Hyperlocal race to the bottom between AOL and Yahoo

A friend who runs a local mailing list on Yahoo Groups just got the following email. We live in interesting times.

From: “[email protected]”
Hello,
Yahoo! is creating an exciting new opportunity for San Francisco and San Jose area residents. We’re looking for neighbors who want to participate in their communities by getting out the word on what’s happening around them. Because you have led locally focused Yahoo! Groups, we thought our new initiative might be another way for you to communicate what you care about with others.
You can be among the first to contribute to this soon-to-launch neighborhood content destination by joining the conversation today. Depending on where you live, signup at either http://www.associatedcontent.com/join/sanfrancisco or http://www.associatedcontent.com/join/sanjose. After you sign up (which is free and carries no obligations) on Associated Content by Yahoo!, you’ll be given $10 writing assignments that will explain more about this project and how you can get involved!

To put this in perspective, $10 per story, for a Patch editor producing 2.5 stories/day, 6 days/wk, would yield an annual income of $7,800 — no benefits.