Not really relevant, but: word processors were just starting to be used when I went to college, but I still mostly preferred using my portable electric typewriter. During my junior year the G key broke off and disappeared, so all my papers from that point on have the Gs written in by hand. If they ever invent time travel, I'm going to assume that enough other people are going back to kill baby Hitler and I'll slap the shit out of 20-year-old me.

And so damn infuriating when you need them forty years later lol. I'm currently in the middle of some really obscure maths at work and my only reference is a hand typed paper from 1983 with super critial plots on it, but it's all been scanned in and put online at the lowest possible resolution. It's torture!

My paper was published in MDPI open access and then a whole heap of publishing companies came along, stole it, and now charge money for it. And they're the ones you get first if you search for it in Google Scholar.

I'm so mad. I was proud of that and wanted people to see it, but now 90% of people who come across it will incorrectly think its behind a paywall and not bother.

And since a grad school thesis isn't published, there's definitely no restrictions on the author sharing it. Maybe it'll get a few citations in the future. Not many, of course, but anything more than zero is nice.

That's a great point, I've reached out to researchers a few times to ask about their research and they have all freely just shared the work with me.

No, this is the way. PhD theses are probably like having an aggressive cancer and then submitting it is like a successful surgery.

Nice, so someone might actually come across it when searching for something specific that they don't have the research skills to find normally instead of the research rotting in a closet as this comic indicates.

Huh it's funny how I think to do research for some things but not others. I really enjoy making popcorn on the stove but only half the time does it turn out light and crunchy. I keep at it thinking I'll figure it out through trial and error but I should probably just look it up like you did.

I agree.. I feel this way often especially now when an ai can write, make music and movies, and no one can actually tell the difference, there isn't much point to creating anymore. Unless it's solely for you and you don't want to show it to anyone else.

I think you're missing the point here. This is about research being locked behind a paywall that causes it to not be used.

"This is it" I guess That he's finally done with his thesis.

Is this the most boring episode of the twilight zone? I just made this 10 mins ago (was relevant in a convo):

Elsevier is so bad