Kam, massive thanks for your thoughtful comment. I took the time to write some thoughtful answers in return:
"This woman has most certainly not done more for science than anyone else in history."
We're talking about a net total here.
Sci-Hub's contribution extends across thousands of departments and universities, and literally millions of papers.
You can also say Dennis Ritchie has done more for computing than anyone else because C programming and Unix are the foundations of our whole modern digital world — but of course, it's sexier to focus on Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and their rivalry.
And were I to stretch this I would give Jimmy Walesand and Larry Sanger credit for all the group projects I was involved in high school, cause what would I have done without Wikipedia?
"I don't even need to list the people which make that statement untrue."
Please, lol, go ahead.
"The woman is a thief."
I do mention that.
"It's very simple."
It's not. Alexandra is not stealing from scientists. They give their work to the journals for free, and then the profits go to the journals.
Scientists aren't offered a Partner Program, commission, or royalties when someone buys their work.
The reason they keep trying to get published in these journals is because there is a whole culture of prestige and credibility around them, carefully set up but this guy Maxwell (and continued by his successors) over decades. It's not very simple.
I don't go in depth on it because it falls out of the scope of this article, but I'd recommend you read this.
"Maybe I should just go steal a car."
As my dad used to say, nothing stops a man with a plan.
"I bet you would be the first to complain if someone decided they were going to steal all your work and put it somewhere else"
My work has been stolen already and even translated to other languages without my permission. I'm fine.
On an unrelated note, I wrote a while ago about the library of babel, a website which also has my work on it (and yours too). I recommend it, it's a fascinating read.
"Did you consider how many people downloaded "free papers" from Sci-Hub and used those papers to write books that were 100% for profit?"
Yes. Scientists wouldn't give a shit. Cause again, they don't get paid per read, or download, or subscription referral. They have their salaries.
Someone writes a book and slaps a footnote of their work? Hey, nice, that's more than a fart in a bucket.
Don't be too alarmed my friend. Using other people's work for free and then try to make a profit is basically what we all do here with Unsplash pictures.
"Too caught up in trying to champion every female"
I champion the idea of Sci-Hub. I don't care if the person behind it had a dong or a twat, to be honest.
