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

freeme flat out uses every post as an advertisement, and even worked it in as his “location”.

Affiliate link Laundry Detergent and Fabric Care Products - Tide

Well, I’ve never personally noted that about freeme. But, maybe that is part of the deal here. Maybe some of us are just more sensitive to certain types of advertisement than others are. I tend to ignore advertisements to the point that I can’t even see them sometimes. So, the only advertisements that really bother me are those that actively get between me and whatever it is that I’m trying to look at or do. Maybe that means I’m a bit insensitive to the situation.

When money becomes involved in which flashlight to recommend, I lose all faith in said recommendation.

Affiliate links are terrible. They are poisoning this forum. They should be banned.

Ref Thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/29462

My memory is not perfect but I remembered posting the 4 international links first as they provide introductory offer at 50%. There were a lot of interest and bought that particular key-chain light. Offer soon expired after less than 2 weeks and not many people were able the discount. BG was one of the first to list them in their store and got them in one of their sale campaign. That was why BG link was shared on 12/12/2014. Why only BG store link? They are the "least" unlike store to date and price is lowest at that point of time.

Obviously you have not read my reply.
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Your new Tide sig is technically an advertisement in your post too. Should we regard you as a commercial seller now?

Oh, please. Muddying the difference between fair use of an icon, versus paid advertising by displaying an icon, versus a paid affiliate link?
Not helpful.

Right-click on the link he posted to Tide; copy the string behind the text, paste it into a text editor — and lo, it’s exactly the same words that you can read.
There’s no hidden code behind the text.
That’s fair use of a commercial icon as an illustration of how annoying it is to see graphics stuffed into everything advertising anything.

Of course there’s an easy answer — right-click on the annoying picture, and use Adblock.

Never see it again. Like I just did for your sig ad, for myself.

If I could do that with affiliate links — killfile them — I could solve this problem permanently all by myself, for myself — by choosing whose postings I am willing (sometimes eager) to see.
A few people do it right, with a single topic or their own website — I’d still rather see organized group buys, but hey, I can’t fix everything.

So you noticed, my Tide photo is just a joke for this thread only, from a Walmart page I think, and the link is just to some generic Tide page.

The point was to illustrate your advertising in every post that you make here, even capitalizing on your “location”.

I changed my signature line due to this thread… I write M4D M4X if I am interested in something that BangGood has, but I like his style too… I like affiliated links that are marked and LET YOU KNOW they are such. I do not care for stuff like FreeMe does, but he does seem to contribute some to the conversation as well outside of the advertising.

Perhaps a 51% rule? 51% of your posts have to contribute to the forum other than advertising, or you are banned for spamming?

I do not know a definite answer to this issue, but I do know this is one of the best forums on the net, PERIOD. Lots of good stuff and generally respect is shown all around, by new and old here. I just do not want the whole “other flashlight thread” stuff going on here (written and unwritten rules, really? What is an unwritten rule? Rules by nature must be referenced easily and not be changed on a whim, or we are back in kindergarten on the playground) I enjoy my time surfing this site… The other one I tolerate to seek some knowledge, but my blood pressure suffers sometimes due to the junk they push over there, and the attitudes they sometimes write with. My two cents…

Of course I knew it was joke.

Admin does not forbid either using using external link or alternative text to substitute the location field. I will act accordingly if such rules get implemented in future.

I am talking about advertising, not affiliated link.

Glad you found your way to hide those annoying ads or links. In order to filter away all posts with AFF-links, admin could come out with block user function where all his/her posts will be filter/ hide from your view. Another method will be... BAN all affiliated links in BLF which I am also supporting right now.

If admin decides to not ban affiiliate links, what are you going to do?

I can voluntarily stop posting my AFF-links but will it guarantee a reduction in AFF-links? I do not think so, you can see that someone is trying to build his affiliation empire in here because many of his supporters have recognized his works. Moreover, every now and then you will see new member turned into affiliate over time. It will only place me in a very disadvantage position, if the rest continue what they are doing except me. That is why complete BAN will be a fairer approach.

Alternatively, I could follow the commercial seller rules and make all my new posts in commercial threads. It may turn that section into a huge mess because I do post more frequently than avg sellers. For that I make get reported again for spamming as commercial seller rule #1 states "Please make only a few threads in the Commercial Sellers' Spot category".

Apparently there is one person who is accountable for all these which I am waiting for his reply. I believe he is constantly watching from the side line without uttering a word.

I just wanted to save your reply for posterity. I don't think I need to write anything more.

On this forum it is possible to flag posts as spam. Could that be a way forward? If posts with aff links are posted outside the commercial reseller parts of the forum, we simply flag them as spam? Is that within the accepted use of the spam button?

I’m not clear on the terms, would that also include freeme’s ads that he puts into all of his posts here?

No, I don’t think that would be acceptable.

sb has set the rules and already addressed the issue of affiliate links. The only place affiliate links are not permitted is the deal alerts thread.

I feel that it is starting to get personal now. I do not wish to be center of the topic just because I am more willing to discuss. This conversation is leading to no where as expected. Sorry but I have say I'm out from this thread.

I caught the joke and I think it’s funny. But, how does his sig or his “location” have anything to do with affiliate links? That is his website that he is directing people to. You may not like that, but he is far from the only one here who does that.

No, that is not within the accepted use of the SPAM button. Only violations of SB’s policies are eligible for use of the SPAM button. Anything else you mark as SPAM is abuse of the system. Some people think that AFF links are inherently SPAM, but SB has stated clearly that they are not considered inherently bad and are okay to use on this site.

How about changing the question? Enough negative responses...So:

What's good about affiliate links?

Let's see if they outweigh the negative points.

There is only one thing good - earning money or other tangible goods by promoting sales online, and even then only for the person who posts affiliate links.

Deals? Well, they save money of those, who buy, but Ive never heard any seller stating that their deals should be posted as aff links only.

Aff links as such benefit only those, who post them.

I don’t have any problem with certain other forum members benefiting from me making a purchase. It costs me the same (or less) if I use their affiliate link vs not.