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I was surprised that it's still considered rude to link to sci-hub: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14714577#14715252 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=

I was surprised that it's still considered rude to link to sci-hub: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14714577#14715252 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14714577#14715252 Anyone know if this is a typical sentiment? I'm just curious if it's true that many researchers are offended by this movement, and what the reasons are. I firmly believe that there are always two sides to any topic, so we should explore the flipside. What are some arguments against blatantly opening up access to paywalled articles?

isoprophlex 9y ago
I was a small time academic once, and I shared all my stuff by linking to scihub. My university paid 500-2000€ / article in extortion errrrr i mean publishing fees. That should be more than enough.
carbocation 9y ago
If someone were to post a link to a pirated version of one of my academic publications in a Hacker News discussion with me, I would be relieved that I didn't have to do it myself to let people see it.
currymj 9y ago
further down, the author in question says he supports sci-hub and is happy to see it linked so that more people can read his work. he was just surprised that someone would post a link so blatantly to a pirate site. on the other hand, he says that he knows researchers who would be upset by this but doesn't give their rationale.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Yeah, I should've clarified that I was curious about the people he mentioned. Researchers contribute some of the most valuable comments to HN, so mainly I wanted to avoid making them feel unwelcome. If linking to sci-hub ends up shooing them off HN, it's not worth the cost. It seems like the sentiment is in the other direction, though. Maybe most researchers don't care.
kken 9y ago
Well, this is linking to IEEE. I have mixed feelings about this, since IEEE is actually doing a good job about publishing. They have far better reviews than most other journals, and members free get access to most journals anyways.
- tnecniv 9y ago
  Plus they tend to make old articles free pretty quickly.

isoprophlex 9y ago

I was a small time academic once, and I shared all my stuff by linking to scihub. My university paid 500-2000€ / article in extortion errrrr i mean publishing fees. That should be more than enough.

carbocation 9y ago

If someone were to post a link to a pirated version of one of my academic publications in a Hacker News discussion with me, I would be relieved that I didn't have to do it myself to let people see it.

currymj 9y ago

further down, the author in question says he supports sci-hub and is happy to see it linked so that more people can read his work. he was just surprised that someone would post a link so blatantly to a pirate site. on the other hand, he says that he knows researchers who would be upset by this but doesn't give their rationale.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
Yeah, I should've clarified that I was curious about the people he mentioned. Researchers contribute some of the most valuable comments to HN, so mainly I wanted to avoid making them feel unwelcome. If linking to sci-hub ends up shooing them off HN, it's not worth the cost. It seems like the sentiment is in the other direction, though. Maybe most researchers don't care.

kken 9y ago

Well, this is linking to IEEE. I have mixed feelings about this, since IEEE is actually doing a good job about publishing. They have far better reviews than most other journals, and members free get access to most journals anyways.

tnecniv 9y ago
Plus they tend to make old articles free pretty quickly.