Quote:
Originally Posted by Linkster
if an affiliate program continues to accept sales from an affiliate that is using these methods, arent they still just as culpable? So really it doesnt make a difference in my mind whether the program or one of their affiliates does the keyword buying/installs - it is still stealing from their other affiliate partners whether it be the small-time guy that does one sale a month or the cross sale program that does a hundred.
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I completely agree: this is business, therefore it is the impact of what is being done which matters most. In any case and has been pointed out, there is no way to tell whether an "affiliate" is really an affiliate or not.
There is also a broader issue. In my experience, virtues and vices are rarely confined to a single aspect of either individual or corporate conduct. That's because things such as honesty are fundamentals of human behavior. A dishonest person will not conduct every single transaction dishonestly, but their dishonesty will show up in many aspects of their lives.
I think that once a sponsor has shown himself capable of behaving unethically (which is a polite way of putting it), self-protection demands you assume that lack of standards will apply to other areas of his operation. It's not only naive to believe otherwise, it's plain foolish when there are always plenty of sponsors to choose from who appear to be "clean".
I know it won't happen, but every single affiliate should have dropped every sponsor who has been shown in these threads as being customers of or tolerating scumware. Not only because of the sheer stupidity of working with someone who is stealing from you or turns a blind eye to those who do, but because for everything we are aware of, there will be a dozen things going on of which we are not. Every time we let another scam go by without making anyone pay, we might as well be hanging out an invite for the next crook who happens along.