This is good to know about Scribd. Up until now my encounters with Scribd have generally followed this scenario: I'm reading a news article[1] and notice a lin

This is good to know about Scribd. Up until now my encounters with Scribd have generally followed this scenario: I'm reading a news article[1] and notice a link to some of the source documents for the article. I click on the link and then am sent to a scribd page that displays the document along with nice little download buttons that purport to let me download a copy of the document[2]. Of course clicking any download button gives me a modal telling me I either need to "Login with Facebook" or create a scribd account. Back buttons are pressed, tabs are closed. In the example links above these documents are not books, they are not part of a curated collection put up by the "serious author" or publisher of the document. It looks much more like a publisher looking for an easily linkable or embeddable document viewer was snookered into believing that by uploading the document to scribd it would be easily accessible and "available" to the world. There are countless scribd accounts were I imagine the author really intended their upload to be freely available, not used as bait for scribd to suck people into account creation. For example, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory[3], various government officials[4] or agencies[5], and in fact entire scribd categories seem to be documents which are neither authored by the uploader, or copyrighted at all, such as public court filings[6]. I think your "Netflix for books" is a great idea, and might even be something I would go for, except for the really bad taste the above interactions leave in my mouth. These documents don't fit into the two categories you say scribd is really good for and you mention you are sorry you haven't done a good enough job explaining who you are as it has changed over the years. A great place and way to explain this would be right next to a download button for this type of content that doesn't require someone to "Login with Facebook" or create an account. Instead of getting the feeling I've gotten suckered by clicking on the link, I might think it is great you are hosting and making available this type of content and I should explore some more about this "Netflix for books" thing you are talking about. [1] For example: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/in-18-months-feds-got-nearly-300-complaints-about-bitcoin-miner-maker/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/in-18-months-feds... [2] e.g.: http://www.scribd.com/doc/204954147/Lolli-v-BF-Labs-Journal-Entry-of-Judgment http://www.scribd.com/doc/204954147/Lolli-v-BF-Labs-Journal-... [3] http://www.scribd.com/USNRL http://www.scribd.com/USNRL [4] http://www.scribd.com/SenatorMarkUdall http://www.scribd.com/SenatorMarkUdall [5] http://www.scribd.com/stlouisfed http://www.scribd.com/stlouisfed [6] http://www.scribd.com/browse/BusinessLaw/Court-Filings http://www.scribd.com/browse/BusinessLaw/Court-Filings