that your desire to read my comic ranks higher than my right to control the pricing and distribution of my work. You are making the exact argument that I said was the reason people pirated, you're just dressing it up so you can tell me it's my fault. Further, you are specifically saying that decisions made by the US Postal Service justify you stealing from me, and the fact that you didn't pay attention to announcements during the 30 days of the Kickstarter does, too. You are basically saying that any factor whatsoever that leads to you not getting to read every single thing I ever write is justification for theft.

To that I say, "Bull****." I have a right to control distribution of my work, even in ways you don't like. I am not obligated to make everything available to you in a format and price that you find convenient. Your only legal recourse if you don't like how I offer my content is to not purchase it. This isn't a loaf of bread that you need to steal to stay alive, it's a comic strip. Your life will go on if you never read Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales. Only one of the two of us has their ability to feed and house themselves riding on this question, and it isn't you. I'm the one who has to worry whether putting out these PDFs will undercut sales so much that in six months, I won't be able to pay my health insurance.

And frankly, it is arguments like yours that make me want to cancel the entire PDF experiment because I know there will be people who will make the exact same self-serving argument regarding my listed prices on Gumroad and then go find it posted on a torrent site somewhere for free. I have to remind myself that most of my fans will not do that; that most of them want to pay me for what I do and respect my right to make my own decisions about how and when content will be released. That most people understand that high prices don't justify theft just because you want something really bad.

If you choose to "not feel bad" in the scenario you describe, that's on you and your conscience. But it's incredibly myopic to think that I would ever condone or accept it.