I have an idea.
 

I hate sponsors who shave. We all do.

Hard to prove and even harder to do anything about it. We all know it exists.

Here is my proposal.

I would like to get together 15 or 20 of you with credit cards who have zero association with any webmaster program.

Each week we would target a sponsor, and over the course of 4 or 5 days, each of us would sign up for trials to that sponsor via a fpa on a url only known to those of us taking part. And of course each week that url and domain associated with it would change. At the end I would just tell the sponsor to keep the money and I would personally reimburse each of you for the trial amount.

And then publish the results.

It is certainly information I could use, and you could use.

Sponsors will obviously be vocal about it, but who gives a fuck what they like and dont like. If they have nothing to worry about they will shut up and take the free good publicity once it is published.

Anyone intersted in taking part?

Start the complaining.

I'm in...ICQ me. Fa' sho.

I never really cared much about shaving until I sent a certain sponsor like 300 hits to a join page, they tracked ZERO but credited me with one sign up.

When I contacted customer service the chick there tried to tell me I was crazy, because 'no one else is complaining'

HELLO? Zero clicks counted and a sign up? SOMETHING IS OBVIOUSLY WRONG...der.

i just hate being played for a fool...

Intresting, just like when the police send fake hookers out on the street to bust people buying sex. :thumbsup

how in the hell are you going to find folks who aren't associated with "any" webmaster program on here?

I push ebony traffic and that is only with clickmemedia so I can help with any other sponsor program.

my icq is 120838664

I'll do it, bitch.

By associated I mean work for and or run, or are close friends of people who run and or work for.

We're gonna need a hitbot as a control or something, cos as soon as a sponsor sees a 1:2 join ratio for an FPA they're gonna do soemthing ...

But I still like the idea.

I'm in
ICQ me: 150708824

Hey, im game. However I do run some webmaster programs if thats ok. ICQ: 92837597

Great idea. I'm in.

Very true.

I'd be willing to give it a shot ICQ me 41687856

see the problem is that you would probably be blamed for cheating, when confronting the sponsor,
so make sure you contact them and tell them it was a test signup.

Probably should be organizing this privately...

This is a grate idea.
I hope it does not die before it even starts.

Yeah...good point. My ICQ is in my profile...

Perfect test run for my security tool "hitbot". FreeBSD
based one I was talking about 2 weeks ago.

Send me an email tim@iamlazy[remove].com, we'll put a couple
hundred random timed proxies on em a day.

Of course you would be blamed for cheating. There would be no other way to do a test like this without violating their TOS. Thats why I said at the end I would just notify them and tell them to keep the money. All of the information used to sign up to the program would be bullshit anyhow. Or I could just do it in the name of a charity somewhere and let them receive the check.

What sponsor is gonna kill a check for the kids in the burn unit at St. Judes? Something not so blatant though. Piss ant charities with PO Boxes would work well.

147479144.

most sponsors welcome test signups,
as long as you remove the sale afterward..

thats what i meant.. if you do a test and you get the credit
mkle sure you remove the sale

Alright, from this point on, if you are intersted, drop me an email at [email protected]

I know its a fucked up email, but it works nonetheless.

Ill try and shoot you all an email or icq as soon as I can.

Check your ICQ messages... I'm there.

Great idea [Labret], I'd been thinking similar these past few weeks. It'll sure be interesting to see the published results.

Not on machine with my icq, but will be shohahahay.

"its a fix!"

"labret took bribes!"

"i don't believe these results!"

can't wait for the fuckin' crybabies to start... :321GFY but hey, crybabies don't like it then they don't have to use it. ungreatful fags.

yeah, it would be interesting to see the results

hmmm this test might work if sponsor shave on a flat percentage... but i got a feeling that it isnt as simple as that...

if i was to write a shaving mechanism i would do it so that the affiliates whose traffic converts least from trial to full membership get shaved the most... which would have the effect of weeding out the unproductive affilate yet retain the ones who make the sponsor money.

so if none of your trials convert to full membership you may find that u get i higher shave applied, if your test period is too short then the shave mechanism wouldnt have time to come into full effect, also if every trial converts to full membership you might not get shaved at all....

anyway just a hypothesis that im throwing out there for your consideration

True, true the shave-o-matic is a complex and elusive beast...

The test wont last longer than a week.

If they say affiliates get 35$ per trial, then they should be paying 35$ per trial. The shavers will be outed regardless.

I am Game and got a Credit Card LOL

ICQ 18314311

thatta be fun he he

:Graucho

damn straight... i agree with u 100%... just playing a little devils advocate for you :)

Ok labret, what guarantees do i have that i'll get my $2.95 back from you? Thats over 4K Canadian!

If he doesn't pay up I'll give you my cock. One hour per trial. Sound good?

I think you would need to do a large number of signups to be able to gauge if the sponsor was shaving or not.

For example: A sponsor might have a shave script that shaves 1 out of every 50 sales, but if your test only does 30 test sign-ups and they all show up, it doesn't mean that the sponsor isn't shaving. It just means you didn't do enough sign-ups to get shaved.

Just a thought

this is a fucking good ideea... :thumbsup
lets see the true...

Can't wait for the results. I'd wager money on the list of usual suspects. Interesting that certain programs range from 1:200 one week and 0:5000 the next. Or some programs that "suddenly" add sales days and, based on a post here, weeks after the sale supposed happened. Not to mention funky traffic and sign up stat recording.

Hey Labret thats a fuckin great Idea :thumbsup
I can't wait to see the results from this thing

Twenty guys here have credit cards?

shemp

yes why wouldent they

Awesome idea.

Can't wait to see the results.

Killer.

I think the hard part is going to be keeping the info from the sponsors...... it only takes one person to tip off the sponsor that a test is underway.

Will you do the site design? :Graucho

I'll be shooting you an icq once I get on.

Very true. I have received a shitload of responses so far, but I am only going to go with those that I know are just Joe Schmo live off their signups webmasters that I recognize from the board.

And if they do get tipped off, and they kill it mid process. Those results will be posted as well. A sponsor scared to be tested is one that you should worry about.

That being said, have about 15 people who say they are definitely interested that I would like to go with, but if more want to participate, the better.

True. Very true.

I wouldn't be surprised to see conversions "suddenly" rise in anticipation or fear of the test. LOL.

If any sponsor finds out which affiliate account you're using, then the test will be useless. If they guess that it's one of the people involved in the test, maybe they'll turn off the shave on all the people doing the test. You still win.

It also may be a good idea to not post the results until the entire test of all sponsors is complete. That way one can't tell the other to be on the lookout for certain IP numbers or names.

Should be intresting, I like the time i had rebills showing up but never had any sales on a new sponsor i used once. :winkwink:

Extending your point, maybe the fear of shave tests will force the guys who do shave to stop. In essence, a "prisoners dillemma" is created because they do not know when a test is going on and who stopped their shave o matic. This will just be good for the industry in general--less bullshit.

sounds like a good Idea

Just remember to use us in the test.
www.freefreeprogram.com does not shave
Like I always say put me to the test.

We never shave joins but we do count second page hits.
as soon as you click on anything off the home page then we
count the hit.

I'm curious to see what happens if you guys pull this test off:thumbsup