Na

Isn't it unethical to hide information behind a paywall, effectively depriving most people from accessing it?

it's unethical to use the internet considering how much carbon is burned to keep it switched on and it's unethical to eat considering how much methane you then go on to produce out of your arse but you're not gonna stop doing that so

It's not free, you can donate and you also can donate to this site that you are using fro free

It's not the same paying for a website and a paying for a book... Websites are in the public sphere.

I think they'd remove stuff at request of the author.

E.g. Baedan 1 & 2 are up but Baedan 3 is only available via Purchase.

Are you buying books?

I just checked archive.org and Baeden 3 was never on there.

Yes, they never had permission to upload.

Most books on the library are decades old, most authors dead. Newer texts usually get uploaded by -- or with permission from -- the author. Librarians are usually quick to respond to any author's request to take something down.

Current practices aren't ideal. The demand for everything to be "free" is convenient for anyone but the people who actually put time and effort into authoring, translating, presenting texts. 'Donations' are probably our best option for now.

I don't think buying books in book stores is much of an alternative. Publishers often prioritize established (white, male, well-off) academics, and authors populist and leftist enough to already have a large audience. You pay taxes and use capitalist infrastructure as you do with any other book store.

another thought too
Library not stop anyone from choose to find and purchase book later (if purchase method even exist) but do give means for more people see in first place. That can get author more attention and support than if need buy to talk about and share book, especially if really new on scene. right now all need money to feed and shelter self but sometimes share can get more support than paywall

do what you want cuz a pirate is free!

I pirate all my movies and TV shows. I used to pirate all my games too until I got a disposable income and got lazy and just used Steam for convenience. When I was in university I would download articles and books via libgen/scihub when I didn't feel like grabbing the PDFs via the university access internet. I consistently refuse to read paywalled news articles unless I can un-paywall it with 12ft or something similar, or archives.

Even if authors on @lib wanted to paywall the work, I wouldn't care. If I want to read it I will find a way to read it for free. And they can be happy that I actually take the time out of my day to read it.

Oh and you can shoplift books from bookstores and that is also 100% ethically fine with me.