How much web traffic can you get when Google zaps you?

What happens when your website gets caught up in a new Google algorithm update and all of the sudden your coveted top Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERP's) disappear?

Apparently you complain as loud as you can to any and all media sources. (since complaining to Google apparently falls on deaf ears) And then you build lots of traffic and links from those sources to replace your lost search engine traffic.

I just finished reading my second article today (this time on wired.com) about how Cult of Mac has been inadvertently punished by the recent Google algorithm update. 

First off, I think a big kudos to them for getting the word out that they have lost 1/3 to 1/2 of all their traffic (and presumably ad revenue) because of change happening at another company. I would really love to see how their traffic has fared today and the next few days with all of the coverage they are currently receiving (I just visited their site for the first time today to see what all of the hubub is about). Apparently they claim to have original content that is scraped by others, yet they were 'punished' by the algorithm change. Also, presumably other companies, that blatantly rip-off content online and publish as their own were not adversely (or in some cases) as severely affected. The example that has been given is Demand Media, parent company of the infamous eHow websites that provide thousands of hand written nonsense articles on how to do anything.

If it is true, and Cult of Mac does produce original content and is being punished because of other sites that scrape it and use it as their own, it will be interesting to see how Google reacts to this (if at all).

If anything, maybe Google is seeing their site as duplicate content because they do not have a 301 redirect for www on their homepage. Not to mention a 55 second load time, no H1 tags, etc...
I know these are small on-site SEO changes, but they follow Google's webmaster guidelines. I may be naive but I would think if Google is delivering 50% of your business, you may want to follow the rules they set forth.

All of this aside, I hope they post their traffic numbers for all of the visits they are getting from this free press. They may want to thank Google after all.