[ryandrake]

I'd argue that the only reason "only Internet nerds" find affiliate links sleazy is that they're the only ones who know what they are. If the average Joe realized that merely clicking on a link and going shopping might monetarily reward the person who published the link, he'd find that sleazy too.

Affiliate link defenders: Imagine this scenario. One of your family members or a close friend has been sending you "links to a few cool/funny sites" every few weeks for the last 5 years. Your friend can find such great web sites! That last one with cats swimming in a pool was hilarious! Then all of a sudden you learn that all this time he was getting paid every time you clicked on one of those links, but never disclosed this to you. Wouldn't you feel like that was just a tiny bit sleazy?

[tptacek]

It's literally an article about the brands. What else were they going to link to instead? I don't think you've thought this through very carefully.

[ryandrake]

How does that make the practice any less sleazy? I wonder why a publisher wouldn't want to disclose somewhere in the text (even in 6 point gray on white text in a footer) that the publisher gets paid when users browse to Amazon through the links and buy something?

[justinjlynn]

Because, if one were informed of that, one probably wouldn't click on the links. This would earn the publisher less money in the form of kickbacks. As this is undesirable, they simply don't do it.

[tptacek]

What weird planet are we on where people would avoid clicking a link they'd otherwise be inclined to click because someone might make 3 cents from the click? You guys spend way too much time thinking about this stuff.

[ryandrake]

I may or may not avoid clicking, but if it happens enough, I might be motivated to install a browser plugin that strips out tracking tokens, much like I run an ad blocker full time. And yes, I know that the vendor's web site can still look at the referrer logs, but those can be stripped as well.

I don't think it's weird in any way to value one's privacy. This is shady stuff because 1. it leaks personal information and 2. most people don't know it happens and 3. they would have to actively take countermeasures to stop it.

[justinjlynn]

> I might be motivated to install a browser plugin that strips out tracking tokens

That's not a bad idea. I'll make a note to check into that. Cheers

[justinjlynn]

And yet here we are, discussing this... together.

[tedunangst]

But I liked the links? Not really. The value I get from watching stupid cats has no connection to what they're getting paid.