That wasn't meant to be a personal attack, I apologize if it looked like one. It's more an attack on the general sense here on HN that people are spending lots

That wasn't meant to be a personal attack, I apologize if it looked like one. It's more an attack on the general sense here on HN that people are spending lots of time and money building things they have no idea how to monetize. Absolutely, the best way to create value for investors is to create value for customers by selling them something they want. In the affiliate's case, the customers are the merchants that pay for leads or sales, NOT the end users of the product, and there is nothing shady about that relationship. As an affiliate, I always create compliant and legitimate landing pages and ads. Ultimately, it is the merchant's responsibility to adequately disclose billing and allow for easy and timely cancellation. I try to work with compliant merchants, but their billing practices are beyond my control.