These days, online publishing has become a tough business. Competition for the reader's attention is fierce, business models are falling apart, trust is eroding -- the list goes on. If you feel like commiserating with fellow publishers at your next networking event, or if you want to explain to your loved ones why you are losing hair prematurely, here is a handy-dandy list of reasons you can cite.

Ari Rosenberg revisits a love from his past: Vanity Fair. "I began to read you as if it were the first time all over again. Only this time, it was immediately clear how impossible it would be to ignore the impact the Internet has had on you and on me."

Ten years ago almost to the day, I had the pleasure of traveling to Egypt with my daughter in celebration of her 16th birthday. Our trip took place well before the Arab Spring unrest, so we had no concerns about safety and had a really enjoyable time.The only annoying aspect of the trip was that, whenever we went someplace that catered to tourists, we were constantly approached by all sorts of people who were looking for ways to make us part with our money. I came to realize that, to the average Egyptian, tourists are nothing more than wallets with …

In 2013 the Interactive Advertising Bureau published its "Native Advertising Playbook" to help drive this growing segment of Internet advertising. The playbook stated, "It is clear that most advertisers and publishers aspire to deliver paid ads that are so cohesive with the page content, assimilated into the design, and consistent with the platform behavior that the viewer simply feels that they belong." Two weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission pulled the IAB over for driving the industry under the influence of self-delusion. It turns out running ads that "assimilate into the design" - so much so that "the viewer feels …