← Back to context

Comment by swiftcoder

4 months ago

No, I mean that the pipeline requires software engineers to build/maintain, and salaries are (as in basically every tech organisation) the dominant cost

Then drop it and make people upload a pdf and a zip of the latex sources.

Most people I talk to hate that pipeline and spend a lot of debug hours on it when Arxiv can't compile what overleaf and your local latex install can.

  • Arxiv can recompile latex to support accessibility and html. Going to pdf submissions would be a major step backward.

    • Make it an external service then, and leave the thing that's already working great to just be.

      The reason authors like and use arxiv is that it gives 1) a timestamp, 2) a standardized citable ID, and 3) stable hosting of the pdf. And readers like the no-nonsense single click download of the pdf and a barebones consistent website look.

      All else is a side show.

      7 replies →