Yes, you can mine them, just choose half of the altcoins in circulation!
I'm not putting it all under the same flag. Of course, there are innovations, like LTC. But some of them, especially lately, are mostly pump and dump I'm sure of it
I won't name any coins, but I'm sure you know which one they are.
And, the biggest problem is that it's like those annoying ads. Everyone is bashing them, having something to say, but it's there because it work! People jump in. I'm not blaming anyone here, and sure, there is a lot of money to do for the first adopters, and many of those coins get their finest hours one day or another.
Damn I wish I had hoarded those Freicoins a little longer. Had mined like 30~40K a months or 2 ago... Would have been worth a few thousand bucks by now! Well, the thing is that you never know.