Title change by request: What's good about AFF links?

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! :wink:

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 :expressionless:
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?

I knew it :slight_smile:

Oh, meant to answer this before. I think this conversation needs a little OT every once in a while to keep it from getting too hot in here.

The avatar was made in GIMP. Back in the day when even half-way decent cameras were way too expensive, I took a picture of myself with my webcam to use for avatars and such. Well, the picture was so grainy and bad that I decided to ‘fix’ it a little. I put it into GIMP and made a new transparent layer. Then, I basically outlined each major color or shape change and filled it in with one solid color. The eyes were beyond help, so I used a brown eye that I downloaded somewhere for my eyes, and made them large to give the whole thing a cartoonish appearance. I’ve used it as my avatar on a few sites, but my wife doesn’t like it. She says it looks creepy. :open_mouth: As you can see, the avatar needs a shave. That’s because I don’t like shaving, and I only get around to it every week-and-a-half or so.

I think there are enough reasons mentioned to completely ban them....

and 1 of them, is that its a heavy (money) laden topic.. and therefore should get banned.

No politics, no religion, so why affiliate links?

David, the whole thread is created on an erroneous premise, one that claims that affiliate links posting is the status quo, that posting affiliate links is the normal state of affairs which is not. A good forum is one free of hidden links and publicity, except in the designated areas.
If you would have created a thread titled like “Why do you like affilliate links?” you would have gotten a totally different response. Are you starting to see my point now?

I’ve got a really easy answer for that one. Politics and religion have nothing to do with flashlights! :wink: AFF links don’t need to be here in order for us to have a nice forum, but they also don’t need to not be here for us to have a nice forum. We can choose to have a nice forum with or without AFF links! In fact, I would go on to say that if we can’t have a nice forum in spite of AFF links, then we can’t have a nice forum… period. People make forums. We are the people. :wink:

I’m sorry if my title suggests that AFF links are the norm or the status quo. That is not what I meant at all. The reason I stated the question like that is really simple - that is the question I’d like to have answered. I really think it would be foolish to try to say that AFF links improve anything. But, by the same measure, I think it’s naïve to think that AFF links do any harm. They don’t have power to do good or evil. People do. One thing I was hoping to see in here is somebody doing a ‘history lesson’ of sorts about the evil beginnings of AFF links and how they were ‘always’ used in a bad way from since they were invented. I haven’t seen that. Something like that would actually sway my opinion (supposing it’s true, of course).

Affiliate links have NOTHING to do with flashlights either!

its a divisive topic, and therefore should get banned I would say, just becuase the former 2 topics are not allowed.

thats just another nail in the Affiliate coffin.

In fact, I would go on to say that if we can’t have a nice forum in spite of AFF links, then we can’t have a nice forum… period. People make forums. We are the people.

Hmmm don`t know where the logic is in that one.

I will quote again, but change the words.

In fact, I would go on to say that if we can’t have a nice forum in spite of Religion, then we can’t have a nice forum… period. People make forums. We are the people.


In fact, I would go on to say that if we can’t have a nice forum in spite of Politics, then we can’t have a nice forum… period. People make forums. We are the people.