There's talk about sexy girls here? It appears I've been hanging in the wrong forum.
Its just that Mr. Admin hasnt yet gotten around to creating the proper category for such a thing. Im sure it'll happen soon enough though.
I would opine that the referral process is not the problem. I would actually encourage those interested to put their referral code or codes in their sig line, and give the purchaser the option of including it as a 'thanks' for the info.
I would gladly give all of my referral points to those who contribute to the knowledge base.
To acquire points in the current manner reeks of, for lack of a better word, sneaky.
I voted 'I don't give a darn', mostly because I don't.
It costs me nothing to buy through a referal link, and I'm well aware of it simply by looking at the url.
If it bothers you that much, you can just remove the referal link from the end of the url.
I can understand how some might see it as sneaky if it is not announced, but to be honest, there are more important things in life to worry about.
I agree with that. You have left me without words. Specially about the fact that "there are more important things in life to worry about."
Some members see a problem where there is not a problem.
Simply as that: referrals doesnt cost anything to the person who buy.
What do you prefer?
If you dont use referrals, the company will have even more "gain".
I would expect your position, as you are likely one of the top offenders/shills.
That is similar to saying that your shoplifting costs me nothing, which is untrue.
If these 'referrals' aren't being done at the expense of other members I can't see a real problem. If you have a moral objection...don't click on those links (Works for me).
Yeah, don't click any fran82's links :D
+1
Shoplifting doesn't create more sales for the seller, referrals do. So it's actually quite opposite.
I dont care either way, but lets keep our perspective factual. The resellers create the referral programs. They want their customers to use their referral programs to propagate additional sales. Although an incentive, the potential rewards to the "shiller" are absolutely inconsequential in comparison to the profits generated through potential additional sales to the reseller. In simple terms, the shiller is doing them a huge favor of providing advertising for nearly free.
The animosities that have been generated are related to the many that were not made aware that referral links had been embedded within seemingly "regular" links. Its an issue of disclosure and morality, not an issue as to weather or not referrals ultimately cost the consumer a higher amount to purchase an item. In reality, if supply and demand soar, the cost to the consumer will be less... as has been evidenced by nearly all the most popular lights discussed on this forum.
I think that shilling is sneaky, unethical, and rude. 
I am sick of links by shills to DealExtreme, Manafont, and other websites, that exist so that the shill can make money. 
It's practically the same thing as SPAM, and I don't like SPAM. 
Changed my signature to tell my own policy about referral links:
"Disclaimer: Above post might contain referral links, but only to items that I myself have bought, tested & approved."
I think that policy helps me keep unbiased, still allowing me to recommend known good items and possibly even gain some cents by doing that.
I’m only going to buy my DX stuff from Frans links from now on. Saves me the time searching DX. just more fake Internet etiquette to me. I might also start posting in all CAPS to see if I can make anyone cry.
I don't find it to be such a bad thing, If I can get it for the same price, Why would I punish someone who could make a very little proffit from doing it?
The only thing I would like is, when someone uses referrals, to do it being honest about the products, not trying to promote them over other products on other sites.
So, my vote goes for option two, which is not quite what is my opinion but it is the closest one.
I think the point to remember is that the members here have just posted referral links with comments like “new lights at DX”. Never things like “this light is super mega awesome and you are all complete smegheads if you don’t buy it too”. The difference is there is no intention to deceive our membership. Just posting links to give our membership a heads up? No problem with me, I like looking at new lights.
Absolutely no issues to me if anyone use a referral link. Anyone doing so must still follow the usual BLF practics being nice and objective and not simply spamming such links.
I'm not sure that it's necessary...........I don't want to see us creating another CPF because of minor quibbles.
Personally, I'm all about content. If someone posts a helpful tip or a review or even a quick reminder, I'm more than happy to use their reflink to buy stuff. If I see value in their contribution and I can help them out, then by all means, post your link and I'll use it.
At the same time, I hate spam. And I mean hate. In a previous life, I used to be responsible for running a semi-large network and the amount of work and lost productivity that went into fighting spam and keeping things running, before spam filtering was completely outsourced, was ridiculous. So, when referral systems more or less openly encourage active spamming (or any activity really, that crosses over into spam territory), I get cranky.
So what I do is this: if there's content I value and the poster uses a reflink, I use it. If I like the post and there's no reflink, I go to my bookmarks and use the reflink of someone who has positively contributed to the forum in the past. That way, the ref points (or whatever) aren't "lost".
If I come across a "shill" post that contains little or no content aside from a reflink and plug designed to get me to buy stuff, I remove the reflink, go out of my way to remove any cookies and LSOs I might have from that site and simply use somebody else's reflink.
Works for me... :)
Probably the most nitpicking group i have encountered..
Not that its all bad - but it's not good either..
Wow....looks like quite a number of people do not mind.