Originally Posted by Lord of the fungi

Since this thread is also a lot about affiliates & sponsors and their future together. Why is it so hard to comprehend that the affiliate model could very well perish?
I know if someone is just an affiliate they may wish to fight it tooth and nail with round about arguments, or saying why has it not already been done. Though I have felt that the open affiliate model was getting closer to its death bed even before the proposed regulations where published. Assuming the proposed ones go through it just would give another reason to add to the pile that many have been talking about for a few years.
I know several programs that have been doing more and more stuff in house or with outsourced workers. I have seen numerous reports and heard many people speaking about the costs of affiliates besides their payouts and the percentage of fraud that is generated by them. We all have also witnessed the wide spread use and acceptance of sponsor hosted galleries, which in effect began to cut out one of the middle men already. This does not even include various programs that have switched to either invite only, closed affiliate programs, or no affiliates at all.
So again I ask the question, why does this seem so alien to some?