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Comment by huggyface | Hacker News Reader

It is natural for bloggers who start to gather a following to consider revenue opportunities to reward their time and effort.

Incidental ads from a third party are one thing, and it's hard to imagine that they coerce the opinions and perspectives of some mid-level blogger. Outright Amazon Affiliate links, on the other hand, are a direct and obvious conflict of interest. Suddenly the author's opinion is rendered self-serving and questionable.

I stopped reading or having any faith in the statements by Atwood after he started peppering his entries with Affiliate links. Oh look, he's decided that routers are suddenly a super important topic, and wouldn't you know it the one he likes super best is available via his affiliate link. Who doesn't think he needed to make bank, searched Amazon and then spun an entry around that monetization? It is a tax on the gullible.

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The thing is just about every router is available on Amazon. So there's no incentive to recommend an inferior product just to make money. Given that it also doesn't cost you anything I don't see the aversion to letting someone profit from driving traffic to Amazon for products they happen to like.

On the other hand I can see frowning upon writing a completely off-topic post just to drive affiliate traffic.

I put affiliate links when I write about books I've read, in order to fund my book habit. We're talking about 10/20$ a month if I'm lucky, but hey, that's another book or two.

I don't write about crappy books just to make a buck, though, because for $10 a month, it's not worth coming across as dishonest.

So there's no incentive to recommend an inferior product just to make money.

There is an incentive to overstate the importance of something that is entirely unimportant for most users in efforts of encouraging self-serving consumerism. In Atwood's recent router piece (a subject he continually revisits, each time littered with a new set of affiliate links) he says, in pitching the importance of his router migration-

QoS is the difference between a responsive Internet and one that's brutally dog slow.

Ignoring the massive complexity of QoS (you don't simply turn it on and everything is great), as someone running a whole household on wireless (every desktop, smartphone, tablet, and game machine), I have never enabled or configured rules for QoS. My daughter is watching Netflix while a son online games and the iPad downloads the latest season of Mad Men in HD @ 20Mbps. Internet != dog slow. QoS not needed. If this were a large office and I needed to prioritize...I dunno...VOIP, then sure, but for the average user it is an entirely irrelevant consideration.

Unless you're pitching an affiliate link and really want people to think that this purchase is going to make a difference. It will make their internet super fast, their muscles stronger, and get rid of those nagging headaches. I don't mean to single Atwood out -- this sort of ridiculous narrative appears every time I see someone pitching an affiliate link. Book reviews -- hah! -- like someone is going to not like a book that they are directly monetized by liking. There is a universe of content of people pitching will-change-your-world coffee accessories, so many so suddenly interested and motivated by burr grinders the moment Amazon added it as a category.

> I have never enabled or configured rules for QoS. My daughter is watching Netflix while a son online games and the iPad downloads the latest season of Mad Men in HD @ 20Mbps. Internet != dog slow. QoS not needed.

That must be great with your super connection, but the rest of us with measly 10Mbps broadband connections do not share your great experience and so QoS can be a good thing.

QoS can be a good. QoS is not magic, however, and you need to actually prioritize by packet type. No one who follows Atwood's advice is going to do that, however.

>Who doesn't think he needed to make bank, searched Amazon and then spun an entry around that monetization? It is a tax on the gullible.

I fail to see how Amazon cannot be replaced with Google and CPM ads in your phrase.

I fail to see how Amazon cannot be replaced with Google and CPM ads in your phrase.

The attachment is dramatically reduced. Talk about routers and your Google ad is just as likely to pitch alternatives as it is to follow your suggestion. Add that the net benefit of a single person buying a router on your advice is dramatically higher for Affiliate links than for basic ads.

Amazon Affiliate links are like pitching Amway when you have friends over for dinner -- it sours the entire relationship, even where it's just reader to writer.

