4 ms·

How else is one to get the clicks?

by SirFatty 11mo ago

cube00 11mo ago
Plus the commission from the undisclosed Amazon affiliate links in the post. They're tagged for the post and year so must be worth it to go to that trouble rather then using generic tag for the whole blog. tag=diyans2024-20, tag=diynas2025-20,tag=diynas2026-20
- whynotmaybe 11mo ago
  On a more rhetorical side, should they be disclosed? Isn't that assumed nowadays that every link to a marketplace is an affiliate link?
  - toast0 11mo ago
    Social enforcement is probably all we can get, but yes, they should be disclosed. I'ma a fan of using 'affiliate link' as the anchor text, but it might offend one's html sensibilities. A brief one sentance blurb about commisions before the affiliate links start is sufficient.
  - dspillett 11mo ago
    > should they be disclosed? Yes. > Isn't that assumed nowadays that every link to a marketplace is an affiliate link? Other people doing something wrong is seldom a good reason to do it wrong yourself. My own personal pettiness: If an article declares the existence of affiliate links, I'll use those links more often than not. If they don't, I'll make an effort to revisit the links without the affiliate IDs. If an article presents both affiliate and non-affiliated links, I will generally use the former, and I'll trust the writers opinions a little more than otherwise. I actually keep a separate browser for buying things once they have been researched, to slightly inconvenience the tracking of me generally, so I won't be linked by “last affiliate” tracking unless fairly decent profiling is in action (which it won't be: sellers won't make that much effort just to pay money out to affiliates), only if I copy over the affiliate-id decorated link (or the original source article and click the link in that environment).
- hamdingers 11mo ago
  I don't understand why this is a problem for some people. It doesn't increase the price or impact your buyer experience in any way, so why do you care? If this blog post introduced you to a product you wanted to buy, why should you have a problem with the author getting a finders fee from the seller? Just seems mean-spirited.
  - Strom 11mo ago
    It impacts the buyer experience. These two statements have a very different impact: 1. I love product X and I won't get paid if you buy it too. 2. I love product X and I will get paid if you buy it too. Money motivates people to claim they love a product or that a product is good, even if not true. It's a problem that has plagued the internet for decades.
    - mvkel 11mo ago
      I don't think it's this binary. Influence and power are far more intoxicating currencies than affiliate revenue. And if someone complained "you're just publishing this helpful thing to become more influential in [community]," well, at some point we need to acknowledge incentives drive all behavior in one way or another. Refusing the incentive doesn't make one per se virtuous.
      - nothrabannosir 11mo ago
        This thread is missing an important detail: > undisclosed affiliate links. That's quite controversial, compared to disclosed affiliate links. IMO for good reason.
        machomaster 11mo ago
        Why? I understand the need to disclose sponsored content. Or if the manufacturer had veto-power or any say in the content. I even understand that it is good to tell if the product was given for free or the trip was paid, even when they had no say in the content. But I don't understand why anyone would need "I use affiliate links" caveats. This is useless info wasting space and reading time akin to "this website displays ads in order to stay alive". What does writing this (otherwise observable facts) actually accomplishes? What benefits does it bring?

How else is one to get the clicks?

cube00 11mo ago

Plus the commission from the undisclosed Amazon affiliate links in the post. They're tagged for the post and year so must be worth it to go to that trouble rather then using generic tag for the whole blog. tag=diyans2024-20, tag=diynas2025-20,tag=diynas2026-20

whynotmaybe 11mo ago
On a more rhetorical side, should they be disclosed? Isn't that assumed nowadays that every link to a marketplace is an affiliate link?
- toast0 11mo ago
  Social enforcement is probably all we can get, but yes, they should be disclosed. I'ma a fan of using 'affiliate link' as the anchor text, but it might offend one's html sensibilities. A brief one sentance blurb about commisions before the affiliate links start is sufficient.
- dspillett 11mo ago
  > should they be disclosed? Yes. > Isn't that assumed nowadays that every link to a marketplace is an affiliate link? Other people doing something wrong is seldom a good reason to do it wrong yourself. My own personal pettiness: If an article declares the existence of affiliate links, I'll use those links more often than not. If they don't, I'll make an effort to revisit the links without the affiliate IDs. If an article presents both affiliate and non-affiliated links, I will generally use the former, and I'll trust the writers opinions a little more than otherwise. I actually keep a separate browser for buying things once they have been researched, to slightly inconvenience the tracking of me generally, so I won't be linked by “last affiliate” tracking unless fairly decent profiling is in action (which it won't be: sellers won't make that much effort just to pay money out to affiliates), only if I copy over the affiliate-id decorated link (or the original source article and click the link in that environment).
hamdingers 11mo ago
I don't understand why this is a problem for some people. It doesn't increase the price or impact your buyer experience in any way, so why do you care? If this blog post introduced you to a product you wanted to buy, why should you have a problem with the author getting a finders fee from the seller? Just seems mean-spirited.
- Strom 11mo ago
  It impacts the buyer experience. These two statements have a very different impact: 1. I love product X and I won't get paid if you buy it too. 2. I love product X and I will get paid if you buy it too. Money motivates people to claim they love a product or that a product is good, even if not true. It's a problem that has plagued the internet for decades.
  - mvkel 11mo ago
    I don't think it's this binary. Influence and power are far more intoxicating currencies than affiliate revenue. And if someone complained "you're just publishing this helpful thing to become more influential in [community]," well, at some point we need to acknowledge incentives drive all behavior in one way or another. Refusing the incentive doesn't make one per se virtuous.
    - nothrabannosir 11mo ago
      This thread is missing an important detail: > undisclosed affiliate links. That's quite controversial, compared to disclosed affiliate links. IMO for good reason.
      - machomaster 11mo ago
        Why? I understand the need to disclose sponsored content. Or if the manufacturer had veto-power or any say in the content. I even understand that it is good to tell if the product was given for free or the trip was paid, even when they had no say in the content. But I don't understand why anyone would need "I use affiliate links" caveats. This is useless info wasting space and reading time akin to "this website displays ads in order to stay alive". What does writing this (otherwise observable facts) actually accomplishes? What benefits does it bring?