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Poll

Your opinion!

No it isn't a problem
20 (21.3%)
Put the threads in an area where I can ignore them
21 (22.3%)
require referral links only in the signature
32 (34%)
make a system to add referral links similar to the portfolio links
21 (22.3%)

Total Members Voted: 66

Author Topic: is there too many 'pimp your referral link' threads?  (Read 11656 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: February 23, 2010, 04:48 »
0
After hearing a couple of complaints I thought I would start this thread -

Is there too many threads that seem to only serve the purpose of pimping your referral link?

I think it is fine that people share their links, but when the front page is filled with threads containing mostly referral links - is it too much?

Here are a couple solutions:
1. No it isn't a problem - I like being able to find referral links in threads like that
2. I don't like it, move all such threads to a 'referral threads' area of the forum so I can ignore it.
3. Only let people put referral links in their signature, and possiblly have an automatic referral spot in the signature for links to keep things tidy.

any other thoughts?
« Last Edit: February 23, 2010, 05:06 by leaf »


« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2010, 05:16 »
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It makes me smile !  :)  so I say leave as is, besides once DP promotion finishes it will all disappear ;) Ignore the killjoys  :o

« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2010, 05:17 »
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it's okay in moderation, but the thread at:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/depositphotos/how-many-affiliates-do-you-have/

that's just a waste of time... no more like that!

« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2010, 05:17 »
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I don't mind one pimp your referral thread per site, perhaps anyone starting a new thread with a referral link should be moved to that one pimping thread?  I did vote for option 3 but thinking about it, could it be limited to 2 or 3 sites?  It could look messy if we all have 20 referral links in our signatures.

« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2010, 05:24 »
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It makes me smile !  :)  so I say leave as is, besides once DP promotion finishes it will all disappear ;) Ignore the killjoys  :o


yeah, things do seem to go in trends.  For a while it is 10 threads about bashing site X, then 10 threads with heated debate.  Now seems to be the season for affiliate link threads :)

For the time being, I merged the two DP threads - perhaps I should add the third one to the party.  Thanks for the feedback so far.

« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2010, 05:34 »
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I find it a little unproductive when I see a thread with basically "I signed up, here is my referral" posts, as the useful information gets lost.  But overall I'm ok with it. 

« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2010, 06:03 »
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sometimes annoying to see people only joining here to pimp their referral links and have no information to share or participate in a discussion.

Patrick.

« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2010, 09:59 »
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I think most people at this particular site know about most agencies they could possibly sign up for - I think mainly it's silly but hey, if people want to do it, it's their waste of time!

« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2010, 10:11 »
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I'm not really noticing them, so I don't see any site wide issue.  It's easy to bash someone as necessary when their being obviously spammy.

helix7

« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2010, 10:32 »
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I think we need to tighten the reins a little. There is also a lot of linking in the last line of a post that is irrelevant to the discussion. Like links to personal websites, even though the poster already has the same link in their signature. It's unnecessary clutter.

Sigs only for all personal links.

« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2010, 10:38 »
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I think most people at this particular site know about most agencies they could possibly sign up for - I think mainly it's silly but hey, if people want to do it, it's their waste of time!

I think you're missing the point of referrals !!  ;)

Money for the person whose link you use !!! :)  If you just sign up, no one gets paid !!

WarrenPrice

« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2010, 10:46 »
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I think most people at this particular site know about most agencies they could possibly sign up for - I think mainly it's silly but hey, if people want to do it, it's their waste of time!

I think you're missing the point of referrals !!  ;)

Money for the person whose link you use !!! :)  If you just sign up, no one gets paid !!


Too many offers gets competitive and annoying.  I just get annoyed and refuse all of them.  What if I choose someone and find out later that he/she is a jerk/jerkess.   ::)


« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2010, 10:55 »
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Money for the person whose link you use !!! :)  If you just sign up, no one gets paid !!

