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Ask HN: Is it OK to post on HN references to articles which require subscription?
I personally find it very annoying when someone posts a reference to an article which requires a subscription in order to be able to read it. A typical example is https://www.wsj.com
It's great that some subscribe to WSJ, I would imagine that the majority does not. Should HN guidelines include a suggestion to only post references to articles that can be opened without registering?
- steanne 9y agofrom the faq: It's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds. In comments, it's ok to ask how to read an article and to help other users do so. But please don't post complaints about paywalls. Those are off topic. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
- dmitryame 9y agoI'm not complaining, I'm asking the HN community, what does everyone else think? Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks it's an issue. But what if I'm not the only one? Would it warrant some change in guidelines in this case?
- steanne 9y agothe guidelines say it's okay IF there's a workaround. if there's a workaround then it meets your requirement of "can be opened without registering".
- dmitryame 9y agoIn case of WSJ, the workaround requires not just a subscription, but the paid subscription -- yes, you have to pay $$$$ to read the article. It's very annoying and disrespectful to the community. And it ruins the spirit of the open resources like HN.
- dmitryame 9y agoCan you point out the workaround to WSJ posts?
- steanne 9y agoi didn't say there was one. i don't know one way or the other. what i am saying is that IF there isn't a workaround, you're right that it shouldn't be posted, but that isn't actually a change to the existing rule. i think you're just asking for better enforcement?
- grzm 9y agoThe most common one is via Facebook. This thread from today provides an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15092446 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15092446