how about...adsense? haha... No idea, adsense brings traffic but doesn't really bring any motivation. So far, our techcrunch article brought the most. A couple of thousand per day.
Why do you care so much if it was a waste of time? If it was such a waste of time, why did you waste further time by commenting on it? Anyways, it is a public forum. Anyone who is a member is free to post his opinions on what other people post, whether you like it or not.
I have found that Excell Networks does a good job of explaining exactly how to increase traffic in 7 simple steps: 1) Invest in PPC and advertise with the major search engines 2) Get backlinks and exchange or trade links 3) Facilitate viral marketing 4) Use quality keywords and content on your site 5) Write and distribute articles leading back to your site 6) Join forums and form online communities 7) Give away free reports more can be found on my forums, PM me for the link
Some of things are too costly for having traffic for websites! like publishing in a newspaper, preparing ecards for promotion!