Shared Earnings Screw Up
 

Anyone know how to change thousands of links on existing galleries without getting blacklisted???

Shared Earnings are making more changes and want everyone to 'change their links'!!!!!

Oops.

Apparently they're going to contact all the major tgps to explain the situation - I can't wait to see that one pan out :(

what happened

they got a new script..

time to change them...it sucks....

They feel like changing everything and for some reason are not able to run the old links in parallel like everyone else does!!

Can't they come up with a way to make the old URLs work, too?

They say they can't - don't know why - everyone else does when they make changes.

:1orglaugh :helpme

sounds shitty.
Best to leave them alone on your end so you dont get blacklisted.

Make new galleries (just rename the same gallery with the new links) and resubmit.

Best not to make any changes to existing batch of galleries you already submitted... You're only gunna get the entire domain blacklisted potentially.

So cut your losses. Dont re-submit those old urls, and make new ones from this point on.

And tell your sponsor they are fuckin bastards for not assisting you by redirecting the old url or telling you weeks in advance to prepare for this.

Yeah - I've already let them know how I feel - now just trying to make the best of the shitty situation.

Why they haven't arranged to handle the old links is beyond me - I just can't understand why they would ditch the whole thing lock stock and two smokin' fuckin barrels' at a few days notice.

I believe it shows exactly what they think of their affiliates :(

Whats worse it looks like everyone is going to get fucked for the signups made under the old stats. Here is an excerpt of my icq with Yug at sharedearnings

Me: ...but what happens to the hits going to the old code?

Yug: unfortunately they will not work :(
we had a big push to do this quickly im afraid,
its a bumpy path but the light at the end of the tunnel will be worth it ...
we have new stats, servers, and processor ...
we will be using our own merchant so its gonna kick ass

Me: what about signups made under the former stats

Yug: they will be lost


I just signed up with them on Saturday so my loss is not so bad, but unfortunately some of you are going to get fucked big time. I have used many sponsors and all the reputable ones offer some compensation when their stats go down. These guys nothing. You be the judge!

Sounds like a bait and switch to me..

My question is this... Does the program still get the sale, when traffic comes through an old link?

Their technical staff sucks bigtime. There is no reason they can't make the old style of linking codes work. If they keep changing on you like this, I'd say drop them.

The old links are still working (ie. still going to the site) but no one is getting paid for the signups. This is a real windfall for shared earnings (ie. big-time scam).

That don't look good.

Hi

Shared Earnings are good guys - give them a chance. I think they had to make this change in a relatively short period of time, so bear with em ;-)


Robert

I don't mean to sound like the sky is falling. I don't know the program. Maybe its all explainable. The truth is, I doubt its on purpose... but maybe they should try harder.

I signed up with Shared Earnings the week they opened, within 3 days they fucking spammed my mailbox with 14 copies of the same mail with different typos each time. Decided not to send them any hits. They changed the link codes SEVERAL times (Pretty much with each revision number, they're on 4 now, right?). I've never seen a more mom and pop without a clue operation in my life.

Get the hell outta there. :2 cents:

If they are good guys then why are they stiffing webmasters for signups made before the change and not giving them credit for new signups under the old link codes, especially when the old codes still go to the intended site. At least they could offer some compensation for the loss of their affiliates but nothing :( I've dealt with a lot of sponsors who have changed their stats but have never seen anything like this.

classic switch and bait, i would change my links and drop them off my revenue list asap.

hmmmm. code changes, not paying . . .

Sounds like a scam to me.

Just one person on this thread defended them. I'd ask for compensation, and unless it's pretty damn close to what you think you should have made for all the lost sales, I'd drop them.

If it were me, I'd drop them anyway. Sounds like they don't have much cash.

From a technical standpoint it should be easy, so either they're dumb or cheating. I'd say it looks like they're just plain dumb.

I was about to signup with these guys but after reading this thread I will pass. Sounds like a bush league operation to me.

sound like idiots. simple solution would be to redirect all traffic from the old links and send them in one account, then distribute the money to their affilliates according to what % of signups each affilliate sent over say the last month. Add it in as a 'bonus' a month or two down the line when traffic is down to a trickle.

There's probably a relatively simple way to actually track the old link code URLs to the new system whatever that may be.

They're getting their own merchant account? Say goodnight. I'm under the impression that once you lose a merchant account and if you are running an affiliate program that is going to happen you are then fucked up shits creek and cannot run off to an IPSP.

Merchant accounts ain't for affilliate programs, that's what I hear from people who would know.

That would be a good idea, however, if the webmasters dont need to signup again then it is possible to 'pad' missing data from the old style links into the new style links and hence track the signups.

You could also cross-reference old accounts with new accounts but it is more work and im guessing webmasters do not need to signup again.

Quote:

There's probably a relatively simple way to actually track the old link code URLs to the new system whatever that may be.

A Simple header redirect with the missing info padded into the new url would do this, it is about a 5-10 min job, depending on their stuff but it is possible.

