Should "shilling" via referral links be allowed by BLF members????

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.

I put them in some of my links, but I don't post links just so that people will follow them. I post a review or whatever and include the referral link (not all the time). I'm not changing what I write so that people will buy the item; I just review what I buy. It's not shilling if you're not trying to sell merchandise. You can tell the referrals are there since they are part of the URL. I'm not trying to hide anything.

To me it is as much an experiment as anything. I don't think KD's program works at all (never registered one sale). DX's program does work and I earned $10 back in January. I'm due for another $20 soon, and as I mentioned long ago I will either do a raffle for a $20 DX credit or maybe support the board some other way. It's not a gravy train and I'm not getting much of anything from it. My goal is to use (most of) whatever is earned and churn it back into the board somehow.

Nobody likes a true shill who says good things about a product just to get a commission. So I am against shilling, but I don't care about referral links. It's a fine line I guess.

I agree with this and that is all Fran has done. Fran has also been a valued contributor to the forum so its not an issue. If someone shows up and all they do is post links, I might have an issue. I only use those links to look at the lights anyway. When I decide to buy something, I usually shop around on my own and decide where I want to buy it from.

...subject tells it all.

+1 in a case like this it’s one of our own, not some spammer.

I think if we allow this then a million one post users will spam this forum with referral links.


+1



Agreed. +1 for referrals on items someone bought and approved (-1 for ref. and bought items that are s**t). And I think this is the only one "+1" reason for refs (ATM of course)

My name is Jamesearljonesisascab and im guilty of shilling.

my most recent post with a link is https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/3849

I think this was a successful post as a few of the members here at BLF was able to get in on this great deal.

i really don't know if i got any money from this but im glad that the guys who purchased it are getting them in are satisfied with it.

i post links that are interesting to me and i think might interest the others here. if i had offended anyone with this practice i apologize.

really, its up to mr mod... but who cares? it dont cost you anything, it makes them barely anything per person buying...

but it should go into commercial sellers spot, or a new "whats new in china" spot or such, because alot of times they are pretty stupid lights no one will want

I voted, "Yes, but only if the shill announces that their links will add benefit to themselves."

I think its important to explain why I voted that way. There are times when the poster says more than simply, 'Look at this'. It is at that point that one needs to know if his/her comments are in some way influenced or are completely unbiased.

I agree with the peep who said that one can tell by looking at the url. But I am not 100% certain that all members are aware of that or even understand it. Some people just use computers and do not under how work or even how links work.

At the end of the day anyone who is paid by a company for promoting that company should declare that. Perhaps we should have a rule whereby links which derive a profit for the poster can only be posted in the Commercial Sellers forum. Obviously they will still appear on the Home page but at least we would know instantly what we were looking at.

I'm fine with referrals, just state it in the post somewhere so that everyone who is not tech savvy can see it without having to painstakingly move their cursor over the link...

I'm fine with referral links but I'd like to see a BLF one that gives any revenue to Mr. Admin. He has put a lot of his time and probably a quite a bit of cash into keeping this excellent place going. This isn't CPF which is run as a cash machine for its owner. Nor, I believe, will it ever be. Let's face it - many of us here are cheapskates. I know I am. It costs us nothing to use a BLF referrer link - so why not folks?

Problem is that DX points are essentially worthless unless you are generating enough of them to exchange them for cash. I've spent more than ten thousand dollars of other people's money at DX (I promised my grandmother on her deathbed that I'd never be a hardware seller) but always at cost. Referral links on that lot would be worth a bit and I'd be delighted to donate it somewhere useful.

I think it should be allowed and I also think it should be noted in the post that it is a funky link or the administrator should delete it if it is not honestly noted.

+1 just have a category for it! Commercial Sellers' Spot for example

when i click on a link if its from a legitimate member wanting to show me something it's different than somone showing me junk with fake interest

frankly i am a DX fan but i will not buy anything from any retailer you work with. DX already sends me emails with product updates

if there is a separate place where i know that its an advertisement i dont mind clicking on it and would welcome it if you start showing me some good stuff

the PROBLEM IS you are getting hits off of my interest as if you are a regular person

as i stated in the other posts the guy who doesnt speak english well does not get a pass with his happy sunshine for you marketing technique but someone who speaks well can slide by its somehow ok ??

Maybe we're talking about two different things here but there are actual flashlight enthusiasts on this board who also sell stuff/services and they correctly draw a sharp line between business (Boaz selling Nitecores) and the flashlight hobby. (Boaz saying "hey, look at this cool light I ran across on flashfart.com and then he conveniently puts a link to the item that caught his fancy)

What would happen to my credibility if it were discovered I was employed by Solarforce this whole time? I realize the example is not exactly the same but I have to say: Fran saying, "hey check out this light" is a lot different than E1320 or Don or Match saying, "you gotta check out this light I found."

I got nothing against Fran or anybody else who honestly contributes but the difference between the above examples is what I'm talking about. It would be nice to have a place to go where every damn thing was not monetized.

soapboxFoy

Hi everyone, thanks for your opinions on this. I personally don't mind people using referral links, because so far nobody is trying to promote the products or mislead users into buying something that could be junk. Somebody mentioned the concern that BLF will be filled up with spammers posting referral links, but we have to admit that BLF, like any internet forum, already receives a moderately heavy load of blatant spam posting, and so far none of it has been referral links.

Thanks for your response, Mr Admin.

So if I understood, since now, no problems in posting "new arrivals" in "LED flashlights - general info" category or other category with referrals in the links?

If allowed, I will continue doing in the same way as I have been doing, of course, writing in the post and "advice" to know the rests of the users that the links contains referrals and how they work.

Is that admisible?

Sounds good to me. :)