Scientific gatekeeping Memes

The beautiful irony of scientific publishing: you spend months (or years) conducting research, writing a paper, begging colleagues for feedback, making endless revisions... and then get the privilege of paying thousands to let a publisher put it behind a paywall. Meanwhile, the reviewers work for free, editors get peanuts, and publishers toast with champagne to their 30% profit margins. It's like building a house, giving the real estate agent the keys, and then paying them to let you visit on weekends.