4 ms·

… seems like we the HN community should find a new site to mirror with.

mr_mitm 9mo ago
There isn't one. As far as I know, no one really knows for sure how they bypass all these paywalls. (Most credible theory I heard: They actually just pay for the subscriptions.)
- chrisjj 9mo ago
  What's your problem with that theory?
  - blenderob 9mo ago
    Has people's ability to read messages and formulate sensible replies been going down of late? I see this kind of meaningless replies more and more often these days.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      Yes, there's a global intelligence crisis, due to tiktok instagram et al
    - chrisjj 9mo ago
      Meaningless? Its a clear question.
      - PKop 9mo ago
        You're accusing him of having a problem with it, which his comment does not imply.
  - mr_mitm 9mo ago
    None
- wolvoleo 9mo ago
  Most paywalls just allow search engines to read their content just fine. Because they do want discoverability, they want their cake and eat it. There's a few publications that don't even do that though and archive.is is very good at bypassing them so I do imagine they use logins for those, but for the masses of sites it's not currently necessary.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    You can't impersonate Google. Sites check the source IP and they don't overlap with Google Cloud.
    - chrisjj 9mo ago
      You can for sites that can't afford the cost of keeping up-to-date with the Google IP list without which they can lose timely indexing. That is many.
      - otterley 9mo ago
        What do you mean by “afford the cost”? The list is free of charge (https://support.google.com/a/answer/10026322?hl=en-GB https://support.google.com/a/answer/10026322?hl=en-GB) and maintenance can be fully automated.
        chrisjj 9mo ago
        I mean cost of server setup and execution.
        otterley 9mo ago
        The server that is providing the content exists already. That's a sunk cost.
        chrisjj 9mo ago
        "setup and execution".
- otterley 9mo ago
  Many sites including Bloomberg have evolved such that even archive.today don’t have the full text of any articles. They’re doing no giveaways whatsoever.
- ebilgenius 9mo ago
  Ghostarchive does a decent job for the same sites in my experience: https://ghostarchive.org/ https://ghostarchive.org/
  - ebilgenius 9mo ago
    Update: hmm seems like they're involved in this whole thing too somehow, how strange: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629646
    - cpncrunch 8mo ago
      That comment is weirdly confusing/confused. But if you try archiving any site on ghostarchive, or clicking on any existing ghostarchive links, it just says "site is down for maintenance". For now I've given up on using any archiving sites until we can find a safe and reliable alternative.
FinnKuhn 9mo ago
I think there are multiple hurdles that make a new competitor very unlikely. The first one is money. You need lots of it to run such an operation (servers, IPs, paying to bypass all these paywalls, etc.). The second one is the legality, as no one wants to be hunted by the FBI, especially not for running a website that is also losing money.

There isn't one. As far as I know, no one really knows for sure how they bypass all these paywalls. (Most credible theory I heard: They actually just pay for the subscriptions.)

chrisjj 9mo ago
What's your problem with that theory?
- blenderob 9mo ago
  Has people's ability to read messages and formulate sensible replies been going down of late? I see this kind of meaningless replies more and more often these days.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    Yes, there's a global intelligence crisis, due to tiktok instagram et al
  - chrisjj 9mo ago
    Meaningless? Its a clear question.
    - PKop 9mo ago
      You're accusing him of having a problem with it, which his comment does not imply.
- mr_mitm 9mo ago
  None
wolvoleo 9mo ago
Most paywalls just allow search engines to read their content just fine. Because they do want discoverability, they want their cake and eat it. There's a few publications that don't even do that though and archive.is is very good at bypassing them so I do imagine they use logins for those, but for the masses of sites it's not currently necessary.
- direwolf20 9mo ago
  You can't impersonate Google. Sites check the source IP and they don't overlap with Google Cloud.
  - chrisjj 9mo ago
    You can for sites that can't afford the cost of keeping up-to-date with the Google IP list without which they can lose timely indexing. That is many.
    - otterley 9mo ago
      What do you mean by “afford the cost”? The list is free of charge (https://support.google.com/a/answer/10026322?hl=en-GB https://support.google.com/a/answer/10026322?hl=en-GB) and maintenance can be fully automated.
      - chrisjj 9mo ago
        I mean cost of server setup and execution.
        otterley 9mo ago
        The server that is providing the content exists already. That's a sunk cost.
        chrisjj 9mo ago
        "setup and execution".
otterley 9mo ago
Many sites including Bloomberg have evolved such that even archive.today don’t have the full text of any articles. They’re doing no giveaways whatsoever.
ebilgenius 9mo ago
Ghostarchive does a decent job for the same sites in my experience: https://ghostarchive.org/ https://ghostarchive.org/
- ebilgenius 9mo ago
  Update: hmm seems like they're involved in this whole thing too somehow, how strange: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629646
  - cpncrunch 8mo ago
    That comment is weirdly confusing/confused. But if you try archiving any site on ghostarchive, or clicking on any existing ghostarchive links, it just says "site is down for maintenance". For now I've given up on using any archiving sites until we can find a safe and reliable alternative.

FinnKuhn 9mo ago

I think there are multiple hurdles that make a new competitor very unlikely. The first one is money. You need lots of it to run such an operation (servers, IPs, paying to bypass all these paywalls, etc.). The second one is the legality, as no one wants to be hunted by the FBI, especially not for running a website that is also losing money.