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At least originally, they presented it more as "we link to large retailers and get affiliate fees, so we don't have a motivation to recommend any specific produ
by detaro 5y ago
At least originally, they presented it more as "we link to large retailers and get affiliate fees, so we don't have a motivation to recommend any specific product in particular over competitors". Which is fair enough I guess, but "we want affiliate fees from you, if you disagree we downrank your product" is quite different.
- tedmiston 5y agoEh, correlation ≠ causation. It takes a huge leap of faith to claim that their product went from main recommendation to upgrade recommendation (not really a downrank) because they don't have an affiliate program. To me, the xdesk guy is reading extremely hard into two independent events to try to claim cause-and-effect where it doesn't really exist. Their pricepoint is high and the standing desk space has commoditized a lot. There are plenty of good affordable options these days. It sounds like they just make a niche high-end product; I was surprised to hear it was Wirecutter's initial recommendation for most people in the first place — I don't know too many people that read Wirecutter guides and are also looking to spend $1,500 on a standing desk.
- detaro 5y agoFair enough, but the suggestion that it is a motivation is always there once they leave the range of products that are well-captured by generic affiliate programs.