Posted by Rory Browne on 05/28/05 07:31

Okay:

1: Calm down. You're sensationalism and paranoia make you look like a
nutcase.(no offence)

2:
> That would be irrelevant because nothing changes for the anybody that
> follows the link with or without the aff code. The service is still free
Obviously we don't consider it irrelevent. That's all we were trying
to say. We're not trying to paint you as some sort of monster. I
appreciate your posting of that Link. I've used it. I would also have
liked to know that you were affiliated with the site.

3: Relax. This is going away out of proportion.

4:
> > as you get 35% (minimum, for upto a year) if he signs up...not that anybodys
> > bothered if you make money
>
> That is false. If he signs up and tries the free penetration test
> service that he asked and I suggested, I do not gain anything. Stop
> deceiving people!

Last time I checked 35% of free, was still free. I therefore put it to
you that even if he doesn't sign up and make any payment, you still
get 35% of that payment(consisting of $0/Eur0/£0) he didn't make.

5: > what would you say about the PHP
> group that lists a pile of books in Amazon linked with their affiliate
> id but they do not mention that fact anywhere in their pages?
>
> http://www.php.net/books.php

Quote from aforementioned website: " If you buy the book using the
links on this page, you are helping to support PHP development! ".

Any intellegent user would be able to decipher from that, that the php
group obtains some soft of referal fee, or benifit somehow in your
purchase of said books from the php website.

6: > I was selling security
> auditing services, when in fact the only person that doing that in this
> thread was Chris Shiflet.

I know that, you know that, the majority of the people on this list
know that. Chris told us that. Personally I'd be pretty pissed off, if
Chris posted some website he'd found without mentioning that it was
his website.

The reason I'm _not_ pissed off with you, is because it wasn't
actually your website. I was simply asking you that in future would
you mention your _potential_ bias, even if such bias doesn't exist.


On 5/28/05, Manuel Lemos <mlemos@acm.org> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> on 05/27/2005 06:46 PM Ryan A said the following:
> > -----
> > I have requested the free test several times and it was very useful
> > because it brought my attention to aspects that I was not considering,
> > some related to PHP in specific and other related to Internet in general.
> > -----
> > fair enough, you could have given him the link the the page directly
> > _without_
> > your affiliate add on code, but since you did tack your aff code on, I think
> > you should have mentioned it
>
> That would be irrelevant because nothing changes for the anybody that
> follows the link with or without the aff code. The service is still free
> and the service is the same.
>
>
> > as you get 35% (minimum, for upto a year) if he signs up...not that anybodys
> > bothered if you make money
>
> That is false. If he signs up and tries the free penetration test
> service that he asked and I suggested, I do not gain anything. Stop
> deceiving people!
>
>
> > ------
> > If I ever gain anything with the referral, he would not be paying more for
> > whatever services he would order.
> > ------
> > Never said he would be paying extra, but the point is you would be making
> > money off him (not a bad
> > thing again) without his knowledge (bad thing)...if he finds the link really
> > useful I think to show his appreciation he
> > would _make sure_ your affiliate link is tacked there......I would.
>
> Stop distorting the facts. You are implying that I acting with malice by
> stating that I will make money by hiding facts when a) Andy never asked
> explicitly for a service that the referer would not gain anything b) I
> am not hiding anything as the affiliate id is quite visible in the URL
> c) I never denied that the URL contains my affiliate id.
>
> If I am acting with malice as you suggest just because I did not mention
> that the URL contained my affiliate id, what would you say about the PHP
> group that lists a pile of books in Amazon linked with their affiliate
> id but they do not mention that fact anywhere in their pages?
>
> http://www.php.net/books.php
>
> Maybe I am Darth Vader and the PHP Group is the whole dark side of the
> force. Get real, you are being ridiculous!
>
>
> > Another example, I am an affilate of interland, if someone asks about
> > "dedicated hosting" I could send them there
> > they would join, not pay a cent extra, but i get a commision *without their
> > knowledge* (10% recurring)...
> > am I helping them or myself?
>
> Yeah, right, you are fighting the dark side of the force to be the good
> guy that just lives from the air that you breath and nobody else should
> be allowed to gain anything from referrals unless you warn users that
> you refer that you are keeping a commission, despite the price is always
> the same!?!
>
>
>
> > -----
> > So, I do not see your point in bugging me for this. If you feel that I
> > am not helping Andy, I would appreciate that you tell me that directly!'
> > -----
> > Well, all i can say is, if my little email bugged you, you either get bugged
> > very easily or you know I'm right!
>
> Look, you challenged my credibility by distorting the facts. Of course
> that bugs me because for 8 years I have been participating in PHP
> mailing lists helping people leading to solutions to the problems that
> they pose, and your attitude is misleading people into believing that I
> am not helping them.
>
> You have caused such confusion that Andy, the original poster, have
> written me privately telling that he thought that the link that I
> suggested pointed to a site of mine where I was selling security
> auditing services, when in fact the only person that doing that in this
> thread was Chris Shiflet.
>
> I just recommended a service that I tried, and so I have first hand
> experience to comment about, unlike you that not only just caused
> confusion but also did not offer any solution to the problem posed by
> Andy. Basically you are not helping because all you did is to bug
> somebody that tried to help.
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Manuel Lemos
>
> PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
> http://www.phpclasses.org/
>
> PHP Reviews - Reviews of PHP books and other products
> http://www.phpclasses.org/reviews/
>
> Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
> http://www.meta-language.net/metastorage.html
>

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