American Chemical Society Spider Trap: My latest thoughts 2014-04-03:14:44 UTC

It appears that the Spider trap (whatever it is) has affected many people. I have no full understanding of what has happened but here is my best analysis:

  • People have really been affected (it’s not just a rumour). They have received a message – it’s not clear where from.
  • The ACS is aware of the problem and has posted to this blog:

Thank you for alerting us to the finding shared by your reader. We are exploring and are committed to providing text and data mining solutions for readers of our open access content. In the meantime, for those who have unfortunately clicked on the link referenced and received the spider message, please email support@services.acs.orgwith your institution name and we will work to reinstate access at your institution as quickly as possible.
Darla Henderson, Ph.D.
Asst. Director, Open Access Programs
American Chemical Society

Thank you Darla. I would recommend those affected to contact Darla.
It is still unclear where the problem came from. The URL is not unique to ACS – By searching Google I have found it in in 3 other publishers – Blackwell, Informa and Copeia. The DOI prefix seems to be Wiley, but CrossRef has said it’s not a valid DOI. Anyone finding a similar link should report it rather than following it.
I have personal evidence that the ACS shuts down whole universities instantly if it thinks somebody is doing something wrong. I have made it clear to them that this is not acceptable practice – it’s brutal and unselective. I do not know whether they still practice it, but my suspicion is that they do and that something triggered the ACS servers to shut down subscribers.
It is not clear whether the link was created by the ACS publication system (I hope not) or was malware introduced into the HTML. This would not be easy as it is on the publishers’ sites and could suggest they had been hacked.
It is clearly unsatisfactory and I posted that it had to be mended right away. Ross Mounce (whom I work with and will fully support in his action) wished to explore further and he asked whether others had this problem. I haven’t talked to him, but my guess is that he didn’t expect the ACS system to react so catastrophically to whatever is the problem.
Some people have blamed Ross. IMO this is unfair – it is the ACS system which is at fault. Many commenters have expressed the view that this is an archaic and unacceptable way of running a website.
Until I have more information I can’t judge…
 

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6 Responses to American Chemical Society Spider Trap: My latest thoughts 2014-04-03:14:44 UTC

  1. Jan Jensen says:

    “Ross Mounce (whom I work with and will fully support in his action) wished to explore further and he asked whether others had this problem.”
    If you are referring tweet with the link then that is an untrue statement. His tweet was “ACS are taking a novel approach to making papers available: #lol”. No warning (like in your previous post).

  2. PedroS says:

    I think you are wrong in supporting Ross Mounce: he obviously knew that bu goading people into clicking that link he would be the proximal cause in denying them (and possibly other unwitting people in the victim’s institution) access to ACS papers for some indeterminate length of time. That is unconscounable, no matter the motivation. Even noble ends do no justify wrong means. At I also find it quite ironic that Ross (who purports to be for Open Access) has knowingly caused papers to become unavailable to people who needed them. ACS cannot take the whole blame for this debacle. To me, what Ross did is equivalent to someone who recognizes a grenade on a secluded part of a playground and tells children: “look at that toy!”. For the victims, it does not matter who left the grenade there…

    • Dear Pedro, free speech can indeed be confronting. But considering it grenades is overdone. Moreover, in saying that, you also compare yourself to a kid. From your account name I cannot guess your age, but I assume you are a responsible, self-aware adult too, fully accountable for what you do yourself. Everyone on the internet learns sooner or later that randomly clicking links is somewhat dangerous. Nothing special about this case.

      • PedroS says:

        Dear Egon, I admit my comparison is hyperbolic. But you must also admit that comparing clicking on Ross’s link to “randomly clicking links” is not completely correct either.
        It is also not a matter of free speech. He may say whatever he wants, as long as he takes responsibility for it. I wouldn’t have minded if the original message said “There’s a false link on ACS journals that disables access to whole institutions. Please help send ACS a message about it. Follow that link, and wait fopr them to realize the outrage. the link is ….”
        What Ross did was a cruel prank, which might (with a lot of charity) have been excused on April Fools.

  3. I’ve just identified another serious spider trap that would cut universities not just from one publisher but whole swathes of them. As much as I’d like to share the link around for the LOLz, I think I better contact the owner first 😀 Damn.
    I don’t think you can shoot the messenger here. Ross made everyone well aware of the dangers these traps pose. If it wasn’t for him I’d have not found what I’ve found. Speaking from experience I’ll also add that polite emails to publishers regarding bugs in their websites take approximately eleventy billion years to be actioned. This way of maximum publicity is the quickest way to get it fixed.

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