MANY of my friends are microstock photographers.  If I want to sign up for a new site I would say 99.999999% of the time I would use theirs to help my closest friends.  My wife also does microstock.  Sometimes I use hers too.  I understand the extra $$ but I don't use random links usually.

« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2010, 10:56 »
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Too many offers gets competitive and annoying.  I just get annoyed and refuse all of them.  What if I choose someone and find out later that he/she is a jerk/jerkess.   ::)


And there are a few, right !  ;)

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2010, 10:59 »
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referrals don't work anyway:
my refered photographers are lazy, most of them didn't even pass the test at Shutterstock

« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2010, 11:09 »
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Without regulation it is hard to rely on somebody's reasonableness. Just compare mantonio and Stu49 signatures on this thread.

My screen is real estate. I like to use it to read, not to 'filter' unrelated stuff. The main problem is that several abusers show to new users behavior that may seem ok to copy. Wait a little, and 90% of posts here will have half-page signatures and posts overloaded with pimping links.   

BTW, for unrelated things - leaf, is it possible to strip trailing whitespaces from posts?

« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2010, 11:10 »
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Sorry for example of whitespace spam:
















































« Reply #17 on: February 23, 2010, 14:23 »
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Quote
Sigs only for all personal links.

+1

I find referral posts almost as annoying as image pimping threads. If there is one thread only for this stuff and I can choose not to read the thread, that would be ok, too.

« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2010, 14:48 »
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I really hate the guts of spammers and pimpers. They make me lose time. Lately this site acquired a few blatant (sometimes hidden) referral spammers that will take advantage of any thread to say nothing useful but to dump their egg. They make me lose more time by having to clean my cookies before signing up on a new site. I want to choose my own referrals, and those are people I either like or have a history of posting useful info. As 'useful info', I don't consider "yay I had a sale, 200 images uploaded, approved at DP". I don't want to be trapped into being a referral for a moron.

Those blatant low authority/low info/high spamming "posters" should be banned like at most sites. Of course you can block them, which I do, but their empty messages still do pop up and the "new threads" they spam in too. Portfolio links in the sig should just be portfolio links, and not hidden referrals. Certainly those obnoxious large banners in the sig should be made impossible.

Agencies should leave the system of contributor referrals. That might have been useful ages ago when stock was unknown. But now when everybody and his brother signs up to 20 sites, there is no need for it any more. Referral earnings take away part of my income by people that in most cases just live from spamming. The only valid referral should be a buyer referral.

WarrenPrice

« Reply #19 on: February 23, 2010, 14:52 »
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Could you please clarify that?   ;D ;D ;D

« Reply #20 on: February 23, 2010, 14:59 »
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Could you please clarify that?   ;D ;D ;D
What? Who? I didn't mean you in any case. Sales info in general can be very useful, like in the monthly sales report. I just mean those starting a thread with the sole reason to pimp their bloggie or to add their referral codes in the message body. The few obnoxious spammers I already blocked anyways.

« Reply #21 on: February 23, 2010, 15:00 »
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I really hate the guts of spammers and pimpers. They make me lose time. Lately this site acquired a few blatant (sometimes hidden) referral spammers that will take advantage of any thread to say nothing useful but to dump their egg. They make me lose more time by having to clean my cookies before signing up on a new site. I want to choose my own referrals, and those are people I either like or have a history of posting useful info. As 'useful info', I don't consider "yay I had a sale, 200 images uploaded, approved at DP". I don't want to be trapped into being a referral for a moron.

Those blatant low authority/low info/high spamming "posters" should be banned like at most sites. Of course you can block them, which I do, but their empty messages still do pop up and the "new threads" they spam in too. Portfolio links in the sig should just be portfolio links, and not hidden referrals. Certainly those obnoxious large banners in the sig should be made impossible.

Agencies should leave the system of contributor referrals. That might have been useful ages ago when stock was unknown. But now when everybody and his brother signs up to 20 sites, there is no need for it any more. Referral earnings take away part of my income by people that in most cases just live from spamming. The only valid referral should be a buyer referral.


