[Pagan]

Don't misunderstand me, LeRoy - I am not bitching and I am not turning my back on Marc. I am questioning more than anything else and watching trends. I see some webmasters that literally kill themselves to embrace whatever flavor Google is pushing this week forgetting that the googlemonster is a fickle beast. If this race for *the* top spot destroys your product, is it worth it? Some of the people leaving are just plain burned out or have moved on to a different phase of their lives where adult is not appropriate any more.

Are we misinterpreting traffic? Sure it is down, but it is down across the board and not just adult. A lot of people had to make a choice between food for their families and internet access. I am not talking about even having the few dollars to join a paysite, I am talking just access to the web. In my own circle of about a dozen friends, I know of at least 4 who no longer have any access - not even dial-up. That's a pretty serious hit. When they can get access, the first thing they do is check the links they remember. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who never even use a search engine but go to a website based on friend recommendations. Others rebel and won't use the big names. Who are you going to please?

Let's see where the tubes are in a year. My best gut feeling is that the surfer is going to get tired of the circlejerks, poor quality, malware, and viruses that are picked up visiting these sites and come back to the quality. I do hope that the builders who submit based on traffic don't desert Marc when they don't see as many hits coming back from him.