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Comment by jh3 | Hacker News Reader

Why should he make it known that his links are referral links? I have seen a lot of negative comments around HN regarding bloggers that include referral links in their posts.

You are reading their writing. If you are reading it, it must be somewhat interesting. If you click on a link leading to a list of items the author included in his post, he probably just saved you some time. If you buy one of those items, you probably would have bought it anyway. Why not let the author benefit too? Why complain or question? Why do you care?

/rant

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When someone recommends a service, the assumption is that they're linking because they really find the service useful. If it's a referral link, the issue becomes clouded - are they recommending it because they genuinely think the service is useful, or do they just want the cash?

I'm not against bloggers using referral links, but I think they should make it clear when they're using them. Their recommendation carries less weight if you know that they're getting paid for everyone who signs up through them.

Also, this line:

If you buy one of those items, you probably would have bought it anyway.

If this was true, no one would ever need to pay for advertising or referral links. But clearly, people do pay for advertising and referral links. Ergo...

Yeah, it reminds me a bit of when Jeff Atwood writes up a big blog post recommending utility belt tools or something and every link is an Amazon affiliate link.

As soon as someone uses an affiliate link, I become wary of their motives. Are they really linking to this service because they use it themselves, or are they linking because they offer higher kickbacks than their competitors?

The web is full of affiliate spam, so every time I see an affiliate link I wonder if the article is just a very elaborate form of spam.

http://xkcd.com/810/

Now I haven't spoken with the author, but I would guess his motive is to inform you about something, link you to the thing they are talking about, and possibly make some money all at the same time. If this was an article on one of those ridiculous, obvious blogspam type websites, then yes, I'd be wary too.

Fancy hands isn't even automation, and tbh Amazon's service isn't that useful unless you're running a business...

....But both allow referral links. Call me a cynic, but it strikes me that this person had a referral link to Fancy Hands, threw in Amazon's obscure service because Amazon also allows referrals, and gave it a catchy headline of "automation".

I didn't think Refer.ly had any target market, but it appears we found one potential customer.

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