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One tip for not getting into trouble is to not use SSL on the site you are sending traffic from (or use a referrer policy meta tag so that the browser is author

One tip for not getting into trouble is to not use SSL on the site you are sending traffic from (or use a referrer policy meta tag so that the browser is authorized to pass the referrer from your SSL page). SSL results in blank referrers by default. A friend had his Amazon account banned and earnings confiscated because his traffic had blank referrers.

a_t48 9y ago
How does this work WRT amazon referrals on reddit and such?
- Godel_unicode 9y ago
  Most subreddits don't allow Amazon referral links.
  - Semaphor 9y ago
    But gamedeals allows certain whitelisted ones (charity) and AFAIK there has been no problem.
    - Godel_unicode 9y ago
      Good point, although I suspect Amazon is more lenient with known charity referrals.
- downandout 9y ago
  Most major sites these days have a referrer policy tag in their HTML that allows at least the domain of the site to flow through. But I think they also ban accounts for posting direct Amazon affiliate links on places like Reddit anyway. Amazon is similar to Adsense in its propensity to ban and confiscate earnings without legitimate reason, and sometimes without explanation. Personally, I wouldn't waste time or money sending traffic to them. It's like building a house on quicksand. CPA networks are far more reliable if you want to be an affiliate marketer.
  - bigtunacan 9y ago
    Could you give some examples of CPA networks (and for that matter what CPA stands for)? I have zero knowledge of this.
    - downandout 9y ago
      Cost Per Action. Google it, there are many. MaxBounty, CJ.com, linkshare, etc.
carbonmachine 9y ago
I just signed up for LetsEncrypt and didn't give referer a second thought. Thanks for the tip!
dazc 9y ago
I am a long-term affiliate with amazon and when I switched to https I didn't experience any problems at all. With other affiliate networks I absolutely did have problems though - because of the issue described above. I assumed the difference was amazon's use of a referral tag at the end of every url?
Flimm 9y ago
This is not correct. SSL only blanks referrals to non-HTTPS links, the referrer is passed by default to all HTTPS links. Since HN is using HTTPS, this should be very easy to test by just clicking on this link: https://www.whatismyreferer.com/ https://www.whatismyreferer.com/ Note that HN includes this line of HTML which affects the sent Referrer header: <meta name="referrer" content="origin">
- cpach 9y ago
  Interesting! Any idea why HN sets the referrer to origin?
  - yahelc 9y ago
    The HackerNews repo is gone (and thus the issue), but at one point this was a Github issue I successfully filed to get HN to add it so their referral data for non-SSL pages wouldn't be lost: https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/68 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/68 (Background: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7197520 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7197520) IIRC, I think the developer was open to adding a referral, but not have it leak any on-site information, so this was a compromise.
- ddoran 9y ago
  On OSX/safari, if I click on the link, it correctly says the referrer is YC News. if I right click the link (which I often do) and open in new tab or window, I see: No referer / hidden In these cases it does not alleviate the issue flagged above.
  - whatnotests 9y ago
    iOs/ chrome shows the correct referrer in both cases.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- downandout 9y ago

a_t48 9y ago

How does this work WRT amazon referrals on reddit and such?

Godel_unicode 9y ago
Most subreddits don't allow Amazon referral links.
- Semaphor 9y ago
  But gamedeals allows certain whitelisted ones (charity) and AFAIK there has been no problem.
  - Godel_unicode 9y ago
    Good point, although I suspect Amazon is more lenient with known charity referrals.
downandout 9y ago
Most major sites these days have a referrer policy tag in their HTML that allows at least the domain of the site to flow through. But I think they also ban accounts for posting direct Amazon affiliate links on places like Reddit anyway. Amazon is similar to Adsense in its propensity to ban and confiscate earnings without legitimate reason, and sometimes without explanation. Personally, I wouldn't waste time or money sending traffic to them. It's like building a house on quicksand. CPA networks are far more reliable if you want to be an affiliate marketer.
- bigtunacan 9y ago
  Could you give some examples of CPA networks (and for that matter what CPA stands for)? I have zero knowledge of this.
  - downandout 9y ago
    Cost Per Action. Google it, there are many. MaxBounty, CJ.com, linkshare, etc.

carbonmachine 9y ago

I just signed up for LetsEncrypt and didn't give referer a second thought. Thanks for the tip!

dazc 9y ago

I am a long-term affiliate with amazon and when I switched to https I didn't experience any problems at all. With other affiliate networks I absolutely did have problems though - because of the issue described above. I assumed the difference was amazon's use of a referral tag at the end of every url?

Flimm 9y ago

This is not correct. SSL only blanks referrals to non-HTTPS links, the referrer is passed by default to all HTTPS links. Since HN is using HTTPS, this should be very easy to test by just clicking on this link: https://www.whatismyreferer.com/ https://www.whatismyreferer.com/ Note that HN includes this line of HTML which affects the sent Referrer header: <meta name="referrer" content="origin">

cpach 9y ago
Interesting! Any idea why HN sets the referrer to origin?
- yahelc 9y ago
  The HackerNews repo is gone (and thus the issue), but at one point this was a Github issue I successfully filed to get HN to add it so their referral data for non-SSL pages wouldn't be lost: https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/68 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/68 (Background: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7197520 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7197520) IIRC, I think the developer was open to adding a referral, but not have it leak any on-site information, so this was a compromise.
ddoran 9y ago
On OSX/safari, if I click on the link, it correctly says the referrer is YC News. if I right click the link (which I often do) and open in new tab or window, I see: No referer / hidden In these cases it does not alleviate the issue flagged above.
- whatnotests 9y ago
  iOs/ chrome shows the correct referrer in both cases.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
downandout 9y ago