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Ask HN: Why do people complain when blogs submit referral links.

1 points by theshadowmonkey ↗ HN
I have seen multiple instances where people complain when they post a tutorial or a reading list and point to amazon or other shopping sites. And people get a lot fussy when the links have referral links in them. What is wrong in the blog author getting some money when apparently you are not losing any. In fact you are gaining some knowledge. This is a win-win situation. I am pointing you to the correct resource and cashing in on the fact that I pointed it to you. Isnt a search engine or some discovery place you use doing the same thing?

2 comments

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minimaxir
What is wrong in the blog author getting some money when apparently you are not losing any.

Lack of disclosure. If the author is not making it apparent that they are profiting from the blog post, it makes the credibility of the post disputable.

theshadowmonkey
Sounds fair. Isn't advertising on the blog an advertising and the user doesn't disclose anywhere that he will earn money when you click on the ad. Even though its obvious, shouldn't he be disclosing that? If he has referral link in a post, its same right? We now know that all ads earn the blogger money because its the norm. So, even if people don't complain, mediocre blog posts never have a lot of readers. so, should we be having a practice where the user has an asterisk near the link and the asterisk should point to small unreadable text at the bottom of the page? Im not saying you are wrong, but Im trying to make a argument so I can have a better understanding.