
Scribd acquires SlideShare from LinkedIn - simonebrunozzi
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/11/scribd-acquires-slideshare/
======
gruez
So what's the point of sites like scribd and slideshare? They host your slides
and display them on a crappy js viewer that's almost always worse than the
browsers built in PDF viewer. They also enforce lock-in by preventing you from
exporting to a portable format eg. PDF. On top of that some of the sites (i
know for a fact that scribd did it at one point) charge you for the privledge
of viewing their users' content, or force you to add to their existing catalog
by uploading whatever docs you have. I'm not sure why anyone would use them
over dropbox or google docs.

~~~
tombrossman
As a crude workaround, you can try...

curl -O [http://image.slidesharecdn.com/PATH-TO-
SLIDES[1-50]-1024.jpg](http://image.slidesharecdn.com/PATH-TO-
SLIDES\[1-50\]-1024.jpg) && convert *.jpg PRESENTATION.pdf

...to save a local copy. You need to view the page source for the URL and
adapt the bracketed number of slides, but I used this previously and it worked
well enough. I won't log in or even create an account so this is how I do it
instead.

~~~
HenryBemis
Thank you for that. I use the following tactic to get out a presenation I need
using Excel, Notepad, InternetDownloadManager.

What helps a lot, is copy and paste to an excel, like this Cell A1:
[http://image.slidesharecdn.com/PATH-TO-
SLIDES](http://image.slidesharecdn.com/PATH-TO-SLIDES) Cell A2: 1 Cell A3:
.jpg then pull the A2 till the number of the slides (e.g. 50) So you end up
with 50 lines. Then copy all that 'table' and paste it to a Notepad Then
Replace (Ctrl+H) the 'tab' to null Then Ctrl+A and Copy from the notepad Then
paste it to IDM Download all Have a good life.

~~~
davchana
In your sheet, you can also do this cell A4:

=A1&A2&A3

Then just copy Column A4. Now you don't need to replace tabs or such.

Note: This will give you path like ...SLIDES1, SLIDES2..., SLIDES10 etc. If
you want 1,2,10 to be 01,02,03; Use this instead of A2, TEXT(A2, "00")

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danielmorozoff
I am scribd user. Recently, I discovered Libby -- free app from the public
library (SFPL and NYPL for me). Libby is x10 better experience than scribd, is
free and has all books you may find in the library.

The benefits of scribd is if you're an avid reader you can consume more than 3
books/audiobooks at a time, which is a restriction on Libby- requires you to
return them etc.

For those interested:
[https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/](https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/)

Just figured I would post as I have been incredibly impressed with Libby.

~~~
Lammy
Cool app, but I think I'll stick to the regular old library checkout system
where the only party tracking what I read are the feds, and even that is still
one party too many. From its Privacy Policy:
[https://company.cdn.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-
policy.ht...](https://company.cdn.overdrive.com/policies/privacy-policy.htm)

"In addition to information that you may willingly submit to OverDrive, such
as your library card number, school ID number, and/or email address, OverDrive
may collect and store certain Personal Information and non-PII related to your
interactions and use of our Services, including but not limited to, IP
address, device type, device ID, operating system, library card number, Adobe
ID, library name, lending history, holds, reading progress, bookmarks,
highlights, notes, and online activity."

"We collect information from you in order to: \- Personalize our Services to
better reflect particular interests and preferences and in certain instances
for remarketing."

"We retain information for as long as OverDrive deems necessary to provide the
Services or as otherwise permitted by applicable law."

"Given that the Internet is a global environment, using the Internet to
collect and process information necessarily involves the transmission of data
on an international basis. Therefore, by using the Services, you acknowledge
and consent to the transfer of your information outside your country of
residence to any country where we have facilities or engage third parties."

~~~
otterlicious
I worked my first couple years of college as a clerk at the main campus
library. I remember the librarian assigned to the Political Science department
among others explaining that our circulation software had been deliberately
configured to no longer store students' borrowing history after the PATRIOT
Act was passed.

My city's public library runs the same software and now it has a My Reading
History feature which in my city's implementation is disabled by default. If
you log in to your library account online and it doesn't display your
borrowing history you can have reasonable confidence your library isn't
storing it, and would only be actively forwarding it to the feds if they had a
warrant or NSL, etc.

It's disappointing but not surprising that the same stalwart approach to
privacy isn't being enforced on the digital options. Librarians who care like
the aforementioned one likely pushed back only to be told it was a necessary
evil of the DRM that is "required" to make this possible, and if they don't
like it there are still physical books.

But today we have alternatives like controlled digital lending that keeps the
data in libraries' hands. If privacy-respecting digital options are important
to you, you should definitely let your library know!

~~~
Lammy
I feel privileged to have SFPL with all their electronic lending support,
JSTOR access, etc. They even publish their own privacy explanation:
[https://sfpl.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/privacyinventor...](https://sfpl.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/privacyinventory.pdf)

------
0x0
I remember when SlideShare was acquired by LinkedIn. I had a logged-in
linkedin cookie in my browser, and next thing I knew, there was a public
slideshare profile page online with my full name and profile picture, that I
never asked for, just from browsing a shared slide. Took a few rounds of angry
emails to linkedin/microsoft to get that deleted.

