Basically Elsevier supporting the Research Works Act was the last straw. (And what inspired Gowers to start the boycott.) They could do this, but it would be p

Basically Elsevier supporting the Research Works Act was the last straw. (And what inspired Gowers to start the boycott.) They could do this, but it would be pretty much the final fuck-you. Not that that makes it implausible, of course. Look at the backlash at Wikipedia for just accepting account access for editors from Elsevier. That sort of arrangement has gone on with various academic publishers for years - but in 2015, it creates a backlash. (I can assure you that in and around Wikimedia, pretty much everyone's actual opinion is "Elsevier delenda est".)