# ACM Digital Library Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/acm-digital-library/ 6 people recommended ACM Digital Library in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 17 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 3 of the 6 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “ACM Is Now Open Access”. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended: critics say premium features and paywalled search remain, and that 'open access' is overstated; those who recommend it cite its trusted computer science papers and its move to open access. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Premium tier paywalls features and search (5 comments in the sample): "there is a really bad HCI issue. The pillbox on the right includes "cited by" and it has a note saying that the pillbox is…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446818)) "the ACM is introducing a "premium" membership tier behind which various features of the Digital Library will be paywalled" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46317305)) "these previously free and open DL facilities became "Premium Access" features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46439833)) - Open access claims overstated (3 comments in the sample): "Fully Open Access' does not mean completely free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46455604)) "It seems that the "open access" is more marketing than something reality based they actually want to do." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088441)) "it is open like open in openai" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088533)) - Seen as self-interested and hypocritical (3 comments in the sample): "the ACM is hardly a bastion of anything but self interest and greed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49093630)) "ACM should give everything away for free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49096525)) "this is a masterclass in hypocrisy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088939)) - AI summaries are often wrong (2 comments in the sample): "we've added a worse, AI generated summary and making that the first thing you see instead" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46315680)) "the AI summaries are often factually incorrect" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48099424)) ## Why people recommend it - Free and open access to all research (3 comments in the sample): "the fact that they went open access and now all of the research is freely available to all is absolutely amazing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906886)) "reward, not punish, ACM for making its own material open-access" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46200694)) "I'm glad it's finally happened." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46455543)) ## Other academic paper archives people recommend - [arXiv](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arxiv/): 58 recommend, 23 mixed, 36 criticize - [Sci-Hub](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sci-hub/): 17 recommend, 0 mixed, 3 criticize - [Zenodo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zenodo/): 8 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize - [HAL (hal.science)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hal/): 6 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://dl.acm.org/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "ACM Digital Library", https://hackerapproved.com/p/acm-digital-library/ (6 recommend, 2 mixed, 17 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.