Hmm, good question...
I've seen two scenarios:
1. An empty ref-string there & then, like "ref=&consoles=no"..
2. A ref-string with the sponsor's own hard-coded ref-code, like "ref=non-member&blabla" / "ref=01&blabla" / similar..
In the first case, I'd suspect I'll get credited because no other string is there to overwrite any previously "cookied".
But in the second case... well, that would just look like a blatant "nah, screw the affiliate".
I'm really not sure though, I don't know enough of the technicalities to be certain - scenario#2 above would look *very* suspicious though..
