Scurramunga - 9:41 am on Mar 16, 2007 (gmt 0)

...Just remember we are worth a ton in income to them as publishers.

I disagree to some extent here. Whilst the publisher concept as a whole might be valuable to Google; an exodus of one, two or even a few thousand (normal sized ) publishers wouldn't matter much I would imagine.

This is I belive, is the crux of the "black box" issue. If a few Adsense publishers leave because they are disgruntled there are plenty of other Adsense publishers willing to take their place. Yet the recruitment well paying advertisers would be a higher prioriy for Google, so naturally a few incentives such as allowing them greater control are thrown their way.