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it's unethical that the OP is financially rewarded for building something?

Considering the affiliate links offer the exact same user experience as if they didn't use affiliate links, I find you comment perplexing.

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To me the dividing line is more a question of motivation. Some things with affiliate links are written because the person genuinely wants to say something about the subject, and then adds in affiliate links to get a little money without (as you note) diminishing the user experience at all. But other things are written solely as scaffolding for the affiliate links, content-farm style. The latter I think generally add noise, while the former are unobjectionable. It's not always clear which is which, though it's clearer at the extremes.

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