Homework is done.
GG - thanks for at least taking a look at that particular point. This was helpful (this thread) in terms of boiling down to what was really bothering me. I review sites, and I hate templates... that wasn't really my problem.
Regarding half income coming from your site, eggs in the basket, etc - no I don't think you're being harsh. First of all, I'm not laying that at link-o-rama's door. Our destiny is our responsibility. And to be honest, I wasn't just referring to the GG linklist, or trying to single it out on this topic.
We actually had about 5 different income sources. One of the ones we built our site on, years ago, was AVS. We also got sites listed in the Yahoo directory, did TGP, MGP, started our own linklist, and even did some paid advertising on Consumption Junction. We'd also expanded our SEO efforts. We didn't get hit in just one area, but a few. AVS and SE changes were a big one. We had 1000's of sites with Adult Check. In general, there was what I call a 'tightening of the belt' on traffic sources. Even though we actually didn't have all of our eggs in one basket - some of those eggs dissapeared entirely and the rest simply became a bit less productive. So - shrug - we didn't adapt fast enough.
We are still here, albeit smaller, and working to survive and build things back up. I will say, it's a bit harder these days than it was 6 years ago.