Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

OK let's expose and define this dirty little secret about tubes like Mad Thumbs (and I could include about twenty others):

Since the rise of circle jerk ad networks (you know who they are) the owners of these smaller tubes realized it's easier and more profitable to just trade/sell whatever traffic they have than it is to staff a site, pay for employees, etc.

So that's it. They are on auto-pilot because they are more profitable that way. Since the "big tubes" have the SEO locked up there is no way for a Mad Thumbs (or many others) to grow and compete. The owners realized this, put their shit on auto, and went fishin'.