I don't fully understand that. Are they complaining because LJ is gathering marketing data? And Amazon ... I don't understand that part. Are they saying they were trusting links to purchase things that were not on the Amazon site, and are throwing a fit because a link turned up with some kind of marketing code they didn't expect?
I am tempted to point out the faults with following links to purchase things, but as I haven't the faintest idea what that was all about, I can only sit here with a huge question mark over my head.
You can set up an Amazon affiliate account so that when you refer someone to Amazon, and they make a purchase (IIRC, it doesn't matter whether it was the thing you linked to directly), Amazon sends you a small kickback. It's a common practice among online retailers. LJ was using a third party to strip other people's affiliate codes (from ~150 different websites) and insert its own. Which is such slimy behavior that it violates most online retailers' ToS. Getting forwarded through a third party is also a nontrivial privacy concern, and a single point of failure for all outbound links on LJ.
But, it gets worse. The third party is incompetent. They break links that go to websites with names similar to those 150-odd retailers. So links to glutenfreebay.com were redirected to ebay.
If I click a link someone has on their journal, and it takes me to Amazon where I can buy, say "Ten Great Microwave Ideas Cookbook," a percentage of my purchase money goes to the person who owns the journal page I got the link from? Is this transparent? Do I see a popup saying "You have paid a dollar extra to ILOVEMICROWAVES.whateverjournal.com" ... ?
I get the feeling that I am getting scammed out of a dollar by a link from someone's journal ... And that person is now angry because they are not able to get that dollar now?
Sounds like the thief doesn't like being stolen from.
On second thought, how do I go about adding such links to my journal? I want some income, no matter how seedy.
Most of the people shouting about this aren't members of affiliate programs. The outrage seems to be because LJ was trying to be sneaky about it, even going so far as to rig part of the script to show normal URLs on hover, when the actual link was bounced through the third party. (Implicit admission of guilt on LJ's part, too.)
In contrast, Metafilter also puts its own affiliate code on links to buyables, but it warns people during signup and leaves the replacement transparent, so nobody cares. Or if they do care, they just don't use Metafilter.
Comments 4
I am tempted to point out the faults with following links to purchase things, but as I haven't the faintest idea what that was all about, I can only sit here with a huge question mark over my head.
Reply
But, it gets worse. The third party is incompetent. They break links that go to websites with names similar to those 150-odd retailers. So links to glutenfreebay.com were redirected to ebay.
Reply
If I click a link someone has on their journal, and it takes me to Amazon where I can buy, say "Ten Great Microwave Ideas Cookbook," a percentage of my purchase money goes to the person who owns the journal page I got the link from? Is this transparent? Do I see a popup saying "You have paid a dollar extra to ILOVEMICROWAVES.whateverjournal.com" ... ?
I get the feeling that I am getting scammed out of a dollar by a link from someone's journal ... And that person is now angry because they are not able to get that dollar now?
Sounds like the thief doesn't like being stolen from.
On second thought, how do I go about adding such links to my journal? I want some income, no matter how seedy.
Reply
In contrast, Metafilter also puts its own affiliate code on links to buyables, but it warns people during signup and leaves the replacement transparent, so nobody cares. Or if they do care, they just don't use Metafilter.
Reply
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