Journals can still perform their review, critique, filtering, and indexing functions without also acting as sole gatekeeper for the source material.

I don't have time to read every newspaper. Aggregator sites (like HN) provide me with a handy list of links to articles relevant to a specific interest or theme. Thus, I have not been overwhelmed by celebrity gossip when I go looking for nerd news.

And many of those aggregator sites are community curated, meaning that there is no editor to pay--only the site hosting bills.

But on the other hand, I'm not sure I want to see what karma whoring looks like for academics.