do you click on webmaster referral links?

[basschick]

i know webmasters who will actually go through the trouble of copying links to sponsors and hosts, then removing the referral part of the link. they'll even do this if someone offers them a ref link after giving them tons of info or help.

personally unless someone is a jerk to me, i can't see any reason not to give a webmaster who's giving me a requested link credit. it doesn't cost me anything, and the programs consider it incentive.

so do you click on webmaster ref links? or do you strip off the ref or type in the url?

[pf69.com]

Originally Posted by basschick

i know webmasters who will actually go through the trouble of copying links to sponsors and hosts, then removing the referral part of the link. they'll even do this if someone offers them a ref link after giving them tons of info or help.

personally unless someone is a jerk to me, i can't see any reason not to give a webmaster who's giving me a requested link credit. it doesn't cost me anything, and the programs consider it incentive.

so do you click on webmaster ref links? or do you strip off the ref or type in the url?

I even request the link for sponsors when I am not signed up on them yet...
if I can give a few cents to other webmasters there is no reason for me not to do it...

[icefire]

If I request info about something and I only get a reply like: "hey check fancy-ref-link-here" I strip the ref code.

If I request info about something and get a reply from someone who jumps like idiot on all my posts attempting to create all kinds of possible dramma, I not only don't signup with his link, but also if he has sold his signature to that sponsor I ban the sponsor from my network forever. So sponsors, when you buy signatures, take in mind that this person with your signature has the same credibility as your official sales rep.

If I request info and get a decent reply I use that ref link to signup. Sure it takes me several months, sometimes more than a year from signup to start promoting that new sponsor... but sometimes it ends in a nice extra $$$ for that person.

On the other hand, I also tend to be very easy to piss and start a side project on my own. Last time I asked for sponsors with flvs I could host on my own servers to promote them I got only useless spam links and lots of hate from webmasters. That ended with me not signing to these sponsors at all, licensing full scenes and starting a full scenes legal tube. Turned out to be a complete success

A couple of months ago I was searching for a decent CDN solution and the only thing I found were overpriced crap "solutions" living in a cloud. My new CDN project is being beta tested with failsafe and geolocalized setup starting at around $300 per 100 Mbit (30.000 GB/month). that's $0.01 per GB with geolocalization included... or better said, practically same price as an unamanaged unmetered box plugged to a relatively decent line. Once it comes ready for mass usage I think lots of people will be pissed at me, specially hosters.

After I release that CDN project I will be in search for a viable alternative to AFF. So far none of the existing options is even remotely an alternative conversion and promotion wise... so you can get a small idea about what probably will be my next project

[ultra160]

Usually I just click on a link, and that's probably because it's easiest to do that. I went through a phase of wondering if you were more likely to get shaved if the sponsor had to pay out more for your signups, but as I try to avoid sponsors with high pps payouts and other shaving flags, I'm not so bothered about that. In fact I think shaving is far less common now - why bother to shave and risk getting caught, when you can just divert the affiliates traffic and signups.

One disadvantage that I can see in using a w/m ref link is that some sponsors report your sales to the referring w/m, and I have seen details posted on boards during the course of flame wars.

[shunga]

You might also ask the question, do you trust a recommendation if it includes a referral? I suppose it comes down to how much input you get from the person making the recommendation, as icefire mentioned.

[basschick]

whether i trust a recommendation depends on who and how it was made. in the last year i've had several people strip off ref links after i gave them massive help, and that surprised me.

Originally Posted by shunga

You might also ask the question, do you trust a recommendation if it includes a referral? I suppose it comes down to how much input you get from the person making the recommendation, as icefire mentioned.

[pf69.com]

Originally Posted by basschick

whether i trust a recommendation depends on who and how it was made. in the last year i've had several people strip off ref links after i gave them massive help, and that surprised me.

that is one of the things that I hate about some webmasters... they are not willing to give 5%-10% (and it will not come out of their own pockets) to those who have helped them - even if the help was simply made by posting something that was requested...

[jhonnyvaz8]

i also check that by whom the recommendation has come, if it has come from a trusted source then i surely click it.....

[John-ACWM]

When I know the webmaster is doing a fine job, I click the ref link with pleasure.