> Perhaps the more substantive discussion is, when you increase access to publication, does quality increase? decrease? stay the same?

An analogy would be with sellers and buyers in a market. If you make it easier to sell without decreasing the cost to the buyer of reliable information about the seller and product, what happens?

Examining Amazon might give us some clues. My belief is that it greatly shifts transaction costs onto the buyer, by forcing each buyer to do a great deal of research and credential-checking, rather than having that done by relatively few and relatively knowledgeable curators.

Someone (JWZ?) said "Linux is only free if you don't value your time". The same might be said about proliferating conferences.