Conversions are definitely down across the board, but definitely some sponsors are better than others. No reason not to add a pay site to your portfolio. Maybe try some new sponsors. I know I have some sites I can still convert, including
SpookyCash ones of course.
But there are definitely some where I used to make a join for every few hundred uniques and now I can't convert. I think some sites stopped updating, so new members are not going to sign up. Harder to make new content in the current economy because talent wants to get paid more, at the same time programs have less.
People keep talking about shaving, but aren't most programs these days NATS or CCBill or Epoch or maybe Verotel or Zombaio? If so, how are they shaving? I just don't think shaving is really happening in 2010. Slow pay and no pay is definitely happening, but I don't think shaving really is.