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Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

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Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#71

Post by amelius »

kergonath wrote: post #65
amelius wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Saying that the work could not have been done without it is basically admitting that you got papers outside the subscriptions of your institution. Not really. It could also mean: Scihub offers an efficient way to explore scientific articles, and without it, I (the scientist) wouldn't have bothered with all the different paywalls to even check if papers were worth reading. And as such, I would not have reached the s…

It does not make the work possible, though. Just more convenient.

No because a scientist can only deal with so much bureaucracy.

After a certain limit, they will go into "I will invent it myself" mode.

And here is a different argument. Scientists often have brilliant moments while e.g. showering. So they could have written: "this work would not have been possible without showers". The statement itself does not imply anything about whether they paid for the water or not. Or even if they took a shower. Perhaps the thought of a shower triggered the eureka moment.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#72

Post by slim »

enriquto wrote: post #31

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can. Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Lib…

I think if you are a researcher, you should publish directly on sci-hub (is that even possible?) Make sci-hub the greatest and most prestigious scientific publication

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#73

Post by NoImmatureAdHom »

voldacar wrote: post #70

Seriously, why would you make your awesome website less useful for everyone because a court in India wants you to do something? Are you Indian? Does the Indian government have some kind of authority over you? Are you combing through the laws of India to make sure you are complying with all of them? When you're operating this kind of site, why even bother acknowledging the existence of Indian courts, or any court that…

As I recall, it was part of a strategy with the Indian courts. She thought she might win in court ultimately, and this was necessary for that outcome. Not sure what the present state of things is.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#74

Post by miguelmurca »

voldacar wrote: post #70

Seriously, why would you make your awesome website less useful for everyone because a court in India wants you to do something? Are you Indian? Does the Indian government have some kind of authority over you? Are you combing through the laws of India to make sure you are complying with all of them? When you're operating this kind of site, why even bother acknowledging the existence of Indian courts, or any court that…

Read the article!

> The latest lawsuit, filed in India by three academic publishers, including Elsevier, asks the High Court of Delhi to block access to Sci-Hub throughout the country. While the case is pending, the court has instructed Sci-Hub to stop uploading papers to its database. The order is not unusual; what’s surprising is that Elbakyan has complied. She has a history of ignoring legal rulings, and the Indian court has no power over Sci-Hub’s activities in other countries. So why has she chosen, at this moment, to give in?

> One reason is that Elbakyan believes she has a shot at winning the case, and her odds might improve if she plays by the rules. “I want the Indian court to finally support free access to science,” she said. If that happened, it would mark a significant victory for Sci-Hub, with reverberations likely beyond India. Victory remains a longshot, but Elbakyan thinks it’s worth the hassle and expense.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#75

Post by smt88 »

slim wrote: post #72
enriquto wrote: post #31

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can. Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Lib…

I think if you are a researcher, you should publish directly on sci-hub (is that even possible?) Make sci-hub the greatest and most prestigious scientific publication

This would be wonderfully altruistic, but it would be career suicide as well.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#76

Post by xtracto »

tbabej wrote: post #28

I really wonder how this is going to play out. For those who don't follow the current situation with Sci-Hub, Alexandra (the creator and likely the sole operator) of Sci-Hub shut down the part of the website ("the magical proxy") that is responsible for fetching the papers that were not previously retrieved. This was done to comply with the request of the Indian court, as described in the article. As a result, any pa…

I'm pessimistic. Long before sci-hub, library genesis and Alexandra there was ebook-club / library.nu and Smiley (its creator). When it closed it was described as the burning of the library of Alexandria. There were a lot of non-technical books on that site and it was amazing. Still, it lost the battle.

Ultimately, sci-hub will unfortunately get the same end. Until the Scientific society stops maintaining the leeches that are the scientific journals, nothing will change.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#78

Post by jeroenhd »

slim wrote: post #72
enriquto wrote: post #31

This is extremely infuriating. Alexandra Elbakyan has done a huge positive contribution to human civilization, even knowing that it was putting herself at personal risk. She's just 32 years old. How can we help her? Does she need money, public support, vpns in every country? Whatever she needs, mankind is indebted to her and we should help if we can. Anybody who has ever supported their research using Sci-Hub (or Lib…

I think if you are a researcher, you should publish directly on sci-hub (is that even possible?) Make sci-hub the greatest and most prestigious scientific publication

I don't believe you can publish on Sci-Hub, but you can join the open access movement by publishing your work on sites such as Arxiv where anyone can read your work.

If every scientist published their work on open access platforms, Sci-Hub wouldn't need to exist in the first place.

Re: Is Alexandra Elbakyan in real trouble this time?

#80

Post by Aeolun »

kergonath wrote: post #33
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but Sci-Hub isn't illegal. There's nothing wrong with visiting the Sci-Hub home page, nor with using it as a convenient way to access open-access papers.

Right* (depending on jurisdiction, ymmv). Getting from it articles that you cannot have otherwise is (except for the vanishingly few articles in the public domain, which are not really likely to be found on Sci-Hub anyway. I tried). Saying that the work could not have been done without it is basically admitting that you got papers outside the subscriptions of your institution. It is also against the policy of all the…

> Saying that the work could not have been done without it is basically admitting that you got papers outside the subscriptions of your institution.

Isn’t that exactly the point? How is it not hindering scientific progress if you do not have access to research that you don’t pay for.

It’s not like the journals themselves fund the research, they’re just getting a free ride.

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