Mining is still profitable?

[sidehack]

Not necessarily. Bitcoin's value is also based on utility; I can trade bitcoins directly for products and services all over the world without an intermediary currency. Shitcoins can really only be traded based on a perceived value with no foundation in utility, and it doesn't take much market upset to collapse a useless coin. For reference, see the plethora of failed pump-and-dump altcoins; compare the number of people that made a killing on them (typically a subset of which is the coin creator) to the number of people that lost money on them before the coin disappeared entirely.

[PolarPoint]

I agree with sidehack. Mining new alts is a game of getting out early, and is not always profitable. Those who looses exceeds those who gained.