Ask HN: Should something be done about paywalled articles?
Many articles linked on HN are paywalled, and I dare say most people do not have access to them.
Yes, sometimes someone posts a bypass in the comments. Yes, you could use some archive bypass yourself. No, it is not practical nor consistent.
This is not about the morality of paywalls/bypasses or whether sites deserve money.
Sometimes big news will end up paywalled and an often subjective HN title is all you have to work with. And like I said, most people likely do not have access to the site.
My question: Should HN encourage posting open alternative sources? Should mods replace popular paywalled links?
2 comments
[ 7.2 ms ] story [ 50.3 ms ] threadShould mods replace paywalled links? No. I'm sure HN's filter bots can reliably detect paywall links, but removing them also removes the discussion. Presumably some readers do have access, and so the forum serves that minority. People who would accuse HN of advertising for these pay sites can suck it.
1. I'll go through the list of paywall-busters, and sometimes
2. just put the title into the search bar to see if the paywalled article has been syndicated. Quite a few (I can't say many) articles are syndicated by MSN, and many paywalled journal papers are indeed freely available from other journals, arxiv, and the author's institution.
In the latter case, the OP really should check and save a lot of repeated labor. The freely available copies are as ethical as can be to access. Either a syndication fee was paid, or the material was free in the first place and some troll put up a paywall.
My opinion.