I wonder if this was inspired by a recent xkcd?

At text: People may complain about readability, but even with jpeg compression, extracting the data points is usually computationally feasible if there aren't too many of them.

Every paper comes with an author appendix as cut-out scrabble tiles (scrambled) so readers assemble the names in the order they prefer.

My idea: have it so every time the document is opened the names are randomly scrambled. I don't think this would work with PDF or on paper but it's a fun idea

Edit: While it wouldn't work decently on paper, this would work with E-Ink display, and instead have it change every few seconds while the paper is being read.

I thought we already did authorship in alphabetical order so as to avoid any implied hierarchy?

Now whoever has the longest name has an advantage

Not only is this paper real: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.01393.pdf

But they actually made it practical:

We have implemented two ways to reveal the actual names present in an overlapping stack, when viewing a PDF file on a computer.

First, hovering over the stacked names should pop up a tooltip with the authors listed in their original order, as shown in Figure 1.

This feature works on many desktop PDF viewers (e.g., Acrobat, Evince, Firefox, VSCode), but notably not Chrome, Edge, Safari, or MacOS Preview. It also does not work on mobile devices we tested (probably because they lack a natural notion of “hovering”).

I honestly didn’t know if this was serious at first…

Edit: lol the fuck? It is real? When you hover, the tooltip is still a list with an order… what’s the point?

I may be missing the point, but why not instead list names in whatever order, but clarify who contributed what.