People may have also found the assertion that there is something “likely illegal” to be unsupported by your comment. I don’t know how the previously-linked site worked, so offer no opinion on that. Furthermore, the use of these sites is common, so it is also reasonable to question the assumption that using it carried reputational risk. And the existence of any legal risk, especially to anyone who merely clicked on the link, seems highly questionable as a practical matter. These things exist on the open web, the publishing industry knows where they are, and it would be illogical / horrible optics / very cumbersome and expensive for publishers to go after individual users rather than the service providers.
I didn’t vote, but:
People may have also found the assertion that there is something “likely illegal” to be unsupported by your comment. I don’t know how the previously-linked site worked, so offer no opinion on that. Furthermore, the use of these sites is common, so it is also reasonable to question the assumption that using it carried reputational risk. And the existence of any legal risk, especially to anyone who merely clicked on the link, seems highly questionable as a practical matter. These things exist on the open web, the publishing industry knows where they are, and it would be illogical / horrible optics / very cumbersome and expensive for publishers to go after individual users rather than the service providers.