------
3adawi
Scribd are a bunch of scammers, I remember subscribing for their free trial
and then cancelling just before the trial ended, they never cancelled and this
went on for 5 months - they took that long to cancel it. Check out their
reviews here
[https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.scribd.com](https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.scribd.com)
\- what would be the case course of action to follow up on something like
this? Obviously it's not worth lawyering up for.

~~~
gingerlime
Another anecdote. I signed up for their trial and started using it on my
iPhone. A few days later I couldn’t login, can’t reset password, nothing.
Contacted support. My account was deleted completely due to fraud. I used my
legitimate card matching my address. All kosher. I guess the trigger was
because I use vpn on my phone. But the annoying thing is that there was no way
to reinstate the account. They just irreversibly wiped it without notice. I
asked what to do next and didn’t even get a reply... ok then. If you don’t
want me as a customer, I don’t want to be one.

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stefan_
I love that someone at Microsoft managed to get some VC cash from Scribd for
that garbage bonfire of a black pattern SEO spam fountain.

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jszymborski
I was always more of a SpeakerDeck fan, far less spam.

Back in the day, it was a very neat Web2.0, skeuomorphic kinda deal, and that
style (which I frankly was a big fan of) persisted for a looong while until
recently when they gave it a far more flat look.

The last thing that had me gravitating towards SpeakerDeck was that all the
cool kids were using it, sharing their keynotes on twitter etc..., so a more
impressionable, younger self felt the "coolness by association" factor.

~~~
manigandham
Speakerdeck is far better UX, although they use HTTP/1 which means thumbnails
and timeline previews are ridiculously slow.

------
madmax108
"Poured myself an early glass of wine. SlideShare sold off. Kamala Harris is
VP nominee. I can simultaneously be sad at end of what I thought would be my
legacy. And celebrate new beginnings :-)"

\- Rashmi Sinha, Founder and ex-CEO of SlideShare

Ref:
[https://twitter.com/rashmi/status/1293290283602452480](https://twitter.com/rashmi/status/1293290283602452480)

------
carrolldunham
What do you call this section of sites that you rue in your search results?
Sites that everyone hates, and would never willingly use if not for
resentable, possibly tech-illiterate people putting the odd thing on there?
"bintech"? See also Researchgate.

------
deadalus
Lots of pirated books on Scribd.

~~~
dmurray
I thought that was the main point of it.

------
1vuio0pswjnm7
Notice found on slideshare.com:

"Scribd will begin operating the SlideShare business on September 24, 2020 As
of this date, Scribd will manage your SlideShare account and any content you
may have on SlideShare, and Scribd's General Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
will apply. If you wish to opt out, please close your SlideShare account. "

I wonder what happens if the user closes her account. Does Scribd delete the
content?

This shows how Terms and Privacy Policies are only good up until an
acquisition. Then you get a brand new Privacy Policy.

Would be nice if a user could set a "self-destruct" order on her account, like
a poison pill, so that in the event of an acquisition, the account is
automatically closed. Automatic opt-out.

Does Slideshare let users download all their data before closing their
account?

------
Lammy
SlideShare is a thing of beauty:
[https://twitter.com/GoodSlides](https://twitter.com/GoodSlides)

------
EamonnMR
Is scribd a pirate site? You can find out of print books there, but I don't
see any indication that it is with the publisher's permission.

~~~
sribeaway
Ditto for their PDFs - I often find non-public datasheets and manuals there.

From my experience, I'm inclined to believe that it is a fairly benign pirate
site. Wonder how much due diligence has gone into its various acquisitions.

------
kennethh
I really like the Scribd service and is an subscriber. Lots of good books
there, both audio and regular ebooks. There is also lots of documents which I
find useful, especially for more obscure stuff.

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demadog
This is great news I think. Being a smaller org I hope Scribd innovates on the
product more and doesn’t take it for granted. Much better owner-product fit
here.

------
bluedino
I detest having to login to LinkedIn to view a PPT, but I’m not sure this
makes it much better.

------
llacb47
I don't like when journalists upload documents to Scribd, since you need to
sign up and upload something in order to download it. It's much nicer when
they use documentcloud or self-host the docs.

------
mrkramer
I always stumble upon paywall when I try to read PDFs shared on Scribd. They
always want me to subscribe. I just want to read PDF docs not books/ebooks or
something.

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arnvald
Can't wrap my head around this deal

Can you think of some way that they can integrate these 2 products? Scribd is
a content subscription site, SlideShare is essentially a PPT hosting+search.
How can Scribd benefit from getting SlideShare?

* technology? I don't think so

* community? I don't know anyone who goes to SlideShare to find new content and comment on it

* content? If yes, how can free slides be included in Scribd's paid plans? Can they put all this content behind a paywall?

~~~
ghaff
By making SlideShare a content subscription site?

~~~
arnvald
I thought about it, but for now it's hosting for slides. If people have to pay
for access - will slides' authors get paid? Will they continue to upload
slides there knowing that potential readers can't access it for free? I think
it would be hard to pull it off.

~~~
ghaff
I would assume it would be free to upload--probably not paid except maybe for
certain invited people but not sure how that would work. But paid for
consumers, at least for value-add features? Or rolled into scribd
subscription?

Don't have strong feelings. If it vanished tomorrow I would notice but
wouldn't hugely care.

