Why is copyright infringement tolerated on HN?
This is in the FAQ at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html and there's more explanation here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989
https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19041410 and marked it off-topic.
People who click on it may or may not be infringing (that's really unclear).
How are you supposed to discuss something that is not freely distributed?
Personally, I would feel no loss if all paywalled articles were simply omitted.
You could make the argument that HN readers shouldn't upvote the things they are upvoting, that HN would be a better place if people didn't upvote the things they are upvoting, or that there might be a longer term benefit to be gained from accepting short term losses by eschewing paywalled articles. Those are all things people could argue.
But the fact that they show up on the front page with regular basis is explicit evidence that, even if you feel they have no value, other people do.
No, it's not.
If those of us who despise this could downvote the article, then your statement would be correct.
>On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other
You're omitting the counterbalancing force.
Altering that execution isn’t copyright infringement, though admittedly, outline puts its toes right up to the line.