A PAYtriot is basically a glowie who uses their glowie-ness to solicit donations. These PAYtriots use Q to line their own pockets by offering the "inside scoop".
I've followed x22 and Praying Medic for a while now and both of them, imho, are PAYtriots. They are sponsored. Every x22 video has a 1 minute sponsored ad in the beginning. Both sites offer paid memberships and private server rentals.
Be careful who you follow and who you trust.
I don't see getting donations to full time research the same as AJ's multi-million dollar literally glowing studio.
Both of them started off anonymous, which is different than trying to drop your name at every opportunity.