mia

I find it useful to distinguish between referral offers and referral links, and clarify if the objection is specifically to links (as stated in the thread title) or to all referral offers. Offers require the referrer to engage with the member through PM/Email, while links create a fully automated process.

I believe banning referral offers would be a mistake for two reasons. 1. Referrals often provide members with access to better offers than are available through other channels. If this were not the case members would not respond to the offers, and they would wither away. 2. Banned activity is not abolished, it is driven underground to the PM system and to other sites. I prefer to keep the activity and players visible.

I suggest it is better to regulate referrals, and I think restricting referral offers to Signatures is a good start, but could be refined. The eligibility criteria for a Signature could be extended to 180 days/posts, same a Coupon Connection. All links could be prohibited from Signatures, but this would also affect blogs and other non-referral activity.

An alternate approach would be to eliminate referral offers from Signatures, and permit them only in designated threads in specific forums, with or without links. In the credit card forums we permit offers (without links) in two threads, but we also permit referral links in Signatures because that's what the sitewide rules allow. Members who want to offer referrals in other forums would need to petition the moderators to create a designated thread.