
Ask HN: Relationship between HN and Scribd? - nkurz
I recently submitted a link to a PDF paper. It first appeared as I submitted it, but after some time the title had been changed to include a Scribd link. I found this off-putting: it implied either that I was encouraging the use of Scribd, or that the author had already chosen to use Scribd as a publisher.<p>What is the relationship between Hacker News and Scribd? Are all PDF links modified to link to Scribd automatically, or is this done by hand on a case-by-case basis?  And why is the use of Scribd officially encouraged, while primary non-framed links are preferable for HTML content?
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jmount
I think Scribd is a Y-combinator funded startup (hence the Hacker News
connection) and some of the Hacker News admins by-hand edit other people's
posts. I am very against copying PDFs into a walled-garden like Scribd, but
this isn't my website.

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cglee
If true, that seems downright unethical to me. I've actually met (and possibly
drank with) some of the Scribd founders and they seem like really nice, smart
fellows, but this practice really shouldn't be encouraged (unless there is a
good reason behind it other than to promote Scribd).

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Zak
I've found clicking a PDF link on anything but Mac OS to be rather unpleasant.
Many people (me included) consider the scribd link a more pleasant experience.

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ErrantX
Try foxit reader over the adobe junk :-) I switched a while ago and it's such
an improved experience.

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Zak
That doesn't run well on my platform of choice. Evince does though, and is
also fast and lightweight. Still, I find PDF links a bit annoying, and am glad
to have the scribd option.

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dan_the_welder
I just put Evince on all my Windows machines and I am very happy about it. I
was able to remove all the Adobe Air bonus arterial sclerosis.

I tried Foxit and was not very impressed. I thought it was interesting that
the Evince windows port was made since the last time I looked for an Acrobat
replacement about a year ago.

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tptacek
I don't like Scribd, but I also don't like it when I click on a link and a
file appears on my filesystem, which is what happens when I click PDF links in
NetNewsWire.

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sundarurfriend
The consensus here seems to be that it's an effort to promote Scribd, but I
had always assumed that it was an attempt at trying to be helpful to those who
prefer to remain within a browser, and to those who hate opening PDFs. At
least, it serves that use case to me.

~~~
mooism2
I think it's both.

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diN0bot
how about we submit pdf's inside google's pdf viewer?

<https://docs.google.com/viewer>

just mention the real domain in the post title

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imurray
Submitting the original pdf link is best for pointing to the real source and
giving people the option of how to deal with it. Those that like Google viewer
links can always fix that themselves. Details in this sub-thread:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1115897>

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akkartik
If anything, HN scribd posts seem to turn into straight pdfs. I think the
admins search for posts with [scribd] in the title and link to a pdf version
instead.

~~~
nkurz
No. I say this with absolute certainty, having just submitted a link to a PDF,
to which the [scribd] portion was added, either by the system or by an HN
administrator.

If you click on the title, it still goes to the original URL, which in my case
was a straight PDF. If you click on the [scribd] portion, you are taken to a
copy at Scribd.

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falien
Oh, from the original post I took it that it replaced your link with a scribd
link (rather than adding a second link). I still think it is a questionable
practice, but find it much less objectionable than I did at first.

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JacobAldridge
IIRC, when I joined (circa mid 08) it did replace your link with one to
Scribd. There was some questioning about whether this was right, people don't
like the Scribd layout, blah blah, and I believe the decision was made to add
a Scribd link but keep the original.

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mos1
Posting it violated the Scribd TOS sections 8.1 and 8.8.

