Disappearing Affiliates?

[Cyndalie]

Is it just me or are there fewer and fewer affiliates in adult now than in the past 5 years? It seems there are less submitters as everywhere charges for partner accounts now or paid gallery listings, less blogs and freesites although the sponsor provided content is available via rss, and I don't see many smaller freesites networking as there were before with PR demands for exchanges and existing traffic hard to harvest from SE's.

Lately shows are 90% b2b and 10% affiliate/services/webmster related. By B2B I mean established business and programs soliciting and doing business with one another.

You do see webmasters on the baords, that own a site here or there and make a few extra bucks off it, and enjoy the community that is adult business. However the pool seems to be shrinking and struggling to me.

Honestly, how hard is it for a webmaster to start up a free site in which to earn revenue from affiliate programs right now? Any kind of site...how long until one starts earning $500 a month without existing contacts and traffic feeds... I'm talking ground up, not buying traffic or listings - just paying for hosting. What do you think?