With this much press about TipJoy. I think they will go through a period of "false success", I would love to hear how many visits came from TechCrunch and other sources vs returning visits.
It seems to me that the hardest part about this kind of business is modifying people's behavior. Removing barriers to leaving a tip is one important aspect of that, but the second is the cultural attitudes of when and how much to tip.
I'd like to see this kind of model succeed, but how can you transition from the concept most of us have of the web as "free beer" to something one has an obligation to tip?
I don't think the point is to create an obligation but to provide an avenue.
At least the way I see it, TipJoy and similar services are not trying to take away the "free beer", but give you a way to buy a guy a beer if he helps you out or tells you a good story.