Oy vey... I guess I have to pretty much say TL;DR to save myself from straining my eyes trying to read peoples responses. @
[email protected];
But here's an example (that probably has been used): The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite popular so it got licensed. Unfortunately: no one is buying the DVDs. Why? Because people have downloaded the episodes with the excuse, "Well the dub sucks anyways, etc..." when there is the option of the original Japanese audio track with subs.
So I think the main problem is the that section of the fandom that doesn't financially support the series is really hurting the industry.
And yes, I'm actually old enough to remember that anime wasn't cheap back in the day.