4 ms·

They will not be overwriting any existing affiliate codes. If this helps them keep the lights on, I say go for it. https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/

by asd 10y ago

They will not be overwriting any existing affiliate codes. If this helps them keep the lights on, I say go for it. https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/4ldk0r/reddit_change_affiliate_links_on_reddit/d3mfo70 https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/4ldk0r/reddit_ch...

yclept 10y ago
Of concern is that they are using a third party affiliate network. That means tracking and selling you.
- adamrezich 10y ago
  Well, I mean, I don't pay to use Reddit, and there's no such thing as a free lunch... so if this helps keep Reddit afloat, I guess it doesn't really bother me that much?
  - verroq 10y ago
    Perhaps this should be default opt-out for reddit gold users?
  - ben_jones 10y ago
    The problem I have with it is I've seen third party affiliates do incredibly shady stuff. Companies like Amazon, Google, Reddit, do shady stuff too, but they at least have some interest in keeping a good public image. Third-party companies however live in the shadow and could give two fucks how far they push user privacy protections, if they even give them any credence in the first place.
    - sunshiney 10y ago
      I am interested in knowing more about this shady stuff..a few examples, please? Merci!
      - ben_jones 10y ago
        Wage collusion at Google, Warehouse worker conditions at Amazon, and censorship at Reddit. I'm more critiquing the morality of the companies themselves, and my real argument is that third party affiliates are often completely unknown, and therefore cannot be held accountable the same way the larger companies can.
        sunshiney 10y ago
        I have mixed feelings toward the wage collusion among tech firms. The issue is driven by a dearth of high skilled employees and a large demand. As an employer, I totally get a no poaching approach. As a employer, I also understand what is occurring now -- stunningly high payouts to poach an employee. The pool roble is that nirvana is not achievable as long as humans behave like humans. Employees criticize the ethics of employers. Employers criticize the ethics if employees. That will not change. The only viable approach, imho, is to truly and seriously consider the long term reactions to all decisions and to choose the one that causes the best outcome. I truly believe that we all try to do our best .. even those of us who run companies. But it is a two way street. I can assure you that I have grown over the years to a place I thought I would never be -- distrust in employees. I have experienced employee theft, lies, laziness, personal choices that result in poor work, and nore. I could easily question the morality of most employees. My point is that we cannot create a world of employers and employees that are all good all of the time or even the majority of the time.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - conceit 10y ago
    Of course there is. Food grows on trees. You pick it and eat. It runs around. Kill it and grill it.
- rbinv 10y ago
  Tracking, yes, sure. Wouldn't work otherwise. But other than that, don't expect to be harassed by retargeting ads run by the affiliate network or something. As far as I know, this is not done at all. Besides, all affiliate networks are (by definition) third party. In many cases, it's just not worthwhile for the merchant/advertiser to setup a custom tracking and billing solution.
  - yclept 10y ago
    There is a difference in reddit handing an affiliate referal code to say Amazon and a party between reddit and Amazon.
    - rbinv 10y ago
      Yes, that's true. Then again, Amazon is kind of an exception because they run and host their affiliate program in-house. Most other shops don't (and therefore would require some sort of third party affiliate network).
- bemmu 10y ago
  At least they claim that "VigLink is contractually obligated not to store any Reddit user information."
  - revelation 10y ago
    Which is totally why they went with the very simple implementation of rewriting links in users posts. This way, VigLink works in the background and the user never interacts with them. ... Oh wait, they instead decide to tunnel all clicks through their own infrastructure? At massive cost and complexity? I wonder why they decided on this implementation, huh.
- mtkd 10y ago
  The affiliate tracking payloads are a disgrace - someone like Google really needs to build an affiliate tracking proxy where the host can opt-in to what client information is passed to affiliates and all affiliates use that source only So many big brands are running multiple tags taking down more client info than Google Analytics - and then asking why pages are taking 5s+ to render
makomk 10y ago
I hope people are checking this is actually true. Websites have made this claim when introducing VigLink before and it's turned out not to be the case.

by asd 10y ago

yclept 10y ago

Of concern is that they are using a third party affiliate network. That means tracking and selling you.

adamrezich 10y ago
Well, I mean, I don't pay to use Reddit, and there's no such thing as a free lunch... so if this helps keep Reddit afloat, I guess it doesn't really bother me that much?
- verroq 10y ago
  Perhaps this should be default opt-out for reddit gold users?
- ben_jones 10y ago
  The problem I have with it is I've seen third party affiliates do incredibly shady stuff. Companies like Amazon, Google, Reddit, do shady stuff too, but they at least have some interest in keeping a good public image. Third-party companies however live in the shadow and could give two fucks how far they push user privacy protections, if they even give them any credence in the first place.
  - sunshiney 10y ago
    I am interested in knowing more about this shady stuff..a few examples, please? Merci!
    - ben_jones 10y ago
      Wage collusion at Google, Warehouse worker conditions at Amazon, and censorship at Reddit. I'm more critiquing the morality of the companies themselves, and my real argument is that third party affiliates are often completely unknown, and therefore cannot be held accountable the same way the larger companies can.
      - sunshiney 10y ago
        I have mixed feelings toward the wage collusion among tech firms. The issue is driven by a dearth of high skilled employees and a large demand. As an employer, I totally get a no poaching approach. As a employer, I also understand what is occurring now -- stunningly high payouts to poach an employee. The pool roble is that nirvana is not achievable as long as humans behave like humans. Employees criticize the ethics of employers. Employers criticize the ethics if employees. That will not change. The only viable approach, imho, is to truly and seriously consider the long term reactions to all decisions and to choose the one that causes the best outcome. I truly believe that we all try to do our best .. even those of us who run companies. But it is a two way street. I can assure you that I have grown over the years to a place I thought I would never be -- distrust in employees. I have experienced employee theft, lies, laziness, personal choices that result in poor work, and nore. I could easily question the morality of most employees. My point is that we cannot create a world of employers and employees that are all good all of the time or even the majority of the time.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- conceit 10y ago
  Of course there is. Food grows on trees. You pick it and eat. It runs around. Kill it and grill it.
rbinv 10y ago
Tracking, yes, sure. Wouldn't work otherwise. But other than that, don't expect to be harassed by retargeting ads run by the affiliate network or something. As far as I know, this is not done at all. Besides, all affiliate networks are (by definition) third party. In many cases, it's just not worthwhile for the merchant/advertiser to setup a custom tracking and billing solution.
- yclept 10y ago
  There is a difference in reddit handing an affiliate referal code to say Amazon and a party between reddit and Amazon.
  - rbinv 10y ago
    Yes, that's true. Then again, Amazon is kind of an exception because they run and host their affiliate program in-house. Most other shops don't (and therefore would require some sort of third party affiliate network).
bemmu 10y ago
At least they claim that "VigLink is contractually obligated not to store any Reddit user information."
- revelation 10y ago
  Which is totally why they went with the very simple implementation of rewriting links in users posts. This way, VigLink works in the background and the user never interacts with them. ... Oh wait, they instead decide to tunnel all clicks through their own infrastructure? At massive cost and complexity? I wonder why they decided on this implementation, huh.
mtkd 10y ago
The affiliate tracking payloads are a disgrace - someone like Google really needs to build an affiliate tracking proxy where the host can opt-in to what client information is passed to affiliates and all affiliates use that source only So many big brands are running multiple tags taking down more client info than Google Analytics - and then asking why pages are taking 5s+ to render

makomk 10y ago

I hope people are checking this is actually true. Websites have made this claim when introducing VigLink before and it's turned out not to be the case.