[20-OCT-2015] Refinements of forum categories and rules on affiliate links / codes

Fortunately for us, debating will not be necessary, as logic is absolute and measurable, just like math. :wink:

Language barrier? I don’t know. But, you missed what I said, apparently. And, no need to waste your energy on me. Save it for flashlights! :bigsmile:

Well, I wish there was a way to satisfy everyone’s preferences, but unfortunately there isn’t. We have a lot of members that want to see affiliate links, because they bring better deals. But also a few of our very knowledgeable and valued members detest them. At this point, few if any will change their position for or against affiliate links. So the best I can do is restrict them to a specific area of the forum, which has already been done. So I would recommend that the affiliate link haters not visit the “BLF User Negotiated Deals” section. And to make it easier for them to avoid it, I have created a Recent Posts page with threads from “BLF User Negotiated Deals” filtered out:

http://budgetlightforum.com/recent-posts-noaff

Bravo.

The lesson from Usenet is that killfiles work.
If something makes you crazy, don’t grab hold of it and hang on — arrange for yourself not to see it .

I think the best way is to get rid of them completely..

its absurd to think we should recommend members to not be part of BLF where we can get good deals..

whats the BLF deals alert thread for? where have the good deals been posted in the last 5 years? for who? who provided them? how?

frankly I have gotten much better deals through the aff-linkers than I ever got on the BLF deals alert thread. If I have email updates about martins thread and about the BLF Deal thread, I check Martins thread first.

That’s all besides the point. I think SB has done very well at reaching a compromise that works for both user sets, especially now that you can have your own ’Recent Posts’ page with the aff threads filtered out.

Let’s stop giving SB more grief and causing strife, because as SB said, most people have already made up their minds about the issue. All of the hostility and passive-aggressive comments hurt this forum more than anything else.

Keep Calm and Flash On.

SB just gave you what you wanted - a BLF without aff links. Why are you still stuck in ‘rant’ mode? :~ Come on, man, lighten up! We’re all here to have fun and enjoy our hobby together. Let’s not ruin that, okay? You won! You got what you wanted! Time to celebrate! :party:

I noticed there are very many threads that advertising GearBest in the title including a bunch that were started by GearBest. I mentioned it to sb, but he said that they didn’t violate the rules.

I personally find it troubling that there are so many threads advertising GearBest as they are widely recognized as one of the worst (if not THE worst) sellers of flashlights.

Unfortunately they are also one of the biggest vendors that frequently offers insanely good deals. Without banning them entirely, I don't see a way to avoid them generating a lot of buzz. For the record, this is the current GearBest rating page that I myself maintain:

Yep, that is strange. My silent protest is to never click on affiliate links when the non aff link is missing :slight_smile:

i hope to be the less worse pain in your * :wink:

i was also not happy with the rules (ask Sb how often i wrote him :smiley: ) because it was heavily unballanced…

i think the only shop who give the chance not to reward the guy whoms work you are using :wink: is banggood…

okay, some shops use redirects with “shareasale” (which can easily be identified) and a nonaff link makes sense - but i see them seldom here

BUT what do you do in all that cases where the affiliate is not honest and does not tell you that he participates from your order?
some get their share counted on the codes used in total - so everyone uses their “affiliate ID” and bring them money…

they worked around the rules before the great changes Sb made!
every deal now is in its “commercial” section where you can choose to see them or not

… the people who do not take money or points or free goods for their work will proceed and post their deals there also i am sure :wink:

no - not a job, but i invest a lot of time since i am unemployeed since 2 months…

its true - i make money IF i bring you guys deals you find worth to buy :wink:

That’s rather harsh!

I don’t see all affiliates as acting solely for themselves. Some, like M4D M4X, actively participate in discussions, participate in group buys, post reviews, and try their best to satisfy individual requests for discounts or product information.

That is interesting!

It even saves banggood 8% not to use a aff link, when you ask them directly.

So I guess it's just a matter of contacting Neal or GB directly to get the same discount. They will be happy to earn another 8%.

Btw Neal has been quite helpful with a problem I had with my Blf a6. So he is helpful.

I’m moved to suggest a forum subcategory — under Commercial — for reviews by people who got free or discounted lights.

I resemble this remark, recently, I don’t know if they’ve just discovered me somehow or if there’s a big push on.

I’ve heard today from the third flashlight company in a couple of weeks asking if I’d like a free flashlight and hoping I review it at BLF and/or Amazon.

When I checked today’s offer, I find literally more than a dozen topics already at BLF over several years about this same flashlight.

I would like BLF to be a place people critique, and take apart, and improve on — not just applaud — flashlights.

I was thinking of posting “How about a Big Group Review of the ” (until I realized how many threads already exist about the_).

That still might be a good idea, if a lot of us have all gotten today’s email offering a free hoping for yet another review.

Or, maybe, a subforum to identify reviews garnered by giving people free lights — which right now are mixed throughout the site.

Yeah, people do identify them, almost always now, early on in a review.

But it seems, somehow, like it’d work better for us all if these kinds of review got all bundled up together, as a group cooperative project.

Dunno. Whatcha think?

I’m in! I tried to make my review as complete and fair/balanced as I could, but you’re right that a forum category for this kind of review churn-out by manufacturers might help clear some things up. A group review sounds like an awesome idea as well. Maybe I’ll PM you the next time someone contacts me to do a review for one of their lights. Full disclosure: Olight contacted me about the light I reviewed recently and that is so far the first and only time I’ve ever been offered a free product and asked to do a review of it. I thought at first that maybe they picked me especially because I’ve already been a long-time fan of their products. I knew it wasn’t because I might do a quality review, because I’m not known for reviews around here or anywhere else. Yet, lots of other guys are. I still can’t figure out why they offered the same light to a half-dozen or so people on the same forum at the same time. Except that SEO gets a boost from so many people mentioning the product name in whatever (good or bad) context.

I do not review light at the moment, but I do get free stuff to review and I see no reason to post these reviews at another place than for the stuff I buy.

I have only done a handful of reviews… I like the idea of a central location and maybe even a group review. It seems that we tend to find different things we like or don’t like and compare these lights to different lights we own. I do not think that furnished reviews are bad, as long as they are honest, thoughtful and stated up front. Not everyone here will own a custom light, build a modified light or even have the desire to do so. I think that these reviews give an opinion from a sampling of people who have differing skills and desires and therefore may help those who are looking for a good over-the-counter light. When I first started with lights, I used opinions here and other places to decide what I wanted to buy and found it very valuable.

what about a “gentleman's agreement“ on BLF:

we tell IF the reviewed item was free / send as sample with discount without naming the source!

OR

was bought regularly (no chance for the manufacturer or shop to cherry pick)

i trust most blf-members ( and know the few i should not)

so no need to think the separation of reviews itno free stuff / paid opinion / trusted guy / whatever would help.

for sure the black sheeps would lie and the trusted members might get strange views because they say it was free stuff...

Yeh, I’m not suggesting separating reviews.
Quite the opposite — I’d rather see us with one or a few review topics, and as M4X says, those who disclose how they came by the light would get some respect for saying that.

Mainly, I’m suggesting we as a group contributing to one discussion find out more than if we each have our own.

Time will tell.