Reopening The Affiliate Links Debate On MSPWP

[Toby Cryns]

I don't remember exactly where the debate on posting affiliate links landed the last time we had this discussion, but I feel very strongly that affiliate links taint the perceived quality of the advice given.  In some cases, they likely taint the actual advice being given.  

NOTE: This is not a jab at the recent thread about being hacked.  Nick's advice about using Sucuri is sound as a rock and should be followed.  This is a general statement about posting affiliate links to this group.

Since I value the trustworthiness of this group, perceived and real, I would like to float a suggestion: do not post affiliate links.

Nothing against affiliate links; I just think they should not be shared on this list.  Ultimately, this is a community, and you all will be the final arbiters of this policy.  I am interested to get your feedback on this idea.

Thoughts?

Toby

[Winnie Williams]

I don't remember either.  And I'm happy to go with whatever the group decides.  But when someone provides me with advice I need, I wouldn't mind using their affiliate link as thanks.  I agree, I wouldn't want to see it taint advice.  Or to see lots of affiliate posts every time there were a sale on a wordpress product.  In this case, it was indeed exactly the right advice, as we all know.  So, if there's a way of making it acceptable, but clearly stating it's an affiliate link, or some like that.  Maybe that would work?  But I think if it is acceptable it has to be in the context of providing advice.

Winnie

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[Sherman Bausch]

That is where we came out in the last discussion.

[Nicholas Ciske]

Seems like a survey would help gauge the list sentiment -- otherwise only vocal voices will get heard. I know we have  lot of lurkers that would likely not post an opinion but would respond to a survey.

Personally, I'm torn.

I get Toby's argument and have questioned recommendations (online) when it's blog post that seems to exist only to drive affiliate traffic. On the other hand, this is a community and so we're not strangers. Those that abuse affiliate links will hurt their reputation (and lose trust), and those that do not will retain their rep.

In my case, I like the idea of posting both links. It gives anyone reading the option to choose not to give a commission and removes at least some of the "questionable nature" -- in my recent case, it clearly indicated it was an affiliate link and the only reason to use it would be if they were going to buy the product and wanted to help me out with a small commission (that costs them nothing). Note: not defending here -- I had forgotten the previous discussion -- just showing that there can be a middle ground between "spam" and "ban".

I give a lot of free advice on this list, and wouldn't stop if affiliate links were not allowed. But I have a mortgage and kids who like to eat and if someone buys something based on my recommendation (and I've earned their trust that I wouldn't recommend something solely for the commission) then it seems that everyone wins.

We're a community -- which means that supporting each other is important too ;-)

Nick Ciske

On Jun 13, 2013, at 5:08 PM, Winnie Williams wrote:

I don't remember exactly where the debate on posting affiliate links landed the last time we had this discussion, but I feel very strongly that affiliate links taint the perceived quality of the advice given.  In some cases, they likely taint the actual advice being given.  

[Becky Caneday]

I understand both sides. Personally, I so appreciate the great advice and explanations on all the various aspects of working with WordPress, that I would willingly use an affiliate link to support group members.

Would it be feasible to have a resource page for members to list their affiliate links?

~ Becky

 

[Kyle Sorkness]

For what my infrequent-contributor opinion is worth, I second Nick's suggestion of posting both links.

If an "irregular" member suggests a service, via an affiliate link or not, I'm likely to take it with a grain of salt anyway. If a "regular" member suggests something, I'm likely to give it much more weight, whether they used an affiliate link or not. If I can, I'd like to thank those members by using their affiliate links. Should someone's advice be tainted and the consequences bad enough, I imagine that would circle back to this group. As Nick pointed out, it seems that should work as a self-regulating system of reputation and trust.

Kyle

On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 5:54 PM, Nicholas Ciske <ni...@thoughtrefinery.com> wrote:

[Jodi Stammer]

Kyle said exactly what I was thinking, but was unable to articulate. Posting both links has my vote.

 

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[Tim Cimbura]

Regarding affiliate links...Posting both is fine with me...but I'm also OK with anyone posting just the affiliate link as long as it is marked as such. I can determine if the advice is tainted by by the trust I have in the person developed over time. Also...if I end up buying something from a site, I'm going to get more than one opinion (usually) or do my own investigation work before blinding purchasing. I don't mind sending some money to the person who let me know about it. It doesn't raise the price for me either.

My 2 cents...

Tim 

[Toby Cryns]

Thanks Nick, Kyle, Becky, Winnie, Tim, and Sherman for your thoughts so far on this affiliate link question. 

The issue for me is not to "to click or not to click"; the issue is trust.  I simply have less trust in posts containing affiliate links.  My gut feeling when I see them is that they exhibit less integrity. 

The only reason to post an affiliate link rather than a non-affiliate link is to make money, and affiliate links make it seem to me as if the entire post's sole purpose is to make money.  That is why affiliate links degrade trust for me.

Sure, I could sit down and think about who wrote a post and imagine the motivations behind the writer of the post, but why should I have to devote my energies to that when a simple solution is to not post the affiliate link?  

Also, along these lines, not everyone in the group has a lot of experience with affiliate links.  I would venture to guess that there is a large portion of our membership who doesn't even know what an affiliate link is.  Asking people to make value calls on this question seems unnecessary when the solution - posting a regular link - is actually easier than the problem - posting an affiliate link.

It seems like most of the replies agree with the premise that affiliate links have the potential to degrade trust (correct me if I'm wrong there)...so why not embrace the simple solution to this trust problem and not post the affiliate links? 

Toby

Kyle

 

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[JustinF]

What about referral links to (free) services like DropBox - which I recommend?  Both parties benefit: a new user will get more space from a referral link than if they had just navigated to dropbox.com and I get more space added to my account as well.  This type of link may be more of an exception than the norm, however.

[Winnie Williams]

Not sure if you are following the headlines, but this may all be a moot point.  There may not be any internet affiliate income to anyone in Minnesota effective July 1. Amazon just shut down all of its Minnesota affiliates today; and I got an email to the effect.  I'm told Linkshare has made the same decision, but I haven't gotten an email from Linkshare yet.  But if you follow what happened in Illinois when the legislature passed a similar bill to what MN passed (about collecting taxes on internet sales), almost all companies that paid affiliate income ditched all of their affiliates in Illinois to avoid paying taxes there.  The expectation is that by July 1 we will all get notices that everyone is ditching everyone.

If the federal Marketplace Fairness Act would pass the House, then it would all become relevant again.  

But, when it is relevant again, in spite of what Toby perceived, I felt like most folks responding to the discussion had support for affiliate links in some form.  And I would say that most tech savvy folks know what affiliate links are.  Because of SEC rules, all over the internet these days people are posting links and clearly stating that they are affiliate links from which they will make money.  You can hardly go an hour on the net without seeing such links and declarations.  Even in social media posts they know have to have declarations if they are promoting products.

Winnie

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