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Unlike Pay Per Post, the company doesn't waste a lot of time trying to spin their business into something socially acceptable. People pay them to pollute big social sites and get traffic, and they're ok with being slammed for that. As long as they make money. The whole operation is complete with founder pseudonyms (Ragnar Danneskjold, Vasili Taleniekov), proxied whois records, and a clandestine PayPal Account. The service is bringing in the new year with a new pricing model. In '08, Diggs and Stumbles will be increased to $2 per vote. Users will be paid $1 for their votes. You can also earn 20% of the earnings of any friends you refer, and 10% of the cost of advertisements from any advertisers you refer.

"It's not like we're a stroke of brilliance," said John Sateja, senior vice president for information products at Consumers Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports. "We had no choice. We have no advertising, so we had to survive on what readers pay." The organization does more than just survive. Consumers Union reports that its publications--Consumer Reports and a few much smaller ones--generated $208 million in revenue in the year ended May 31, with an operating margin of about $28 million.