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Since the parent felt the need to use an affiliate link, here's a direct link to The Rent Is Too Damn High - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0078XGJXO/ https://www.a

Since the parent felt the need to use an affiliate link, here's a direct link to The Rent Is Too Damn High - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0078XGJXO/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0078XGJXO/ An amazon affiliate link to a 2.5 star book doesn't really establish confidence in someone's recommended reading list.

jacobolus 10y ago
It’s a $3.99 kindle book written by a career political blogger. Imagine the amazon reviews as the comments on a newspaper site.
- sauceweak 10y ago
  Since people frequently buy off of Amazon, the parent is not banking on people buying the kindle book, he's banking on them clicking his affiliate link and buying a bigger ticket item some time today which will net him more commission. The affiliate link to the $3.99 ebook is just to get them in the door and his affiliate cookie planted. So regardless of the review content, the fact that the parent felt the need to add an affiliate link to a $3.99 kindle book leads me to believe his choice was not based on the merit of the book, but because he wants to skim a few bucks off the HN crowd.
  - googletazer 10y ago
    I really don't see a problem with with him "skimming" a few bucks off me. Its a tiny reward (4%? 8%?) for information, and it doesn't increase the price for me either.
davidw 10y ago
I earn the equivalent of a few beers a month from affiliate links, but hey, if you feel that it's better to give that money to Jeff Bezos, that's your prerogative. I'm always happy to buy a beer or two (the entire proceeds of my ill-gotten gains!) at 10 Barrel or Crux or someplace for anyone who happens to visit Bend. Mostly though, since your account is new, we're ok with capitalism and making a bit of money here on HN, as long as someone isn't an obvious spammer. I think you can verify that I'm not via my comment history. As to why the book has 2.5 stars: https://www.amazon.com/review/R32HZILGX1BRRX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0078XGJXO https://www.amazon.com/review/R32HZILGX1BRRX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p... It's a pretty succinct and high level account of what's wrong with cities in the US.
- underwater 10y ago
  Affiliate links feel spammy because it makes it hard to determine whether your recommendation is altruistic or financially motivated.
  - davidw 10y ago
    It might be a difficult problem for an AI to solve, but I think most people could look at my comments and replies and determine that it's an issue I care deeply about.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - mikestew 10y ago
    They feel spammy when attached to spammy comments from new accounts, and the comment/post seems to specifically target a site with decent traffic such as HN. Standing alone, I don't automatically have a problem with an affiliate link. Not that davidw needs my endorsement, but the dude's got 43K in karma, and I've seen his comments around elsewhere. I'm fine with letting someone like that slide. As he points out himself, one can expect a little beer money from affiliate links unless you really go out of your way to spam the link.
jvm 10y ago
> An amazon affiliate link to a 2.5 star book It's rated 2.5 stars because he was attacked by the Breitbart brigade.[1] [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/andrew-breitbart-fans-matthew-yglesias-amazon_n_1324362.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/andrew-breitbart-fa...
dang 10y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11987265 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11987265 and marked it off-topic.
bbcbasic 10y ago
Sneaky!

jacobolus 10y ago

It’s a $3.99 kindle book written by a career political blogger. Imagine the amazon reviews as the comments on a newspaper site.

sauceweak 10y ago
Since people frequently buy off of Amazon, the parent is not banking on people buying the kindle book, he's banking on them clicking his affiliate link and buying a bigger ticket item some time today which will net him more commission. The affiliate link to the $3.99 ebook is just to get them in the door and his affiliate cookie planted. So regardless of the review content, the fact that the parent felt the need to add an affiliate link to a $3.99 kindle book leads me to believe his choice was not based on the merit of the book, but because he wants to skim a few bucks off the HN crowd.
- googletazer 10y ago
  I really don't see a problem with with him "skimming" a few bucks off me. Its a tiny reward (4%? 8%?) for information, and it doesn't increase the price for me either.

davidw 10y ago

I earn the equivalent of a few beers a month from affiliate links, but hey, if you feel that it's better to give that money to Jeff Bezos, that's your prerogative. I'm always happy to buy a beer or two (the entire proceeds of my ill-gotten gains!) at 10 Barrel or Crux or someplace for anyone who happens to visit Bend. Mostly though, since your account is new, we're ok with capitalism and making a bit of money here on HN, as long as someone isn't an obvious spammer. I think you can verify that I'm not via my comment history. As to why the book has 2.5 stars: https://www.amazon.com/review/R32HZILGX1BRRX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0078XGJXO https://www.amazon.com/review/R32HZILGX1BRRX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p... It's a pretty succinct and high level account of what's wrong with cities in the US.

underwater 10y ago
Affiliate links feel spammy because it makes it hard to determine whether your recommendation is altruistic or financially motivated.
- davidw 10y ago
  It might be a difficult problem for an AI to solve, but I think most people could look at my comments and replies and determine that it's an issue I care deeply about.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mikestew 10y ago
  They feel spammy when attached to spammy comments from new accounts, and the comment/post seems to specifically target a site with decent traffic such as HN. Standing alone, I don't automatically have a problem with an affiliate link. Not that davidw needs my endorsement, but the dude's got 43K in karma, and I've seen his comments around elsewhere. I'm fine with letting someone like that slide. As he points out himself, one can expect a little beer money from affiliate links unless you really go out of your way to spam the link.

jvm 10y ago

> An amazon affiliate link to a 2.5 star book It's rated 2.5 stars because he was attacked by the Breitbart brigade.[1] [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/andrew-breitbart-fans-matthew-yglesias-amazon_n_1324362.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/andrew-breitbart-fa...

dang 10y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11987265 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11987265 and marked it off-topic.

bbcbasic 10y ago

Sneaky!