Have any of you heard of Subvert and Profit? This is an interesting site that provides a black market for Digg and Stumbleupon votes. I’ve heard about this type of site before and I have to admit I’m curious.

There are lots of people who frown on this type of activity because it breaks the rules. Specifically, this sort of behavior is against the Terms of Service of both Digg and Stumbleupon. It’s not illegal to buy and sell your votes, but it is against the rules that you agree to when you sign up.

My question to you is this: If this stuff is bad, how bad is it? The internet is still a wild place where just about anything can be found. The attempts at establishing a sort of law and order have been only moderately successful in terms of regulating what goes on and what types of content are allowed.

This is both good and bad. Anyone with a little experience on the web knows that there is a huge amount of bad and worthless and even potentially harmful content out there. Sometimes a little regulation can protect users from this stuff. Also, a good set of rules that most people respect will make commerce go much more smoothly.

Before anyone gets their panties into a bunch, let me say that I’m generally against regulation of the web. The openness and freedom of expression available through this medium is unprecidented in history and of almost immeasurable value in spreading knowledge and free thought across the world.

Back to Subvert and Profit: Black markets are a part of just about every economy and the economy of social voting networks is no exception. Your votes have value. Is it wrong to take advantage of this?

I realize that’s a question requiring a completely subjective answer, but I’m curious anyway. It’s hard to say that black markets are wrong. Think of the underground markets that existed in the highly regulated economy of Soviet Russia. Sometimes the only way people could get enough food was to go through the black markets rather than state owned and operated stores. It’s hard to say this is a bad thing.

Subvert and Profit is simple to sign up for and offers another opportunity for web users to make some money and also for web site owners and bloggers to get some exposure and traffic. According to their FAQ, you can make $.50 for each Digg vote. You can also purchase Digg votes for $1 each. It doesn’t take a lot of votes to get to the front page of Digg. Some have said that less than 100 votes, maybe much less will get you there. The traffic that comes from that exposure can be incredible.

You have probably already noticed that I’ve signed up for the service by the referral links in this post. I’m curious enough about the service to check it out and see what happens. If you’re interested, go ahead and sign up and make sure to read their guidelines very carefully to ensure that you aren’t banned by Digg or Stumbleupon. Let me know what you think about the questions I’ve asked in this post and I’d love to hear about any experiences you’ve had with this or similar services.