A small but important attribution note: the 'Developernomics' article was by Venkatesh Rao, author of the Ribbon Farm blog ("The Gervais Principle"). As Forbes notes:
"The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer."
It's possible, perhaps even likely, that another 'Forbes contributor' will write an article with a different opinion. So it's not 'Forbes' expressing an opinion that can be right or wrong; Forbes is just a conduit.
By traditional standards, if Forbes itself was expressing the publication's view (as typically determined by its chief editor, publisher, or an editorial board), the piece would either indicate that clearly or be completely unsigned.
As online publications open their sites to an ever-larger variety of contributors, to broaden their audience/archives/inlinks, this tradition of distinction about the actual author is as important as ever.
Your observation is a good and material one. Not everyone will be as observant. As such, it's up to publishers to be as transparent as possible to distinguish reportage from opinion, paid content from more traditional editorial, contributions from staffers "vs" non-staffers, and what represents the voice of the publication "vs" individual contributors (regardless if they're staff or otherwise). IMO, the industry has work to do here - and Forbes is doing a good job of it so far.
"The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer."
It's possible, perhaps even likely, that another 'Forbes contributor' will write an article with a different opinion. So it's not 'Forbes' expressing an opinion that can be right or wrong; Forbes is just a conduit.
By traditional standards, if Forbes itself was expressing the publication's view (as typically determined by its chief editor, publisher, or an editorial board), the piece would either indicate that clearly or be completely unsigned.
As online publications open their sites to an ever-larger variety of contributors, to broaden their audience/archives/inlinks, this tradition of distinction about the actual author is as important as ever.