Just use Firefox+AdBlock. You can RMB on any image and block it from displaying. You can even customize it to remove specific parts of the web page. I do not see any ads on MSG :-)

WarrenPrice

« Reply #22 on: February 23, 2010, 15:04 »
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Could you please clarify that?   ;D ;D ;D
What? Who? I didn't mean you in any case. Sales info in general can be very useful, like in the monthly sales report. I just mean those starting a thread with the sole reason to pimp their bloggie or to add their referral codes in the message body. The few obnoxious spammers I already blocked anyways.

I was just kidding, FD.  My point was your point was sharply pointed out.  The smiley faces was me laughing.   ;D

« Reply #23 on: February 23, 2010, 15:06 »
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Could you please clarify that?   ;D ;D ;D
What? Who? I didn't mean you in any case. Sales info in general can be very useful, like in the monthly sales report. I just mean those starting a thread with the sole reason to pimp their bloggie or to add their referral codes in the message body. The few obnoxious spammers I already blocked anyways.

I think you missed the nudge nudge wink wink in his post  ;D

edit: oops Warren beat me to it.

« Reply #24 on: February 23, 2010, 17:22 »
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I guess that's what the "ignore" feature is for !
I never used it until those last childish pimping threads, but now I can say I know how it works  ;)

« Reply #25 on: February 23, 2010, 18:50 »
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I sooo hate it! So much that I would ban all the referral maniacs! But unfortunately it is not an option so just put them somewhere we won't see.

This site belongs to leaf! IF anyone is going to be referring contributors it should only be the site owner. Anybody else who want to refer people are free to start their own websites.

dbvirago

« Reply #26 on: February 23, 2010, 19:05 »
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I read the threads I'm interested in and ignore the rest.


« Reply #27 on: February 23, 2010, 20:25 »
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I find that Leaf lets us get away with a lot here when it comes to linking and referrals.  I myself have taken advantage of that a few times and posted a link here and there.

With that said, most forums will not even let you post them in your signature.  I like that this site lets you post personal links, but we need to also give props to Leaf.  I usually have a link to signup under, but if not I use Leaf's.

I also think threads that just post referral links should be marked spam.  I have cast my vote.

« Reply #28 on: February 23, 2010, 20:54 »
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This site belongs to leaf! IF anyone is going to be referring contributors it should only be the site owner. Anybody else who want to refer people are free to start their own websites.

Absolutely. As much as I dislike the referral links generally, primarily from their painful overuse, I do understand that they have their uses. It was actually a referral link on a photography forum that made me aware of microstock in the first place __ and whoever placed it must have made about $3K from my endeavours since.

As far as I'm concerned the only referral links that should be allowed on here are those of Mr Leaf himself. Leaf has provided us all with an invaluable service and community and IMHO is more than entitled to be compensated for his time and effort in doing so.

I do find all the 'me too' and "here's my referral link" characters painfully embarrassing though. They just remind me of the street beggars you see in any city harassing passers-by, waving their empty soft-drink containers and requesting 'loose change', from those who are actually doing the work that generates the revenue. I wish they had more self-respect than to beg on forums like this.

In summary, I wish all referral links to be banned forthwith and as quickly as possible with the exception those of Mr Leaf.

vonkara

« Reply #29 on: February 23, 2010, 21:10 »
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I do found there have been a lot of not interesting threads lately. But I thought it was only my personal opinion. I didn't even realized some was that much pimping threads (referrals). Now that I realize it, it's worst. Thanks for opening my eyes.

« Reply #30 on: February 24, 2010, 05:23 »
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I read the threads I'm interested in and ignore the rest.

The same here. In case the referring fests are limited to specific threads, it is fine with me. I never pick the one I sign up under among those spamming in those threads.

