I don't have any problem with the idea of paid inclusion. As long as there are undefined delays to get a new site indexed or an updated site re-indexed there is going to be an incentive for people who want their sites indexed more quickly and more frequently to pay for that service. Personally, I don't see how simply paying a premium to get a site bumped up to the front of the indexing queue taints the results.

What I do have a problem with is that with Yahoo Site Match you not only have to pay to be considered but then you have to pay per click. If I wanted to pay per click there are plenty of places I can already do that. I don't want to pay per click, so I'm not going to participate in Yahoo Site Match unless they drop that requirement.

The biggest problem I see for Yahoo, though, is the fact that they mix in listings where they're getting paid per click with the unpaid results. In my mind that is a very questionable business practice and it makes me less inclined to use Yahoo for my own searching.

IMO, Yahoo could improve its reputation for relevancy and gain Site Match clients by simply dropping the PPC requirement.

This is true. I wouldn't take up site match myself as it gives you no real benefits for ranking amongst the free listing. Why the hell would I want to pay for something I can do for free?

Obviously though, it does have its advantages and is used, because they are making money off it. As long as Yahoo make money from it, then they won't complain.

What you must remember is that site match was introduced more as the marketing name for an XML feed. When you use a trusted feed on other engines, the same rules generally apply and as such, that is what it is meant for more than anything, not for the average joe blow with his few pages blowing in the cyber wind. If I had to get 1000 pages indexed fast, I would look at site match! If I only wanted to get my business site listed with only about 20 or so actual pages I am targeting, then I wouldn't worry about it.

IMO, that is how one must look at it in its simplest form.

I have been a fan of PFI since its inclusion, however I definately don't like the PFI/PPC route that yahoo has taken. It should be one or the other, period. I have no intention of submitting any sites to SiteMatch and since AskJeeves is the only SE still doing legit PFI, I think this means PFI is officially dead.

You'll have to pardon my ignorance here but does Yahoo allow you to submit a commercial site for indexing without paying a fee?

If so, what is the typical wait time to get indexed?

Yahoo! will end up listing your site if other sites in their index link to it. Even using a forum sig here would probably get your site indexed rather quickly (unless they have a robots.txt file or something which blocks robots)