He is a former SEOmoz guy, he knows his way around to game the system and draw traffic. I have seen some of his work during his time with Seomoz and also after he left them. I think he also designed the original Seomoz site (which was nicer than the current one). He also made a dating site (I think in one week) called mingle2 which he later sold it.

When he started making these comics, each comic had their own unique domain name and he would get them on the digg frontpage. Usually after digg frontpage the traffic was still coming in so he would link them to mingle2 website to drive traffic there. I think I have seen him link to other sites too, possibly his other clients (including an insurance company, but I could be wrong, that was more than a year ago).

The reason I am telling you this, because I think its important to put things in to perspective. He is an SEO guy, he has been around for some time and he knows how to "game" the system.

It doesn't take away the fact that some of his work is genuinely very good and funny and I have personally enjoyed them.

Edit: Some notes I could find after short googling

• His blog post on Mingle2 work done in 66.5 hours: http://mingle2.com/blog/view/how-i-built-mingle2
• Mingle2 domain submission by him and "Oat" (his other nick): http://www.reddit.com/domain/mingle2.com
• His last blog post on Seomoz, while still working: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/my-departure-from-seomoz
• He made another blog post on Seomoz after leaving: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/widgetbait-gone-wild, where discusses how he gets traffic from sites through widget. This are all the widgets he created while working for his new job. If you closely look at those widgets you will see that some (but not all) of those ideas has been rehashed in to "oatmeal"
• If you have time you can read through his Comments and see how he drives traffic to his work: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/author/30 (hopefully someone doesn't delete them)

This guy is much much better than I will ever be. But its good to have some perspective and knowledge. He knows the system inside out, while you guys are being amazed by raptors he is doing his thing.

I am writing this from my disposable account, because I seriously fear this guy and I think he can do some harm to me if I post from my regular account. Because I use the same name for my other online identities.

By the way, Congratulations on the book deal. I actually bought your self-published comic last year.

Edit2: I am proud of myself knowing that I have such good memories. Remember the insurance company I mentioned earlier? Here is the digg submission by him to StateFarm Insurance website from 2007. More Gems, if you have the patience to digg around.

Last word before I am done with this comment. Please do take me seriously when I say this, Reddit is as much prone to "gaming" as digg. It might not be as easy, but it is most definitely possible. You really think when there is $100,000s potentially on the line in the future to get something viral someone won't invest on few dozen machines (renting unique ips is literally peanut money) with unique ips to get their story/business/blog/ in to more eyes? It happens all the time, now they are just good at it.

We like to believe that Reddit is not prone to gaming, because we love reddit. It can't possibly happen. If you have some background on how SEO viral marketing works, you would also think like me and be skeptical about certain things.

Food for thought.

Edit3: http://twitter.com/Oatmeal/status/9719405603 | Screenshot