Bloggers have made it to the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer, which features a story headlined "Bloggers count on cybertips":

The tip jar, which took hold in the early 1990s with the explosion of coffee bars, has long since extended its guilt grip to the dry cleaner, doughnut shop, and ice-cream drive-through.

So it was probably inevitable that it would migrate to cyberspace, where virtual tip jars have been sparking debates about greed, overreaching and taxes.

With the tax deadline tomorrow, there has been chatter about whether cybertips are income, an issue the IRS has yet to address.

But for bloggers with high traffic, devoted followings, or persuasive begging skills, tip jars can mean big bucks, with some A-list bloggers pulling in thousands of dollars a year.

Susie Madrak's tip jar yielded a car.

"My readers sent me $1,500 when my car died," said Madrak, of Bensalem, whose feisty Suburban Guerrilla is at www.suburbanguerrilla.blogspot.com.

Madrak, a fraud investigator and former newspaper journalist, is tooling around in a used Infiniti after sharing her car woes. She begged, hectored, and put up a photo of a cat, warning: "Hit the PayPal or I kill the kitten."

On his blog, which he says averages 120,000 page views a day, Atrios said all should give to their favorite bloggers, and wealthy readers should pony up "a grand or two." He no longer solicits tips - although he doesn't turn them down - and relies instead on blog ads.

"Thanks to all the folks who've sent donations lately. They do a fine job of offsetting the hate mail," University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds wrote recently on Instapundit (www.instapundit.com).

Reynolds, who says he averages 175,500 page views daily, has told readers he prefers tips to ad revenue because "there's something about someone paying you when they don't have to that makes it nice."

At prices like Glenn Reynolds', who can't afford to be nice?

DISCLAIMER: This post was neither solicited nor paid for by Glenn Reynolds, who would probably silently frown on solicitation. (So I won't remind my readers that I don't have a tipjar, nor will I advise them to hit Glenn's instead.)

UPDATE: If you think Atrios is nice, read the comments to this post, located here. It's one thing to disagree with people, but the venomous hatred directed at Little Green Footballs is something to behold. It doesn't speak well for leftist readers of Atrios that a favorite form of attack is to impute homosexuality to Charles Johnson -- or anyone else. Not long ago, such tactics would have been called "homophobic."

MORE: Those decrying LGF as a "hate site" should read Brian Tiemann's thoughtful post on the subject. (Via Charles Johnson.)

AFTERTHOUGHT: Hey, isn't tomorrow April 15?

I question the timing!