I noticed this Wealthsimple Community pop up in my “active” list today.
Clicked in and noticed its empty, but the sidebar contains a sneaky affiliate link for the moderator of that community.
Same thing with the Wealthsimple Trade Community.
I think this sort of activity should be banned from here tbh, definitely at the mod level.
I agree. Affiliate links have no place on here, and they can lead to sneaky attempts to advertise.
For the record, it looks like both communities have the same moderator.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using an URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: [email protected], [email protected]
I tend to agree that they should not be allowed, but how would everyone feel about an exception if they’re obviously called out?
I think of communities like churningcanada on reddit for example, where affiliate links / referral codes are intentional and wanted by the community.
IE, something like:
- Any affiliate or referral links must be obviously called out as such, with a clear description of what the poster gains and what the user would gain by using it
I think this is fair. I’m not necessarily against referral links in communities where that’s an expected and desired part of what people are looking for from it.
I can get on board with this, my main concern is the disclosure.
I think what you posted is specific can be a good start. And then if any other dark patterns emerge they can be dealt with.
Advertising has no place here.
If you want to contain it all in a specific place that can be blocked, okay. But if the instance starts allowing people to just post advertisements like that, I’m gone and it’s getting blocked.
So you’re saying if lets say GCPGrey moved his community here, he couldn’t have links to his store here or other material as that would be “bad”.
Let’s get real here, Advertising is going to happen, donations are going to happen. If you don’t like that you’re going to have a hard time on the Internet.
Yeah this is my thought too.
Is someone posting a YouTube video they made and are monetizing, advertising? Where do we draw the line?
Yeah I think that would be an OK case and these specific things can be up to the moderators of communities. I know that some communities require mod approval before self promotion is allowed, so I think in the CGP Grey community case it would be a non issue.
I think starting with a super specific rule around affiliate disclosure as proposed would be good enough to avoid this particular problem.
Like I said, if it’s all contained in a community I can si.pky block, no problem.
If ads are allowed across the whole instance, I will change instances and block the whole instance.
I’m here to look at content, not be persuaded to spend money.
I’m not an admin, but I think an instance wide rule against links anywhere that are affiliate links would be insane and maybe you should go.
I sincerely apologize for posting affiliate links in both communities. It was an oversight on my part and I did not intend to violate any rules. I have removed the links as per your request. I appreciate your feedback and guidance on this matter.
Thank you, everyone!
Thanks! It’s not a rule yet, but that’s what we’re all here to discuss.
Yeah and I just want to make it clear I am not arguing that no one should post anything that benefits them. We all gotta eat, get that bag 💰, etc.
I think if affiliates are allowed, the rule should be that the proper disclosures are in place so anyone viewing the community knows who is benefiting. Then the community can decide if they are okay with whatever is happening, as long as the users know exactly what’s happening.
I posted in a reply below but here is the FTC’s stance
You should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, so readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement. You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate.
For now, just block the communities and @mxwarp (Creator of those and CanadianInvestor) like I did. All their posts and the communities disappear.
I knew the user name looked familiar. They’re one of those people that post the same article to like 5 different communities. Sure the article might actually be interesting, but there’s no need for it to take up literally all the room on my feed.
I apologize if my sharing of market and stock related news articles has caused any discomfort. My only intention is to create more awareness around long-term investing and promote healthy community discussion so we can all learn from each other.
While we’re at it, can we ban amp links and other url tracking in general?
No punishment for doing it, but maybe have a bot to remind people.
To clarify, I’m not engaging in whataboutism, I think both of them should be banned (though maybe sometimes affiliate links have their place).
I think we should leave this one to the mods. Links to commercial sites and services will happen. Hell, I link to my company’s website in my own bio. What I do agree with is links with the affiliate tracking and commission.
Because URLs can be edited by the poster, by mods, and admins, this one will be hard to enforce. You could have bots modifying old links months after they’ve been posted. Etc.
