Kinda diminishes the recommendation.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083F8KG7N bring you to the same product. I'm sure HN can afford the storage and bandwidth for the extra 21 chars. Ironically, i'm now costing them more with my reply to your comment than if you'd just linked Amazon directly without the ref.
Why should amazon collect all the referral fee for themselves, a fee that's charged either way on any seller, without cutting a slice for someone who actually referred to?
Because they're getting paid to recommend it, which is inherently dishonest. That should be obvious.
And why link to Amazon at all? Link to the manufacturer instead:
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x1/X1...
It's his recommendation, it doesn't say he is working for Lenovo, or Amazon. If he can be paid to generate money for Amazon and Lenovo, because he recommended someone to a product on a specific platform, why shouldn't he collect it?
If it was a Lenovo shill that linked to Lenovo shop then that would be fine, because it didn't have a referral link?
https://m.do.co/c/79e624bd349b
Of all the providers I've tried, Digital Ocean™ is definitely the okayest.
Also I didn't ask for any recommendation, so what you did there is pretty much spam.
Linking to a product worth nearly 2 grand (where he gets a 5%? cut - ~$100 per purchase), then is it an honest recommendation or an easy money grab?
Clearly yes - thus me commenting on it.
> I doubt he was trying to hide anything nefarious
Do you know this person and are speaking for their integrity? Would you swear to this person's honesty in a court of law in front of your peers? (ABSURDIST PART OF COMMENT)
> I doubt he was trying to save HN bandwidth or storage.
Right, my apologies for making the absurdist part of my reply not obvious enough. Will not make this mistake again.