It's not the same deal as an affiliate as it once was. There's still money to be had for some. But there are lots of people trying to blow smoke up your ass. Especially those who can profit from you. If they get 100 people to send them 2000 more clicks a month it all adds up nicely and all is fine for them even though those individual affiliates might make $0-$35 a month. Even better if they just shave the little guys so badly that they never have to actually pay out anything. 2000 clicks a month at 1:20,000 means one sale every 10 months.
There are lots of webmasters bullshitting about what they make too. I know one here who recently claimed they still make $60,000 a year from adult. They are very vocal about adult being better than ever. But you can go to another forum and find a post from them a few months ago admitting they only make $6,000 a year in this industry.
Some of the people who participate in these threads do so because they are trying to convince themselves. Others not so much. Don't shoot the messenger. Just telling it as it is.