• October 26, 2011

That's what Gawker says. It received an email from one Bryan Clark of 43a, who offered a writer $130 - $175 to link to one of his clients -- he named Dell, T-Mobile, Sanford Brown and Motorola, "etc." -- in a "natural" or "semi-natural" way.

"There's the plan: get paid under the table to insert links to advertisers in editorial content; if you're caught, just remove the links without a word; if not, continue to get 'paid handsomely,' Gawker reports. "According to Mr. Clark, this is already happening at some of the most popular media sites on the Internet -- with or without the boss's knowledge."

Gawker goes on to invite "writers and editors out there getting paid by 43a to email me and tell me all about it. Nothing to be ashamed of. Right?"