MY EARLIER BORK POST raised some questions on what I think we ought to do about the confirmation mess. Actually, I’ve had some thoughts on that very subject, and you can read them here. I made them a while ago, but since they were never adopted, and since the problem has gotten worse, they’re actually even more timely than when I first made them! Er, or something like that, anyway.

UPDATE: Reader Bill McConnell emails: “I don’t know why you bother with those links to SSRN. I have never been able to read any of your work on that site. Apparently it is subscription only.” I don’t think there should be a problem — I tested one at the Apple Store, and I’m pretty sure they’re not an SSRN member. Can most folks out there download these? Give it a try and let me know.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Eric Wilner emails:

The layout of the page is confusing at first; my first couple of visits (however long ago that was), I didn’t pick up on the “scroll down to the bottom to find the download-the-PDF link” aspect, and got the idea it was a subscription site. Perhaps your reader is having the same difficulty?

Hmm. I dunno. When I click on the “download” button at the top, it bounces me to the bottom of the page where the download buttons are. And reader Tom Paine (real name? who knows?) emails: “I just downloaded (for the first time) one of your papers (Bork confirmation) from ssrn with no difficulties. I was leery of downloading them before, but maybe now I’ll download more articles in the future. Thanks for all your work.”

Thanks, Tom. It seems to be working for most people who are trying it. Let me know if you experience difficulties. It may matter if you have cookies enabled; I’m not sure.

MORE: This seems to mostly be a user-friendliness issue, with people not realizing that the download buttons are at the bottom of the page. (Where it says “Download the Document from: Social Science Research Network.”) Apparently, however, you do have to have cookies enabled.