I've been debating posting my response to GalleyCats' recent articles because usually I like to be genteel about things, but I finally decided just to say exactly what I had to say, which is this:

Some of you may have seen the recent articles on Media Bistro's GalleyCat, which I have to assume were written primarily to be controversial (sample here), because regardless of conventional wisdom, sometimes there are silly questions. One is whether agents are necessary. Here are some others: Is the world suddenly going to become a shiny happy place in which advantageous contract language is handed out like free samples at the grocery store? Are contracts going to cease to exist just because works are published electronically or audiovisually or…? Oh wait, we’re all just going to publish our work directly to the web, cutting out the middleman.

Unfortunately, without the middleman, the publishers, there’s no editing, no design, no promotion…unless the authors decide to pay for these things themselves. I’ve read pre and post edited work. I’ve been on the agenting =and= the author side. I can tell you without a doubt that the edited versions are vast improvements. Editors catch so much that the authors, too close to their work, can miss. They challenge and bring out the best in writers. Many authors will tell you that they’re better writers now than when they began because of all they’ve learned from their editors and agents. Clearly, publishers do more than cut into the profits an author can make by selling directly to the consumer (assuming that without distribution they can even reach their audience). In addition to the aforementioned editing, there’s copyediting, cover design, formatting, publicity, marketing, subsidiary rights. The list goes on and on.

And as long as there are publishers, in whatever form they may exist in the future, agents will be needed to deal with contracts, interpret royalty statements, request reconciliations to print, chase payments, argue issues, mediate, critique, cultivate, network…. Our list is also endless.

Others rebuttals:
Stacia Kane: Yes, Virginia, You Need an Agent
Agent Miriam Goderich of Dystel & Goderich: Who Needs an Agent? You Do.
Lynn Flewelling's response in GalleyCat comments

If you choose to comment here, and I hope that you will, I just ask that you don't do so anonymously. I think that if you have something that adds to a discussion, you should own up to your points. In fact, I have my filter set so that anonymous posts don't appear automatically.