"If you registered as a publisher with Readability, we’ll be sending you any remaining money your site has earned by July 31, 2012, regardless of amount."
It’s not that easy. They own the network. It’s like saying “It’s a shame we have allowed Verizon and AT&T to own all our communication.”
They own infrastructure and cell towers and such but these publishers own mindshare and they have people’s attention and that’s the whole point. You’re not going to risk your career and publish in some unknown journal (for most people). Sad but true.
That's fine. But that content should be counted as theirs. You cannot have it both ways - pretend that you are quality publisher and then publish crappy content.
They're publishing for the sole purpose of getting people to pay them to take them down. I fail to see how that's any different than asking them first, except that now paying becomes that much more urgent.
Sure they don't, but stop saying you don't and be clear that you manage content the way you want. Then we can regulate you accordingly for being a publisher.
You get one or the other, they made a choice, now they will be accountable to it.
Readers should reward new publisher that take the time to do research from primary sources and properly vet them, rather than be the first to publish a scoop. There ought to be a system that tracks and rates a publishers by their accuracy and retraction rate (and lack there of when proven wrong).
'we're publishers' is exactly the wrong thing to say. Publishers have some responsibility over what they publish.
The smart thing to say would have been 'we're common carriers'. And then to actually behave like common carriers.. At least that would have gotten them to first base. Now they look like heavy handed censors with a stake in the game.
reply