So the news alert comes in over the PR Newswire: "Yellow Pages Face Extinction Due to PaperlessPetition.org." Using Earth Day 2006 as its excuse, PaperlessPetition.org essentially suggests that publishers eliminate print Yellow Pages in favor of Internet directories. The author has done his homework. He cites our research showing that the largest percentage of teenagers would look online.

I agree with the comments of my colleague Neal Polachek: "Gee, a decade from now an on-demand directory has a lot of merit. By then the teens of today will be needing to find the types of businesses that advertise in the printed Yellow Pages. But for the next five to eight years, why deny consumers who are looking for help, whose toilets are stopped up, whose cars are stuck, whose children needs schools, a fast, easy and accessible means for finding essential local services?"

As an attendee at last year's Directory Driven Commerce conference said, "Just cause 15-year-olds like hip-hop music and wear shorts down to their ankles today, that doesn't mean they won't be listening to Frank Sinatra in business clothes in another 10 years."