In the best of times, companies like Digg with fairly massive traffic have found it difficult to actually make a profit. And Digg is a poster-child of web 2.0.

Where does that leave the others dependent on similar user-generated-content-with-a-social-angle (which would describe so many of the consumer-oriented YC companies too)? Call me pessimistic, but I just don't see how the numbers add up to profitability, even ramen profitability for most such sites.

I have been in situations of ramen profitability and after a while (like 2 years) it gets tiresome. Even the most relentlessly resourceful people tend to throw in the towel and move on. This recession (depression?) looks like it will be around for a while.