So the best solution is a mod tool that detects the most common form of affiliate links (eg: amazon) and strips the affiliate portion from the link. This wouldn’t catch everything. And if we get popular, we’ll still get the t-shirt spam type problems that we moderators on reddit have faced for years. But it would be a good start.
So, who is working on the mod tools? ;)
Yeah I am okay leaving it to mods. But I think in this particular case if the mods themselves are posting affiliate links with no indication they are getting money for each use, that seems like misaligned incentives.
There were some subreddits that would have stickied posts or something that allowed affiliate links, but that aggregates it all into one place and also lays it out clearly for whoever visits.
My main concern is not that someone is making money, we all gotta eat, its just when people aren’t aware they are potentially being manipulated for someones benefit.
I agree. Transparency is key :)
Tagging @[email protected] so he can share his opinions here :)
Hello everyone!
I’ve set up megathreads for sharing referral codes in both communities. If you happen to have a WS referral code, feel free to drop it here!
Just to keep things fair and unbiased, I won’t be joining in on the referral code sharing. Thanks a bunch!
Agreed. Genuine suggestions often are higher quality as compared to an affiliate user with an motive on selling.
I think there must be a happy medium somewhere. I hate surveillance ads as much as the next person and blatant, “pure” self-promotion is a pretty close second, but there are forms of advertising and self-promotion that are useful.
There was a magazine I subscribed to called “Small Craft Advisor” that covered the small boat market, frequently homebuilt, mostly sailing, mostly cruising (like camping, but from or on a boat). The main reason I maintained the subscription was for the ads and the articles written by various suppliers describing how to use their products and showcasing their offerings in detail. Now that they’ve gone Substack, those ads and most of the “vendor articles” are gone and I’m dropping the subscription. It just doesn’t provide my window into the hobby, its supplies and techniques, and suppliers that it used to.
I also remember when there was such a thing as computer magazines that were similar in format and similarly valuable.
Yeah I am not against people making money. In this case if just felt distasteful and not properly disclosed.
Most people will probably know that that affiliate link benefits the mod of that community, but many won’t. People might just think “Oh wow that’s cool, thanks for sending me in the right direction you charitable mod”.
The problem is the lack of disclosure and the overall disingenuous feeling, not that someone is making cash.
Then I guess that’s at least 2 of us on the same page :)
I would hate to see it filled with commercial interests, but I think there is room for some that is relevant within specific communities.
Its just a fat full syntax url all by itself, whaddya mean sneaky
Sneaky as in the wording doesn’t convey that they are getting a benefit (which they are). And it’s also written to intentionally confuse using wording like “use our affiliate link”. Who is “our”? It’s just one person who is trying to make some cash?
It’s just so out of place on the platform and shouldn’t be allowed IMO. Especially added by a mod in the sidebar of a community. Better approach would be a stickied post with affiliate links posted by users or something similar.
“If you’re interested in joining Wealthsimple, you can take advantage of our referral link. By using it, you’ll receive up to $3,000 in cash to trade stocks or crypto when you fund a DIY trading or Managed Investing account. Use code XXXXX or the link below to sign up.”
And it’s also written to intentionally confuse using wording like “use our affiliate link”.
This sounds like sarcasm even though its not. Yeah? Explicitly saying its an affiliate link is sneaky and confusing to you? Are you mad someone benefitted from you clicking a link? Does it lead to malware? Youre trying to poison this platform with excessive restrictions. Content creators gonna stop by, see that they cant link to their content if they make money from it, theyre outta here.
I disagree, not making it explicit adds a level of abstraction and assumes that everyone needs to know how online affiliate programs work. Users should know, without any question or confusion, who exactly is benefiting and how whenever they use an affiliate link. Otherwise there are perverse incentives.
And its not just me, here is the FTC’s stance.
You should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, so readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement. You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate.
I know FTC is American, but I think its a good guideline.
I dont think, “because people dont know what words mean” is any kind of argument for something being sneaky or confusing.
Anyway yall are calling for it to be banned entirely and like i said that’s gonna poison this site.
That’s just a more elaborate version of advertising. How about we just ban advertising all together.
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