« Reply #31 on: February 24, 2010, 08:34 »
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Sorry for example of whitespace spam:


the white space spam problem is fixed (at the end of a post anyhow)

« Reply #32 on: February 24, 2010, 08:38 »
0
I think you missed the nudge nudge wink wink in his post  ;D
Well I got a bit scared of Warren. He sounds so stern.  ;)

« Reply #33 on: February 24, 2010, 11:01 »
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I agree! It is so pathetic. No self respect whatsoever! Someone who relies on referral links that much, should not be in microstock business at all... Well, actually they can do whatever they want as long as they start their own website and don't turn this forum into a mess.

If this was my site, I would ban every pimp indefinitely   :D

This site belongs to leaf! IF anyone is going to be referring contributors it should only be the site owner. Anybody else who want to refer people are free to start their own websites.

Absolutely. As much as I dislike the referral links generally, primarily from their painful overuse, I do understand that they have their uses. It was actually a referral link on a photography forum that made me aware of microstock in the first place __ and whoever placed it must have made about $3K from my endeavours since.

As far as I'm concerned the only referral links that should be allowed on here are those of Mr Leaf himself. Leaf has provided us all with an invaluable service and community and IMHO is more than entitled to be compensated for his time and effort in doing so.

I do find all the 'me too' and "here's my referral link" characters painfully embarrassing though. They just remind me of the street beggars you see in any city harassing passers-by, waving their empty soft-drink containers and requesting 'loose change', from those who are actually doing the work that generates the revenue. I wish they had more self-respect than to beg on forums like this.

In summary, I wish all referral links to be banned forthwith and as quickly as possible with the exception those of Mr Leaf.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2010, 11:04 by cidepix »

WarrenPrice

« Reply #34 on: February 24, 2010, 11:48 »
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I think you missed the nudge nudge wink wink in his post  ;D
Well I got a bit scared of Warren. He sounds so stern.  ;)

LOL...thanks FD.  More people should show respect for us old folks. 

RT


« Reply #35 on: February 24, 2010, 13:53 »
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If this was my site, I would ban every pimp indefinitely 

I agree, and not just the one's that post referral links but also those that just come here to tell us how wonderful they are, or to sell their latest enterprise.

« Reply #36 on: February 24, 2010, 15:01 »
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LOL...thanks FD.  More people should show respect for us old folks.
As the great master Groucho Marx once said: A mans only as old as the woman he feels.  :P
« Last Edit: February 24, 2010, 15:02 by FD-amateur »

ap

« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2010, 22:09 »
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I think you missed the nudge nudge wink wink in his post  ;D
Well I got a bit scared of Warren. He sounds so stern.  ;)

LOL, you, FD who fears no one, is scared of Warren, one of the nicest people on the forum? ha ha!

« Reply #38 on: February 25, 2010, 16:36 »
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"Stop move away from the affiliate link!"

"Really move away now!"

"Don't press it!"

"To late!"

"I tried to warn you, so lets ban them!"

"Hmmm, or we could just ignore any that we are not interested in, as many of us only visit selected forums, one being this forum because other forums have become over moderated, so lets just keep things friendly, and if someone posts an affiliate link then just make a polite request that it states that the post or link is about a site they are affiliated with.

I have one affiliate link im my signature and it is clear as it says affiliate, I promoted the site with my affiliate link a few months ago and some have already had a return, and it is still early days.

David  :D

« Reply #39 on: February 26, 2010, 19:09 »
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Completely agree with that Adeptris about the "over moderation" lets not ruin something because of a few affiliate links

A while back I was using ThePhotoForum, was I in for a shock!!! on about my 3rd post I chimed in on thread titled "what do you think of [a site similar to smugmug] for selling your own photos" it llooked like someone looking for advice on setting up shop

I added a few comments about how I thought that clustershot and a few others were also quite good alternatives if you didn't want a subscription fee... (not affiliate links either)

I was banned permanently from posting, when I asked why I was sent policy info and details on how I could pay to make 'advertorial' posts.

It turns out I had trodden on the feet of the owners of [a site similar to smugmug] who had paid for and were monitoring that thread!

In an instant I realised how horribly biased some (all?) of the thread on that site must be if the conversation on there was so tightly managed. from the outside it all looked like free speech


 

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