When I think of affiliate links, I think of this conversation:
That's what's wrong with affiliate links.
I see it like this . if my sister brings a boyfriend home to meet the family and we are all sitting at the dining table eating drinking and sharing than life is wondeful .we welcome him into our conversations and into our home as a cherished guest .
IF he decides to leave his business cards taped to the bathroom mirror and pulls each of us aside and discusses our need for insurance and again and again and again presses a business card into our hands each time we see him then IMHO he's a piece of trash that my sister needs to NOT bring to our table ever again .
Affilliate linkers have only corrupted something that never needed fixing in the first place . it only sought after a weakness in the system (mr admins kindness) and sought to abuse it for his own gain and greed ..All the time crouched and hidden under the guise of being helpful .
9 million members did it for free and were indeed helpful and i've mentioned the tens of thousands of deals found by Chibi M in the past as an example ..No one needed to pay him to offer up deals he'd found .
this isn't slick deals or a site just about deals ....the fact that many members are cheap asses and a bit stingy themselves only gives traction to these parasites. they are preying on peoples fears of NOT getting the super deal . well that;s certainly never happened .
it sends a crap message to new members ..one that says come and abuse a lax under moderated site to shill your ass off...the lust towards any and all decent vendors when they show up on site is evidence to the fact these scumbags live and die by sucking off of our members .
look at the people who are affiliate linkers . they post almost no helpful info . they participate only when there is something to gain and by being so obvious about it they spread the virus to ALL new members that they don't need to care about others ..naturally a new member has no reason to love or care for the site ..he has real affection to it ,so having a mentor that says hey get what you can and abuse the system while you can ...all this done on a site that has "budget " or cheap ass built right into it's name ..
I mean hey why not make a category named ..
* How to scam ebay vendors to get free stuff .
* How to coerce established vendors into giving you free stuff by using the buying power of 15,000 members as a tool against them .
* How to leverage a community of enthusiasts into paying for your stuff .
* How to see yourself as better than the person sitting next to you ...and how to use them to get what you want .
The POLLS have all been taken and every one of them shows that people are against it .
Somehow people reading the poll think that the people who vote >>"I don't care " means that it should somehow be considered a YES vote .
Any poll i've ever taken about what should we do . where should we go ....or what should we eat ....anyone saying ...I DON"T CARE < it is considered a NON - vote and is dismissed .
i have 40 other very good reasons that affiliate linking is a horridly stupid idea and will share if someone wants to PM me .
but suffice it to say ...that if some scum bag comes into my circle of friends or my families kitchen table and seeks to abuse them solely for their own gain .
they are asking for me to jump across the table ..grab them by the throat and kick their asses to the curb .
I've almost left this site a number of times over this issue and the repercussions from it .
And I know for a FACT that FOY and numbers of other older members have left because of it too ..
personally i wouldn't trade 1000 new members for one Foy or one Match .
Affiliate links hasn't done anything positive at all and instead has made the forum a much less friendlier place to be .
Affiliate link Love your reasoning Boaz! And although you were serious it's funny at the same time ;)
Total ban would make everyone's life much easier.. this problem will keep existing even with moderation.
Boaz, quit beating around the bush and tell us what you really think. ;)
Simply just ban them, I think that will clear the forum a lot. I’ll take a more honest and true forum over a $5 discount any day of the week.
Damn, is THAT why Foy left? I’d trade all the aff links on the site to get him and Match back.
Anyways, for me, I guess I’m more in the middle. If the deal is a deal, and there’s a clearly labelled non-aff option, then it’s okay, with just a couple caveats:
1: don’t be pushy. don’t be rude. We’re here because we share a hobby, not because we signed up to be your customer base. Do it too much and I’ll bypass you and complain directly to the store.
2: pay attention to what you’re posting. I really don’t want to see a “here’s 50 different batteries on sale, I don’t care what’s good, but here’s a giant aff link” posting again.
3: if you’re going to post a deal, make sure there isn’t a better deal going on already. You might make a buck, but you’re getting it by screwing anyone that trusted you.
Basically, if you’re going to be standing on the middle ground between forum member and advertiser, you can’t put advertising first, not without damaging the community.
Just my $0.02 (… since Canada got rid of the penny, I guess it’s $0.00 now…)
It's too bad there isn't a like or upvote button or something. I would like/upvote the hell out of this.
