Privacy is not a product. Recommending a service through an affiliate link is not an advice. It’s an advertisement.

@Octium Good point. Still, my point stands. It depends on the context. If someone depends on it financially it is compromising, however if it‘s supplementary, it should be possible to stay impartial, at least as long as the person in question wants to do the right thing, and is willing to compromise things for it.

Bababbak

The Hated One, Well i was thinking of something like Amazon affiliate links, there it doesn‘t matter which product you recommend, as long as it‘s on Amazon. At least as far as i know.

Bababbak

Octium "If someone is depending on product affiliations to fund their operations they can be placed in a compromised position." That was an excellent way to put it!

The Hated One

Unfortunately, things can change really fast in the IT world, products that started off fairly benign like Hotmail, Skype, Youtube, etc can change overnight to something that is no longer benign. If someone is depending on product affiliations to fund their operations they can be placed in a compromised position.

Octium

You are a class act sir and I agree with your approach.

Jose Vanduka

No matter the trust level you set with me, always verify. That's what all the sources in the description are for. I can always make a mistake and I need to be put in check.

The Hated One

Honestly mate, I really admire your integrity and loyalty to your supporters. I also value your knowledge in this area and if you had a recommendation on any particular product or service then I for one would love to hear it and place great value on that recommendation. If you were profiting from the recommendation (via affiliate links or other incentives) Then I personally would not care as long as it was disclosed and still represented, (in your opinion) the best product of it's type available and thus was still a genuine recommendation. I realise that this is a fine line to draw and it makes you uncomfortable but that is precisely why I trust your integrity. In short, I trust you.

Cairnex

So what about the "9 out of 10 doctors recommend smoking" thing? When you had the tobacco industry corrupting scientific opinion to the point experts recommended hazardous substances and behavior against evidence?

The Hated One

It depends on the context, if someone is an expert in a certain field, and uses that knowledge to recommend a certain product to people, it's an advice, and if the same product is recommendee through an affiliate link that's just how the expert can monetise his knowledge, with the consumer still profiting. If that recommendation is however different when using an affiliate link than it would have been otherwise, it's an advertisement. I'd say it's also one when people which don't really have knowledge in the field of the product they are recommending.

Bababbak

U are 100% right

inferno_potato

100% agree with you!!

Jose Vanduka

No. You're bang-on.