Here’s a jog at an M&A tactic: amateur psychology. A recent program on The Learning Channel was on “disposophobia.” Basically, this is hoarding. “It’s the fear of throwing anything away. These people aren’t just messy; oftentimes the clutter is the result of a deeper behavioral problem,” reads one promotion of the program, “Help, I’m a Hoarder.”

The subject of excessive accumulation could be Sharpies, newspapers, Styrofoam peanuts, print-outs of e-mails—or all of these and more. (Saving every issue of Oil and Gas Investor since its debut in 1981 does not ...