kokonutz

One of the purposes of this forum is to a 'Better Blogger/Board Bureau' for the points and miles world.

And to me, the greatest sin a points and miles blog can commit is to offer an affiliate credit card link that is NOT the best points and miles offer available for that card (eg, linking to an affiliate 40k bonus when a 50k bonus is available elsewhere). This means that the blog is more concerned about making money than giving readers the best information possible.

Now, sometimes this is an innocent mistake and the blog will eventually point out the better offer (after being badgered in the comments section, typically ).

The corollary, of course, are Hall of Fame blog posts that point out or concede that THEIR affiliate offer is subpar so point readers to a better offer off-blog.

So let's collect a Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame lists to let blog readers be more informed readers.

Who knows, maybe we can even affect blog behavior and encourage best practices by putting them into the Hall of Shame!

I know that VFtW solicits readers to point out when his affiliate links are not the best deals: So that's pretty classy. ^

Submission for either Hall?

yerffej201

Isn't there a lot of grey area here?
There's several categories that I can think of right now:

1. Always gives best links (but if they only have two credit card posts from all of their content, then what?)
2. a) Rewards readers for finder better links (Defunct as of now I think, but hack my trip had this before - he would give sbux cards away)
b) Encourages readers to find better offers and changes them immediately (VFTW)
c) Only changes link when several readers have spoken up, sometimes ignores/censors a sole comment.
4. a) Gives both affiliate link and better link in the same post (MMS falls here)
b) Gives both affiliate link and better link but "warns" of not getting the better offer as "it is expired" or some other bs like that. (FTG I think?)

So from these categories there are definitely bloggers who have different policies (unintentionally) depending on the credit card. So how do we judge that? How the majority of his posts fall into? Some other subjective ranking?

kokonutz

Agree: lots of room for grey (or is that gray?).

More of a conversation than a wiki-post....but one that should take place, especially when worst (as well as best) practices are applied.

yerffej201

Oh, and I also forgot - those that disclose when they have an affiliate link and those that don't.

ma91pmh

VFTW is by no means a shining example. I have seen posts where he does his best to twist an inferior offer by saying "it may be better for some" or "it's not my link so I can't guarantee it will work" (you mean you DO actually guarantee it if it's your link?) He would never have posted like that prior to the day he started taking affiliate money.

IMHO I think this one is quite easy. FM and MMS do it right, and everyone else does it wrong. It just becomes a question of whether it's done a bit more subtly like VTFW or blatantly horribly like Milevalue or Delta Points.

FlyFasterFlyFarther

Not sure that's fair, there are times when an offer is better or worse for specific people and it seems like he gives a reasonable appraisal and clear logic. But does seem to offer only the best deals.

Here's what I see from him today:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...riceline-visa/

He wrote a post directing folks to a non-affiliate offer, and not only didn't include the affiliate offer as a link (either 'because it could be better for some' or linking to it when referencing it the wqy MMS does), he actually went back to old posts and removed the inferior link.

And without including the referral link, he explains why the referral link's bigger signup bonus ($100 vs $50) isn't worth using.

I think we all love the way FM does it.

But as observed by another poster above, MMS (a) makes a big show about how something isn't his own link, pretty self promotionally, while (b) actually including the affilaite link in his posts about why that link isn't the best. Why? He hopes that someone will still click on it anyway, by mistake?

I don't agree that MMS "does it right." Though I do agree that FM does a great job!

And c'mon, the real hall of shame belongs to:

Delta Points, for posting inferior offers and censoring comments aout them
Mile Value, for posting inferior offers and censoring comments aout them
FTG, for actively discouraging folks from using better offers than those which pay him commission (can anyone find where he posted in the which blog is best thread that he doesn't post better offers since he doesn't get paid on them?)
TPG, often posts inferior links though my sense is he's been a bit better of late perhaps due to public shaming (his Wine Wednesday posts no longer include tons of referral links)

kokonutz

I agree that VFTW's post today demonstrated a best practice.

It's kind of sad that doing the 'right thing' is something to be celebrated rather than de rigueur.

freeloader

i don't think he ever said that, though he did say this

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20216893-post1294.html

i agree that the biggest hall of shame goes to bloggers who post inferior offers then sensor comments about better offers out there (some even mention they "proudly" sensor these comments)

The two blogs that jump to my mind here would be milevalue and deltapoints

nsx

We can hope that the existence of this thread prompts similarly exemplary behavior from other bloggers, at least the ones who want to be esteemed here. Once Google finds this forum the bloggers may become a lot more responsive in general to comments on what they're doing right and wrong. Maybe not, though. The ones who do things right are already on top. I think that's why they got there.

gpapadop

I have done this before but may I post a question to the moderators (primarily) and members?

If I like something posted here can I post it in my blog? What is the PROPER way to do this? Ask permission from the specific poster? (they have all said "go ahead, it's an honor" previously) Ask permission from the moderators?

Any input?

Thank you.

oliver2002

Feel free to quote some of the content, providing a link to the post itself, so that people can read the entire post in context. Thats the general rule of thumb when mentioning something external on FT too.

Regards Oliver2002
Mod EM&PR forum

saacman5033

How about the opposite; promoting a non-affiliate link when the affiliate is better:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...sa-mastercard/

Honorable motives by VFTW, but seems to be a bit too cautious on this one.

brooklynmatt

Based upon reading some threads here and talking with some other people, I have addressed my Affiliate Link policy and included it in today's post.

Please review it and let me know if it could be improved upon. Thanks.

http://saverocity.com/blog/affiliate...sclosure-post/

yerffej201

I tried reading it... and you had way to many diagrams which was very offputting. As long as you follow your belief system, which is as far as I can see:

then just bold that part. Others could disagree, but as long as links are not affecting your content significantly (as in you write because you have links, etc. etc. etc.) then honestly I don't care where the money goes from your clicks.

Raffles

My view on links to hotels.com etc is not to do them. I cannot justifiably run a site dedicated to giving readers the best deals and at the same time put in links when the same firm is on TopCashBack, BigCrumbs etc.

The money is also peanuts, frankly, compared to card referrals. Why sell your integrity for 5% of a $75 hotel booking when you can get $100 for a card referral which also represents the best possible deal for the reader?