Inside ArXiv
22 comments
·April 19, 2025auggierose
I prefer Zenodo (hosted by CERN). More features (such as access restrictions), and no fuss about what kind of data I want to upload (any PDF is fine).
dan-robertson
Why are access restrictions useful?
auggierose
I see at least three reasons:
- I want to have a DOI for something I also sell, like a book.
- I want a DOI for something that is still being submitted, and I don't want to share it yet with everybody, only a select few (like reviewers).
- A previous version of your paper has a serious problem (could be an error, or containing a password you would rather not share), and you want to remove public access to it.
sundarurfriend
The article has a melancholic tone running through it, felt especially keenly when you consider it a microcosm of the much wider struggles of maintaining a public good: sustaining it while keeping its integrity.
When your service is small or not easily visible - while still doing significant good - it's hard to find enough people willing to spend their time and resources helping you sustain it.
When your service becomes big enough to be noticeable - which is the arXiv is in by now - it also becomes attractive to the people looking to subvert it to be something else, to enshittify it, and so the limiting factor in getting help becomes the risk to its integrity.
BlueTemplar
The power issue with platforms is a bit like with polities : sure, a platform might be great when ruled by an enlightened despot (and there's probably a survival bias here for the most enlightened ones ?), but that's only a small fraction of its life of domination, and what happens once the enlightened despot goes away (in one way or the other) ?
So it's probably better to not rely on platforms in the first place...
westurner
ArXiv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArXiv
ArXiv accepts .ps (PostScript), .tex (LaTeX source), and .pdf (PDF) ScholarlyArticle uploads.
ArXiv docs > Formats for text of submission: https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit/index.html#formats-for-te...
The internet and the web are the most transformative platforms in all of science, though.
elashri
[flagged]
empiko
I have the privilege of working with some physicists every day, and it's definitely not only boomers that do not give a damn about software engineering practices. "If it works now, it's good" mantra is pretty popular even among younger crowd.
Y_Y
[flagged]
maxbond
We're in a political climate where scientific institutions are under threat, so of course they will loudly justify their own existence and value. It'd be irresponsible of them not to. That's not all that similar to a company being acquired and subsequently squeezed for value. ArXiv isn't a loss leader for a venture backed firm.
MinimalAction
arXiv has nothing to gain by a PR blitz. Any academic knows what is arXiv exactly for, and there is no intention to grow user base or whatever. It's not a social media.
fogof
Not sure I agree with the comment you're responding to. But the article discusses some of their funding troubles, and the main mage of arxiv.org itself has a donate link. So I think perhaps the media presence might be motivated by a desire to fundraise (and IMO they absolutely deserve funding because of the important work they do).
MinimalAction
You're right. I didn't consider the funding angle at all, but only the accusation of "enshittification" which usually comes from a VC or an entity that wants to generate more profits by expanding. On the other hand, I do think Simons Foundations would not let arXiv die. Also, I don't agree that arXiv's media presence has ulterior motives after all. It might just be that it's getting its share of fame.
Y_Y
You may reasonably disagree with my comment, but using your imagination you'll find that there are lots of ways by which arXiv (the organization) and its staff could benefit from PR.
Lots of academics in distant fields are unaware of arXiv, and even academics (like me) who use arXiv daily and host their preprints there don't think of it as any more than a place to store, catalogue, and retrieve papers.
Look at all the ways in which arXiv is (like any institution) perpetuating and expanding itself: https://blog.arxiv.org/
Look at these extra things arXiv is doing (including commercial integrations): https://info.arxiv.org/labs/showcase.html
I've been gratefully using and contributing to arXiv since 2008, and I hope it continues to be the incredible resource that it is. I think your take is naive and that even great institutions can end up like Mozilla.
behnamoh
arXiv has one of my papers on hold for a long time because their team couldn't believe I—someone without a CS degree—was able to create a programming language from scratch on my own.
auggierose
I have no idea if your contribution is valuable or not, but arXiv doesn't either. Just use zenodo instead of arXiv.
immibis
1. Creating a programming language from scratch isn't hard.
2. It's also worthless.
3. arXiv is for scientific papers and not just random PDFs or project reports.
4. Creating a programming language can be science but something tells me that yours isn't.
I've seen solutions to the halting problem published on something called ResearchGate. I don't know anything about it but maybe you can upload there. Or just use your website or Google Drive, like how a normal person shares PDFs.
behnamoh
You don't have all the context. The language serves a serious novel purpose. You seem to be bitter about someone uploading a research paper (I didn't say it was a white paper) to arXiv.
danpalmer
You also didn’t share all the context. By all means criticise arXiv, but unless you provide enough context you have to expect to receive criticism back.
Personally I’d be fascinated to hear what your language was that warranted a paper submission to arXiv if you want to share.
0manrho
All you gave us to go on was that you created a programming language (kudos) and wrote "a paper" with no further context as to why it merited submission and/or what it entailed other than it was rejected and you were nonplussed about that. Granted, that doesn't justify imo their accusation of the work as "worthless," that was rude and unmerited, but unfortunately par for the course these days as the Principle of Charity[0] on the internet was bagged, tagged, and buried at sea many years ago. If anything, the law of the land is the opposite now: Assume the worst/least if not explicitly stated, and that any reply/engagement is de facto adversarial. Welcome to the future, where ~~nothing works~~ everything is enshittified, even the social interactions.
I've never submitted to arxiv, is there an appeals/recourse process or some such, or is it just stuck in indefinite limbo or what?
null
https://archive.ph/2025.03.27-115038/https://www.wired.com/s...
http://web.archive.org/web/20250419005938/https://www.wired....