We Need To Have A Serious Talk About Referral Links

I don’t usually get angry, but I’m actually quite upset at the moment. Unlike a lot of other websites we allow our readers to post their referral links in the comments of specific ‘referral only’ posts. Unfortunately it seems that a lot of readers are just treating this as their right rather than a privilege. For example in our recent SPG business post about 20 readers decided it was a good idea to just post their referral links there even though we never said that was allowed. Several readers said things along the lines of “not sure if this is allowed here, just delete it if not”. Other readers can’t seem to even read and follow basic rules when we do post referral specific threads.

We spend a lot of time on this site, finding & compiling deals and data points. We are not your personal servants. I know readers aren’t stupid enough to think that referrals are just allowed where ever they want. What makes things actually worse is that readers were saying that they were actually using these links. You should be shaming this bad behavior and not encouraging it.

The vast majority of readers use and share their referral links appropriately, it’s a shame that a few readers are deciding to ruin it for everybody else. I really love the fact that readers can share their links on this site and I really want other readers to support people who provide useful comments and deals by using their referral links. Unfortunately a lot of readers seem to only contribute/comment when they can share their links (you look at their comment history and it’s nothing but their referral links) and readers who are using referral links seem to be indiscriminately using them rather than trying to pick out a link from somebody that provides helpful comments.

I’m asking readers to do a few things:

  1. Please only share your referral links when we specifically state they are allowed
  2. Make sure you read and follow the rules when sharing your links 
  3. When you’re using a referral link, make an effort to find a link from a reader you recognize as providing helpful comments. Also make sure you don’t reward bad behavior by using links shared in the wrong place

The reason I care about having referral only posts is because if we don’t then any discussion about a deal/post just gets drowned out by useful referral link posts “thanks in advance for using my link!!!”. If things don’t improve then we will simply stop allowing referral links on the site at all. I think that would be a real shame because I do think readers that provide helpful insight deserve to be rewarded. Thanks to all the readers who do do the right things and make positive contributions, if it wasn’t for you I’d just stop blogging altogether.

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FA
FA (@guest_489874)
October 8, 2017 08:05

DoC,

Long time reader but first time commentator– love your work. Read thru your link from 10/2014– never knew you didn’t have your own affiliate links…. was always under the assumption that was how you made a living (which would have been fine by me) but a LOT of respect for you for not accepting credit card links. If there are any links or other ways we can support you and your site financially, please make that clear; it’s been a huge treasure trove of info for me. I’d be glad to do my credit card sign ups through your website if that were an option.

AC
AC (@guest_489719)
October 7, 2017 23:47

With my little knowledge and understanding I’ll try to throw out a few suggestions.

1. If referrals is allowed make a sorting process so that people with useful comments should be on top. Sometimes the people with useful comments post there links after 20 other have posted there links and people don’t usually scroll down so much human nature. Also maybe make some kind of sign next to a user with lots of useful comments maybe it could be identified with IP addresses . Like you do monthly in the specific post pointing out the user with most useful comments or maybe the winners with useful comments get to post there referrals in a separate post to reward them or there links put in the post or something like that

2. As a user suggested before to only allow links in the specific post and block links in all the rest specificly in post that notify of sign up offers and/or maybe add a check box so if someone posts a useful link they can admit it for review. Because blocking referrals altogether probably means a stop to all links and it’s not something you wanna do that’s my understanding from all the comments here so maybe adding the block will be the thing to do

Eric
Eric (@guest_488987)
October 6, 2017 11:08

I am a long time reader here. I haven’t commented much lately as I literally have over 1000 comments in my email that I haven’t read yet but I still read new posts daily.

I think this post is a little out of line. I never read the post in question until just now as I don’t have an SPG card or any business cards.

I read through that post and didn’t see it mentioned anywhere that referral links are not allowed. I have specifically seen Chuck (and possibly Will) post “Please do not post your referral links” or something similar in other similar posts.

I don’t think it’s fair to take it out on people when you have inconsistent policies.

I don’t understand why no one replied to Andy’s comment as he made a lot of sense to me. It’s odd to think that people with low character (lying to and/or cheating banks) would suddenly have high character related to referrals.

