What is the fate of online content?

For those of you who aren't aware of a little known company called "Automatic Media", it was the parent company behind some of the web's most popular reads: Suck, Feed & Plastic, and had hoped to build an online network of sites, services, and applications tailored to the Web's most sophisticated users.

But they failed, and shut down on June 8. All the sites except for Plastic have taken a vacation.

What's interesting though is the discussion that has emerged on plastic as the readers contemplate the fate of the zines and discuss a viable plan for the sites to be able to "pay for themselves"

Some interesting suggestions:

"My suggestion works off a the most base of human social dynamics: peer pressure. Next to everyone's Karma point you should put how much they have donated. Additionally the opening page should list the top ten contributors to date and the ten most recent contributors to Plastic. For added effectiveness you can query the database for those users who post the most by have not yet donated and list them in the top ten "freeloaders." Well, maybe that last suggestion is over the top... right?"

"I want to pay the people who create the writing and artwork directly. People like: Steven Johnson, Polly Esther, Terry Colon, Tim Cavanaugh, Joey Anuff. Isn't this the way the web should be? Enabling artists and writers to live directly on the merits of their work? If someone writes a fasciniating column, they get an increased donation that week. I don't really care about keeping a particular URL like plastic.com going - I want to keep the writers going - no matter where they decide to write. To me, the greates advantage of the web is that it removes media 'middle-men' and allows authors direct contact with their readers. Unfortunately, a middle-man is exactly what Automatic media and Plastic are. They don't actually create anything - they are there to profit from the ideas of others. They get in the way of communication, instead of enhancing it.
So that is why I will not put money into the PayPal thing - I want to know that it is finding it's way to the people who are doing good things. I imagine that a Feed or Suck author getting paid directly, would inspire them to keep the standards high, and to stick around - whoever they happen to work for. This community of writers was around before automatic media, and will be around for a lot longer afterwards. As someone said above - they have the intelligence and creativity. Those things can't be bought with money. That gives you a competitive advantage. However, that advantage is lessened, when we have all these hijinks going on - when the money and marketing people are at odds with the creative process."