This capital outlay itself dictates a certain level of filtration--only quality is worth the risk of publication That economic "filter" no longer necessarily applies in the online environment, but the traditions have a powerful inertia The engines of commercial scholarly content production are still strong The engines are powered by consolidations and mergers and acquisitions, leading to demands for high returns It is in the forprofits' interest to keep their own content (and others') an expensive commodity (viz. Elsevier and its ilk) This is not in the interests of librarians, scholars, or even nonprofit publishers

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The expense--and limited vehicles for dissemination--led to the confusion of container and contents, and led to the treatment of the message as if it were the medium.