As a writer, I find this utterly reprehensible. I am spiritually disgusted.

As a grifter, I think this is incredibly fucking hilarious

No, actually it's just hilarious. Rolling Stone--fucking Rolling Stone--is flaunting Yog's Law and becoming just blatantly, openly predatory, but also they're preying on people who tbh need to be robbed.

With periodicals, you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become whatever the fuck this is

Yog's Law?

"Money should flow toward the author."

Getting published is a big huge deal that a lot of writers are desperate for the prestige of, and there are a lot of publications that take advantage of that. But, as a writer, you are a skilled professional making a valuable commodity that markets are trying to make a buck of off; so if you're paying money to your publisher instead of the other way around, you're getting fucked.

It's like paying your boss for permission to clock in.

Ah alright, makes sense. Yea honestly this feels like border line wage theft? Like not literally but definitely in the same family of shitty corporate behavior.

Nah, it's not like wage theft, it just straight-up is wage theft.

Not to be completely predictable, but this seems like a great time to remind everybody about the Freelance Journalist's Union! =D

https://freelancejournalistsunion.org/

Oh they took one look at scientific publishing and said "we should do that too"