Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended • Hacker News Board

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#41

Post by PragmaticPulp » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

machinehermiter wrote: post #20

As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them? There has to be some threshold but I just don't understand how this threshold hasn't been crossed for more people. I don't want to see Twitter legislated or controlled. The counter balance and equilibrium should be doing crazy things causes a massive loss of users so crazy things do not happen. T…

> As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them?

HN is social media (we’re here posting things and socializing, right?), so I’m assuming you’re referring to Twitter and Facebook type sites instead of social media in general.

I admit that I’ve used sci-hub a lot, and I strongly agree that publicly funded research shouldn’t be hidden behind paywalls.

However, ethical debates aside, I also have to admit that sci-hub’s activities are violating copyright law, whether we like it or not. I’m not going to pretend to be surprised when public companies choose to suspend accounts which violate their policies. If anything, it’s helpful to have consistent guidelines for what is and isn’t against their policies. Obviously they can’t have perfect enforcement of every Tweet and every account, but I can’t really blame a company for consistently enforcing policies which are consistent with the law.

As for social media: I’m a light Twitter user, but I don’t go to the site for Twitter itself. I go for the connections I’ve made on the site. Most of the people I know who are boycotting Twitter for whatever reason aren’t people who actually liked using the site in the first place, so their boycott isn’t really much of a statement.

Likewise, I don’t use Twitter or Instagram or HN or any other website as my exclusive source of interaction, so one site’s enforcement of their honestly quite consistent policy isn’t some sort of dire threat to my freedoms. By now, we’re all well aware that no website is perfect and no social media platform can keep everyone happy at scale. If I rage quit every site that did anything anywhere that I didn’t fully like, I wouldn’t have many social platforms left (HN included)

Refusing to use any platform unless they act in perfect lockstep with our own desires is not a realistic expectation at scale.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#42

Post by nradov » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

machinehermiter wrote: post #20

As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them? There has to be some threshold but I just don't understand how this threshold hasn't been crossed for more people. I don't want to see Twitter legislated or controlled. The counter balance and equilibrium should be doing crazy things causes a massive loss of users so crazy things do not happen. T…

Some people want social media to be a force for political change and social justice. I think this is a mistake and goes beyond what those platforms are suitable for.

Personally I just want to share my photography with friends. Social media works great for that. I'll probably never quit.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#43

Post by varelse » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:18 PM UTC

b9be520d93286 wrote: post #38

Their platform their rules. Scihub can create their own twitter. Edit /s for those missing the point

Why that's true! It's a real shame some people don't understand there's no first amendment protection on social media. Nor is there at your day job, but I digress.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#44

Post by cblconfederate » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

machinehermiter wrote: post #20

As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them? There has to be some threshold but I just don't understand how this threshold hasn't been crossed for more people. I don't want to see Twitter legislated or controlled. The counter balance and equilibrium should be doing crazy things causes a massive loss of users so crazy things do not happen. T…

We need an alternative. Simple personal Rss will do. Users will go wherever the techies tell them to go

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#45

Post by rvz » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:22 PM UTC

b9be520d93286 wrote: post #38

Their platform their rules. Scihub can create their own twitter. Edit /s for those missing the point

There you go. They can suspend or ban whoever they want and whenever due to their slippery 'guidelines' and even if you criticise them or attempt to sue them over this, they will just say: 'Too bad. We just a private platform and the account violated our guidelines.'

Do people 'really' think that they 'own' their Twitter accounts when they can be taken away in an instant?

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#46

Post by OrvalWintermute » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:24 PM UTC

submeta wrote: post #7

I am no scientist, and I have no access to paywalled platforms and publications. So Sci-Hub is my only available option, and it is increadibly valuable when it comes to doing research on a specific topic. - I can remember the old days of the internet, pre-wikipedia, when encyclopedias were a paid thing. And I did not have the means to subscribe to them. And I remember the days of the internet pre sci-hub, where a lay…

The optics of this from a power and privilege perspective is abyssmal.

