Fansubs have been around for a lot longer than most Americans have even been aware of anime. The first anime I saw was a fansub of Tenchi Muyo back in 1995, and it was already pretty ancient by then.
Continuing the grand fandub tradition of "whisper yelling", wherein one wants to yell their lines in a grand display of Acting! but has to keep it down because they'll wake up their mom/roommate/RA/landlord/person whose couch they've crashed on for three months.