I still don’t see anyone posting why AFF links themselves are bad. I see a lot about scumbags abusing the AFF link system. And, I see people generalizing that everyone who uses AFF links is inherently a scumbag abusing the system. By the way, that’s called prejudice and bigotry. I’ve seen people use AFF links responsibly on this site. Not every insurance salesman is looking to plaster your house with business cards. And not every Affiliate member is looking for ways to plaster every thread with AFF links.
So, Boaz, let’s say the new boyfriend happens to work for the best, cheapest, yet most responsive and caring insurance company in the world. He is excited about his association with them, because he knows they’re so great. In fact, he never wanted to be an insurance salesman. But, they were so good to him in his time of need, that he wanted to join them in helping the rest of the world get good insurance for a low price. He comes to your house for dinner, and DOESN’T plaster cards all over the place. He contributes to the conversations at the table. Everyone generally likes him. Some, more than others.
After a while, in the course of good conversation, he reveals that he is selling insurance for this truly amazing and awesome company that really helped him in his time of need. At that point in the conversation, he offers to give anyone who wants one, his business card. What do you think of him as a person at this point? To me, it is entirely appropriate to offer someone a deal for something you yourself believe in, so that they can benefit from it. I don’t see anything wrong with this scenario. Yet, these polite and helpful people are summarily lumped together with the scumbags as if they are all of the same lot. I submit that they are not.
I’ve seen lots of business models in my life. Most of them are good ways to do business, but there is always room for abuse. I’ve seen door-to-door salesmen who were polite, not pushy. And, when I turned them down, they stayed polite and wished me a good day. I’ve also heard horror stories of people in my own family who were basically overrun by pushy door-to-doors who invited themselves in and wouldn’t leave until there was a major purchase made. I’ve had pushy, rude sales calls over the phone. But, most of the tele-marketers I’ve talked with were very polite. Even though I don’t appreciate this particular sales method, I can appreciate that the person on the other end of the line is not necessarily a villain for choosing to work in a call center. I’ve seen salesmen at an auto-mechanic shop who will try every trick in the book to add more things that must be replaced on your car or else it will crash and kill you. Then, I’ve also seen mechanic shop owners that were beyond honest, who tried to find the cheapest and best method of getting you back on the road safely, and would even go out of their way to make it easier on your finances. I’ve seen shop owners throw stuff in for free just because they liked helping people.
The truth is, there are scumbags everywhere. A lot of effort goes into moderating forums in a way that discourages scumbags and yet encourages polite members to stick around. I don’t envy SB one bit. It truly is a balancing act at times (maybe all the time). But, the occasional presence of scumbags doesn’t mean that everybody is a scumbag. There is no “guilt by association”. Affiliate members are not scumbags by default. Affiliate links are not inherently evil.
+1 This is almost exactly how I feel as well.
Thank you for that informative and helpful post. You are one of the greatest BLF’ers of all time! 
Then again, it might raise some spirits! :party:
By the way, I’d like some popcorn with extra butter. And, if you’ve got it, some Barq’s! Do you have that yummy theatre candy as well? I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I had Boston Baked Beans or Mike and Ike’s!
Lol. You started this whole thread just so you could say “see, I wasn’t wrong”. Good grief. This is one of the dumber episodes of pointless hair-splitting that I’ve witnessed.
No Affiliate links will make BLF a better place!
Why would anyone accuse you of trollish behavior? 0:)
David you’ve taken this discussion from affiliate links to prejudice and bigotry 
You seem to have your mind made up, I really don’t get the point of this thread other than you trying to sway the readers into liking affiliate links.
Rule #1 please.
The point of this thread is for people to think about WHY they dislike AFF links. If you have valid logic, then your opinion is valid. Yep, I said it, and I’ll own it. Prejudice doesn’t justify prejudice. So, an opinion based on prejudice alone is not logically valid. Saying “All _ are evil because I don’t like _!” is not valid. The hatred doesn’t justify the hatred. There has to be something else. A few here have offered something else. I have read every post. And, although I haven’t personally responded to each one, I do agree with a lot of the points that are being made.
I think it’s funny that people keep saying I’m aggressively promoting AFF links. I’m not promoting AFF links or anything but active thought and a little healthy (but civil) debate. I’ve already said that I have no skin in the game of AFF links. I’m not in any affiliate programs myself, and I don’t recall ever actually using any links to buy products either. I would not be opposed to banning AFF links from the site for good reason. But, ‘cause I say so’ has never been “good reason” to me. (I never liked it when my parents said it!)
I don’t know. Maybe because I look like this? 