IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Beginning January 2026, all ACM publications will be made open access

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Celebration of Open Access Progress

Users welcome ACM's shift to full open access in 2026, citing easier access to historical content and long-delayed reform.
"Might make me join the ACM again!" – PaulHoule
"Long overdue." – the-grump
"This is huge. A lot of these are the underpinnings of modern computer science optimizations." – poorman

2. Concerns Over APCs and Shifted Incentives

Criticism focuses on Article Processing Charges ($1450+), favoring quantity over quality, excluding independent/poor-country researchers, and enriching publishers.
"Publishers are now rewarded for publishing more papers, as opposed to having more readers... we have chosen quantity over quality." – zipy124
"Open access publishing is the new business model that is more lucrative for publishing industry and it is basically a tax on research activities." – elashri
"How do independent researchers... finance this?" – humanfromearth9

3. Debates on Journals' Quality Role and Publisher Value

Opinions split on journals as quality arbiters vs. obsolete middlemen, with skepticism on costs like typesetting given free peer review.
"Journals should not be the arbiters of quality... we can move to post-publication peer-review." – rorytbyrne
"publishers add marginal value... their existence is parasitic on the process." – titzer
"I definitely want journals to be arbiters of quality. I have very limited time." – mmooss

🚀 Project Ideas

Essential ACM Papers Curator

Summary

  • Browser extension and web app that generates personalized reading lists of must-read ACM papers (e.g., classics now OA), with hyperlinked references, summaries from abstracts (not AI), and citation graphs.
  • Core value: Solves "Give me a reading list! What are great publications in the ACM" (liampulles) by curating quality over volume.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Students, self-taught devs, practitioners rediscovering CS foundations
Core Feature Semantic search on OA ACM corpus, community-voted lists, auto-linking references via DOI resolvers
Tech Stack React/Tauri for extension, Pinecone for vector search, Semantic Scholar API integration
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium (basic free, pro lists $5/mo)

Notes

  • HN loves classics like "This article about how to go from manual processes to automation" (alexpotato); quotes jhallenworld on broken reference links.
  • Practical for learning; potential viral HN threads on "best CS papers 2026 edition".

Diamond OA CS Preprint Platform

Summary

  • Free publishing platform for CS papers with community peer review, no APCs, quality badges via post-publication votes/citations, and integration with arXiv for discoverability.
  • Core value: Enables independent/self-funded researchers to publish without $1450 fees, countering "How do independent researchers... finance this?" (humanfromearth9) and Brazil waiver woes.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Indie researchers, grad students in low-income countries, post-PhDs avoiding "publish or perish"
Core Feature Markdown/LaTeX submission, open peer review threads, prestige scores from HN-like voting + citations
Tech Stack Supabase/Postgres for backend, Typst for rendering, OpenReview.net-inspired UI with Next.js
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: Donations + institutional sponsors

Notes

  • Tackles APC burdens ("Brazil... off the 'List of Countries Qualifying for APC Waivers'" - woliveirajr) and quality signals ("journals should not be the arbiters of quality" - rorytbyrne).
  • HN debates OA incentives; utility as arXiv alternative with curation, fosters "taxpayer-funded PDF host" ideas (observationist).

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