I can just imagine how negatively this effects scientists and researchers in the developing world, that lack so much content because these miscreants have absconded with so much from us. They did not create this content, they are worse than accursed gatekeepers, serving only to compile the work of others, then extract blood. Infernal blood sucking parasites are what these companies are.

By nature of my well heeled employer I have access to almost everything. However, I think it is unconscionable now, how much of it is paywalled, rent-extracted, and hidden from view. That so much of the world is missing out on this information because some extortionists want $ for something they had minimal, if any, involvement in creating.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#47

Post by PragmaticPulp » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:24 PM UTC

belval wrote: post #28

machinehermiter wrote: post #20

As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them? There has to be some threshold but I just don't understand how this threshold hasn't been crossed for more people. I don't want to see Twitter legislated or controlled. The counter balance and equilibrium should be doing crazy things causes a massive loss of users so crazy things do not happen. T…

Other humans acknowledging your existence and even agreeing with your various opinions is a very very euphoric experience, it is true of any social media. Suddenly you have hundreds or even thousands of people that "get" you, that understand how great and clever you are. This is the drug that people can't quit. People won't quit because they'd be unable to tell people that they've quit. Another take could be that we…

> Other humans acknowledging your existence and even agreeing with your various opinions is a very very euphoric experience, it is true of any social media. Suddenly you have hundreds or even thousands of people that "get" you, that understand how great and clever you are. This is the drug that people can't quit.

It’s always funny to see people discussing “social media” as some insidious drug that other people use to get confirmation about their opinions from other people…

…as comments on Hacker News, a site that lets people post their opinions and have other humans acknowledge their existence and validate their opinions (upvotes == likes).

We can debate the differences between real names and screen names and pictures or no pictures all day, but when it comes down to it Hacker News is a social media platform and you’re participating in the very thing you’re describing. It’s time we stopped pretending that “social media” is only something that other people use, while the rest of us on HN and other social platforms are doing something more noble. It’s all the same.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#48

Post by cortesoft » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:25 PM UTC

Beldin wrote: post #9

submeta wrote: post #7

I am no scientist, and I have no access to paywalled platforms and publications. So Sci-Hub is my only available option, and it is increadibly valuable when it comes to doing research on a specific topic. - I can remember the old days of the internet, pre-wikipedia, when encyclopedias were a paid thing. And I did not have the means to subscribe to them. And I remember the days of the internet pre sci-hub, where a lay…

Not to take away from Sci-Hub, but even without institutional access, there are often alternatives: - more and more research institutes have a public repository of articles. - plenty of authors put their own (preprints of) papers on their personal website, a preprint server like arxiv, or researchgate. - lastly, you can mail an author and request a preprint. Not all will reply, but plenty will be happy that someone n…

So if you have access to all the papers anyway, why make it harder than it has to be? What is the point of shutting down sci-hub?

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#49

Post by DaiPlusPlus » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

belval wrote: post #28

machinehermiter wrote: post #20

As someone who hasn't used social media in 5+ years, what do these social networks need to do to make you quit using them? There has to be some threshold but I just don't understand how this threshold hasn't been crossed for more people. I don't want to see Twitter legislated or controlled. The counter balance and equilibrium should be doing crazy things causes a massive loss of users so crazy things do not happen. T…

Other humans acknowledging your existence and even agreeing with your various opinions is a very very euphoric experience, it is true of any social media. Suddenly you have hundreds or even thousands of people that "get" you, that understand how great and clever you are. This is the drug that people can't quit. People won't quit because they'd be unable to tell people that they've quit. Another take could be that we…

> is a very very euphoric experience

I think you're overstating it.

Re: Sci-Hub Twitter account suspended

#50

Post by einpoklum » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

b9be520d93286 wrote: post #38

Their platform their rules. Scihub can create their own twitter. Edit /s for those missing the point

Phone company cut my line today. They said I am too critical of their parent company in my conversations. But - what can I do? Their phone platform, their rules. Right?