you know when you have a good and interesting show, its when people want to listen to it through a remote receiver when they cant at their own location for whatever reason it may be.
i do this all the time because the pirates i want to listen to, dont normally come in strong enough on my own receiver for pleasurable and enjoyable listening.
even though some online SDR's dont exactly provide the same fidelity in sound, its still better than nothing at all and it does sound pretty great overall through a very good sound system.
when i am listening and not broadcasting, its not just about "logging" pirates to me, its about listening to them and providing feedback about their program especially when their programming is interesting and good.
if this hobby was all and only about "logging" pirates, then there would be no need for those of us to take our time to create the unique and interesting programming content, it would be easier to just transmit a carrier with a looped station ID.
as a pirate myself, im more interested in the programming and content feedback (whether i create my own content or relay it) as well as the quality of the sound than how well the signal reaches a particular area, i can use an online SDR to gauge my signal strength if i wanted to find that out as there so many of them available now in many different locations (no pun intended to the hobbyists).
Take RFW for example, his unique programming was so interesting and good (and hysterically funny) that folks would listen to his mixlr live stream when they couldnt receive his broadcast locally - i miss those days relaying his live broadcast, those were the real fun days at 5150Khz.
if anything, online SDR's have made it easier for me to listen to some of my favorite pirates.