In other words: if relays are not the right abstraction for publications I'm interested in learning what new things relays are a good abstraction for -- and how these new things can be better than old style publications.
Discussion
A relay is a printing press, not a magazine editor.
On second thought, I think a relay is just a place, as mentioned in nevent below. The relay is the pub where the Inklings met.
The comparison of relays to printing presses is made specifically in contrast to magazine editors. Relay operators are usually developers, and their role is vastly different from that of content editors—they are entirely different professions.
This doesn't even make sense as an analogy.
But I wouldn't have expected a reasonable take from you anyway given the way keychat deals with relays.
Keychat does something wrong with relays? I really like the setup because I thought it just creates a sustainable business model for them