CainIV - 6:15 am on Nov 29, 2009 (gmt 0)

Thus, the "clever" people doing this are then creating their own miniature "link farms" throwing a link at the profiles they've created so that they get the URL indexed, and, presumably, then charge their client for the link.

Agreed. Often they point a large number of those at one specific article, then create a hub of articles to magnify the effects of that niche to the client.

It is important to note that there are many places that allow you to create a profile, even if you do not post content.