Your question "Why PDFs in the first place?" was answered in bfirsh's comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15534583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?i

Your question "Why PDFs in the first place?" was answered in bfirsh's comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15534583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15534583). But anyway, in the context of the discussion about this webpage/project, it's not relevant to ask why these PDFs exist. They do, and the scientific community is nowhere near a transition away from them. So bfirsh is trying to find a solution to consume those existing PDFs. So think as not getting downvoted for expressing your opinion, but more for not contributing to the discussion about this particular project.