An article and an announcement

So I read an excellent article about the dynamics of online interaction, "A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy" by Clay Shirky (it's more hopeful than its title sounds), and I wanted to recommend it. princessofg explains better than I could why.

Also, on this the fourth anniversary of this journal, I'm letting its Paid status lapse; here's hoping my convictions can win out over the annoyance of ads. I know some people consider this a form of theft or otherwise not the right thing to do, but I thought a fair bit about this, and I think it's the best compromise I can personally strike between not leaving the communities I value and not supporting business practices I find unethical. So I thought I should say something.