Why do we publish papers? Well, I guess for the vast majority of authors, THE reason is that the number of published papers is one of the key metrics at your job. From the lowest levels of PhD students to the PIs, the one things that you need to show is how many papers you have published and where. Even if the paper is crap (you often realise that years after you've published, of course) it increases the metrics by one point, so... And, even if your work is fantastic, small number of published papers will effectively put you behind and kill your career. Sad but true.
Unfortunately, you are correct. And if you refer back to my first comment, you will see me saying something very much like that ;-) However, that is not the original intent of a paper, which is what my later argumentation referred to.
