¶ The Laboratorium (3d ser.)

This is what I have to do to read an article on SSRN from my iPad:

1. Tap on the link to the SSRN page in my RSS reader.
2. Tap on the “Open this page in Safari” icon.
3. Wait a couple of seconds, then cancel the page load.
4. Tap on “Open PDF in Browser.”
5. Wait a couple of seconds, then cancel the page load.
6. Tap “Sign in and Download”
7. Wait a couple of seconds, then cancel the page load.
8. Tap on the “Email Address” field. 9 Tap on the Safari button to fill in my stored username and password.
9. Put my finger on the home button to authenticate myself using TouchID.
10. Tap on “Sign in”
11. Wait a couple of seconds, then cancel the page load.
12. Tap the browser’s Back button.
13. Tap the browser’s Back button.
14. Tap on “Open PDF in Browser.”

As best I can tell, there are three separate issues. First, SSRN pages have something on them that loads so slowly as to block the entire page from displaying, hence the need to cancel page loads in steps 3, 5, 7, and 12. Second, SSRN logins time out incredibly quickly, so that I have to go through steps 6 through 15 frequently. And third, SSRN loses track of what it was doing during the sign in process, so that rather than just showing me the article when I complete the login process, I have to manually go back to the article page in steps 13 through 15.

The whole thing is enough of a hurdle that it makes me think twice before trying to read anything. It’s also flakier and more annoying than the login process for anything else I read online. I have been saying for years that the steps SSRN takes to generate its download counts substantially reduce the actual readership for scholarship, and it is quite frustrating to have become an example of this pattern.