Humanist Archives Vol. I do not want to cut short the discussion of the Gulf war but I am very interested in Warkentin's comment. Review's responses would help the author to strengthen arguments and scholarship before publishing. Professional societies would also benefit in that they can draw upon the responses to determine what is worthy of publication. The act of publication would also change as content of the work would be freely available.
Publication is the imprimatur that work is now part of the cannon.
The publisher would gain revenue from adding value to the work, such as cataloging, indexing, formatting, and even paper distribution. The discussion on the NetNews group died quickly. I think this was due to a poor understanding of what academic publishing is. I doubt that this is the case with Humanist's members.