Quote:

They're getting their own merchant account? Say goodnight. I'm under the impression that once you lose a merchant account and if you are running an affiliate program that is going to happen you are then fucked up shits creek and cannot run off to an IPSP.

That is only if their merchant account is in the USA, and even if they lose their USA merchant account they still can get an offshore one.

Quote:

Merchant accounts ain't for affilliate programs, that's what I hear from people who would know.

Sure it is, if you know what you're doing and doing it offshore. If they're using a USA account and get terminated they will not be able to process 'visa' with any IPSP but could still process everything else. Starting off with the USA merchant account would be stuipid but so far that has been nothing but an assumption made by posters.

We seem to get posts almost daily about somebody or other being a 'good guy' although they don't pay or pull some other crap.

But then I've stated my point of view. This is a business and should be treated as such by those promoting and running programs. Personally I couldn't give a fuck how much of a 'good guy' someone is, if they're harming my business then they are a very long way from that in my book. People being 'good guys' doesn't pay my bills.

I don't know this company, but if they want to prove that they aren't trying anything fishy, they should turn off the old links altogether, so that they simply don't work.

That way, they wouldn't make any money and neither would you. Why would they leave the old links on and expect you to lose money on your traffic while they keep making money?

Message From Yug @ Sharedearnings.com :

While we understand your frustration, we were left with little choice on this one. We have had to move over 60 paysites, membership sites and tracking system over to an entirely different host and tracking system in just under 24 hours.

The new tracking system we have migrated to is completely different right from the ground up. First of all , the old SharedEarnings 3.0 system was a static user id system. This means that you signed up for an account and then used your 'username' as the code in your links. For example, if your account name was "webmaster", then your link would have looked like this.

http://www.interracialz.com/?webmaster

On the new system , we have moved to a dynamic link system, meaning that you sign up to the program and get a username and password. Once you have that password, you can log in and then the program generates an excrypted link for you on the fly. For example

http://www.sharedearnings.com/_5ad6f...3fd482604239e/


So , what this means is that for the linking codes are <b>generated dynamically</b> by the new system. This makes it extremely difficult to have a script parse the old link, detect the Webmaster ID and Site URL for over 7000 webmasters and 70 paysites and generate the new linking code on a per hit basis.

We discussed the merits of running a script/database to be able to handle the link substitution, but we unfortunately did not have the time , or database grunt to handle these kind of transactions, whilst running the hit tracking and sales tracking simultaenously.

As soon as we found out about the change, we imported all the webmaster accounts into the new system automatically and all webmasters were emailed notifying them of the coming changes.

We also contacted all the major TGP sites on our webmasters behalf explaining the situation, and the need for us to change our linking structure in a very short time. The general response from over 120 emails was "no problems, contact us with their details and we will not blacklist them"

Please be aware that we will support each and every one of our webmasters personally if they have any troubles with TGP blacklisting.

All webmasters were supplied with their existing SharedEarnings.com username and password and the link to login and grab the new linking codes from the new system.

The webmasters were also notified in this first email to change out their links in their pages to the new linking structure as soon as possible. We also made ourselves completely contactable for the next 24 hours via email and ICQ for any webmaster who needed any assistance with any aspect with changing links, or queries with the new system.

While we understand that some webmasters are upset about the short amount of notice given for the changes, or the possibility of being blacklisted with TGP gallery owners, we also have done everything possible to minimise the impact on our webmasters, whilst providing them with a faster, and more functional tracking system.

Changing an entire webmaster program to another network is a logistical nightmare in any case, and we feel we have done our best with the limited time we had.

Please be aware that over the next few days, we will be doing our utmost to make sure that our webmasters are compensated for the downtime in the changeover.

Lastly, we apologise for this rough time for us and all our webmasters, but we assure you there is no 'fishy' motive here, just simply a need to move our entire system quickly that inevitably created some issues. Please also note that the new SharedEarnings v4.0 system will be stronger and more reliable for all of our webmasters, a benefit we are willing to take some heat for any day of the week.

As always, if you need any assistance changing your links, or if you have any questions then please feel free to contact me on ([email protected]) or ICQ (41724219)
Regards
Yug

You always make http://www.interracialz.com/?webmaster
generate http://www.sharedearnings.com/_5ad6f...3fd482604239e/
on the fly, and if it is a matter of creating records you could populate your entire database with all the old webmaster new signups if their account doesnt exist.

To me it looks like you're referencing a MD5 hash to a username (webmaster) account anyways so this should be no problem.

Should have spent the money on a programmer to work with you on this. Granted it is a lot of work but you would have saved yourself a lot of angry people.

The people who provided the software could do this for you too and probably should.

This should make the above things i mentioned 1000 times easier.


As for the rest of the post, i really couldnt care as im not a 'traffic' kind of guy. This doesnt mean you can't implement what i said above, you still have the ability to get the signups back being tracked correctly. I would go for it!