Kanji
Kanji (@guest_488939)
October 6, 2017 09:54

Perhaps you could set up threads for referral links like we do in /r/churning. It’ll might be more difficult to control here if you don’t have bots, but at least it’ll all be concentrated in one area and easier to keep an eye on.

I know that there is shitty behavior in /r/churning compared to here, but it’s a small collection of bad actors that subscribers has done an admirable job in calling people out on considering how large the sub has gotten.

Tommy
Tommy (@guest_488923)
October 6, 2017 09:33

I apologize as being a rookie commenter and following in with the crowd in posting my referral link in the recent post where it wasn’t allowed. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. I appreciate all of your content.

shaky02dd
shaky02dd (@guest_488914)
October 6, 2017 09:25

Sheepish. Didn’t realize that was a rule, sorry to have run afoul of it, won’t happen again.

And for what it’s worth, it’s nice to see constructive ideas above and not too much righteous indignation about it.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_488789)
October 6, 2017 02:08

DoC, Misbehavior I have seen – yes, posting referral links on pages that aren’t supposed to have links, and sometimes people respond to higher level posts just to get to top of the list. That’s BS. I sometimes rat them out and asking for the link to be removed, but I am sure that gets old for you to keep up with. I guess when it comes to money, especially $50 – $100, it’s not any surprise what people will do to get ahead. Not that it is much of an excuse, but I am sure I broke a rule somewhere, but if most everyone on the Interstate is driving 75, then I am not driving 55. (Of course) I really like your thoughts about using links from those who frequently provide information on the site. However, I think the average person visiting the site probably doesn’t pay much attention to those readers that provide quality content/responses. So they are going to grab either the first link on the list, the newest at the bottom, or most credible looking person (w/ emoji) on the list and use their link. When I first started coming here, I thought the Gravatar folks were admins, so they could be trusted. As someone who has benefited from the referral link system here, I hope it doesn’t go away. One $50 bank account referral link I did here did very well, but most others I have posted only got one referral (Ibotta, Netspend), and often times, none. I have had 0 credit card referrals. Any referral links I put out that clearly state my full name, I have on another email account and Gravatar. They haven’t done hardly any referrals. That’s not to mean I am not grateful, but it’s not a big cash cow either. Not that this is your problem, but I too am a lowly Redditor that can’t ever seem to get enough karma. In general, they are a snobbish bunch, in my experience. Someone that posts a funny one-liner gets 100-200 karma in 3 hours, but someone who takes the time to answer a question or provide facts gets crapped on or no karma because it’s not a popular answer, or 99% wouldn’t take the time to read it. I swear, my highest karma response so far was “Insert Mom joke here”, like 10 points. But if I do three paragraphs helping someone – absolutely nothing. I guess Reddit is a millennial thing, where brevity is rewarded and everything needs to be funny or useful in 5 words or less. Enough on Reddit. If this was my site, I would: 1. Discard all the referral links each month. The links do get stale – i.e., the referee no longer has an account, and/or exceeded their referral limit. I am certain most users aren’t coming back to check on their posts, and updating the status if the close their accounts. This solution gives the organized early birds and DoC die-hards a chance… Read more »

Ted
Ted (@guest_488762)
October 6, 2017 00:49

Where’s that like button?

MoreSun
MoreSun (@guest_488742)
October 6, 2017 00:14

I like the referral only link posts here. Keeps the comment sections actually useful. I’ve used those pages on both ends and love to contribute back to commentors that I know have helped me in the past.

As a first step I like Vipul’s solution of a boilerplate approach to the comment sections. Won’t stop all but ought to stop the “Idk if it’s allowed” crap.

As a reminder to regular commentors here: Gravatar! Take some time & do it- anyone can figure it out. I recognize common commentors a lot faster when I see their Gravatar vs just their username and that has helped me latch on to their referrals easier as referral threads can be full of users I’ve never seen stuff from. As DoC points out- no reason for people to post if they don’t ever get their links used. (Don’t be intimidated if you’ve never used Gravatar before. I hadn’t and still managed to figure it out very easily!)

Derrick Chen
Derrick Chen (@guest_488738)
October 6, 2017 00:07

Totally agree with the expectation and logic. It is great that you even allow readers to post referral links. Hopefully everyone can follow rules.