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How Long Is the Coast of Britain? (1967)

This Hacker News link, titled after a classic 1967 paper, leads not to fractal geometry but to a frustrating JSTOR access check. It serves as a stark, albeit ironic, reminder of the pervasive paywall problem in academic publishing. The unexpected content perfectly encapsulates a common pain point for knowledge-hungry HN readers.

6
Score
0
Comments
#10
Highest Rank
4h
on Front Page
First Seen
Feb 28, 6:00 PM
Last Seen
Feb 28, 9:00 PM
Rank Over Time
10131215

The Lowdown

This entry, deceptively titled "How Long Is the Coast of Britain? (1967)", doesn't deliver the promised mathematical insights but rather a quintessential online access barrier. Instead of an academic paper, users are met with a JSTOR security prompt, demanding a reCAPTCHA completion.

  • The page displays a large "Access Check" heading, indicating unusual traffic activity from the user's network.
  • It explicitly asks the user to "complete this reCAPTCHA to demonstrate that it's you making the requests and not a robot."
  • Options are provided for troubleshooting CAPTCHA issues and contacting JSTOR support.
  • Technical details such as a block reference, VID, IP address, and date/time are presented.
  • The footer includes copyright information for ITHAKA and JSTOR, dating from 2000-2026.

Ultimately, the story's content is a blank wall, a digital gatekeeper preventing access to the very information its title promises, highlighting the frequent frustration of encountering paywalls in the pursuit of knowledge.