Amazon Affiliate links are like pitching Amway when you have friends over for dinner

Actually, seems more like pitching my favorite book or movie to friends when they're over for dinner--which I do already. If I have a blog where I discuss fantasy novels, it almost seems like a courtesy to readers to link them to where they can buy the products I am talking about. There are a lot of times when I find myself linking people to Amazon product pages even though I'm not part of the affiliate program. (When a friend asks me what earbuds he should buy, giving him a link seems a lot more reliable than giving him a product name like "AKG K271 MK II" and trusting that the message won't get lost in translation as he retypes it into his search bar.)

Actually, seems more like pitching my favorite book or movie to friends when they're over for dinner--which I do already.

And you get a kickback if they follow your advice? Do you really not see the difference? Do you not see the profound conflict of interest?

EDIT: Each time I post I almost instantly see a downvote. Someone out there is feeling a little defensive about those affiliate links I suppose, but trying to suppress what people really think about them doesn't change reality.

You seem to be talking about the replacement of intrinsic with extrinsic rewards

I first read about that in the book predictably irrational. here is a link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061353248/ref=as_li_qf_sp_...

(Nb: I stole this affiliate link from Startup Slingshot. Their affiliate link merely appears high in the google for this title. I have no association with Startup Slingshot)

To your question, I think there is a big difference between talking to dinner guests and talking to your audience, especially if your audience is already buying something from you. It's not like you insert contextual ads either into the stream of cocktail hour.

>Outright Amazon Affiliate links, on the other hand, are a direct and obvious conflict of interest. Suddenly the author's opinion is rendered self-serving and questionable.

Not really, since you can point to the things you ACTUALLY like --it's not like Amazon only carries one brand/model of things.

I understand that the submission is going to naturally draw people who already have an interest in affiliate links, however I still have to ask -- are people really this profoundly naive? Is there a complete ignorance about the whole unavoidable reality of conflicts of interest?

Why do you think Amazon has affiliate links? Why are they busy handing out millions (though, as so many say, it's "free") to thousands of shills pimping products and consumerism? Why don't they eliminate the product because people are just naturally talking about things they like.

>I understand that the submission is going to naturally draw people who already have an interest in affiliate links, however I still have to ask -- are people really this profoundly naive? Is there a complete ignorance about the whole unavoidable reality of conflicts of interest?

Why stop there?

Do you assume people are THAT naive to not be able to tell a honest review/mention + link from a dishonest push?

>Why do you think Amazon has affiliate links?*

To get people to send traffic to them?

>Why are they busy handing out millions (though, as so many say, it's "free") to thousands of shills pimping products and consumerism?

Amazon is pro-consumerism? I'd never...

Do you assume people are THAT naive to not be able to tell a honest review/mention + link from a dishonest push?

You underestimate the influence of a conflict of interest: The people peppering their entries with affiliate links will probably pass a lie detector test that they are just completely "honest", but the pervasive influence and guiding force is inevitable.

The moment you're being effectively paid to pitch something, your opinion loses all merit.

>The moment you're being effectively paid to pitch something, your opinion loses all merit.

Your statement doesn't hold for everyone, YMMV.

Especially since the "effectively" is quite obscure when talking about "affiliate" links where one can chose among products he DOES respect.

By your logic people wouldn't trust magazine and site reviews, since they carry ads from the companies making the products...

The point isn't necessarily promoting one item - it's promoting a class of products.

eg. This week I think everyone should have a UPS, here is a link to an amazon product - I don't care if you buy it so long as you now have the Amazon affiliate cookie lodged.

Next week - why I think everyone should have a home NAS ..etc....

They are no longer even product plugs they are just a weekly - talk about anything available on Amazon - pieces

>eg. This week I think everyone should have a UPS, here is a link to an amazon product - I don't care if you buy it so long as you now have the Amazon affiliate cookie lodged. Next week - why I think everyone should have a home NAS ......

Well, an edge case. It's not like you can't easily spot a blogger that writes with that intent...

Especially since it's just a small $$ version of what most computer trade press have been doing for 30years

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