[joosters]

IMO affiliate links are the least offensive form of ad revenue. If they are from a product review, then they do bring the neutrality of the reviewer into question, but that's true of any review (the writer could have been paid to do the review anyway). On the other hand, if I discover something through a webpage, then that can only be a good thing.

Affiliate links are the only kind of ads that I click on, there's no real downside if I am buying the item for the same price, affiliate or not, and the writer gets some cash too. Surely that's win-win?

DF (and other people)'s shout-outs are worse IMO. They are always so shiny and positive, there's rarely any sign of neutality. At least they can be skipped fairly easily.

[cobblestone]

DF (and other people)'s shout-outs are worse IMO. They are always so shiny and positive, there's rarely any sign of neutality.

There is no illusion or pretending at neutrality: Those shout-outs are unabashed commercials, similar to the sitcom taking a break for commercials. Gruber seems to never mention the product outside of those shout outs. The alternative is someone talking about a great new book they read [BUY NOW] while drinking coffee from their french press [BUY NOW] and how oh their life is different now that they sleep on that new smart mattress [BUY NOW], and the new sous vide cooker is the bee's knees [BUY NOW]...