[Scspamcop] Re: Affiliate link spammers

[Mike Easter]

Kenneth Brody wrote:

> Most (if not all) of us here agree never to buy anything from a
> spammer.

IMO that is a very important pledge, and it especially applies to
mainsleaze.  Pledging to not buy something which you are not interested
in nor have any use for or is not a good deal marketeed by a mainstream
company isn't a very important pledge.  Pledging to not buy something
that you are 'shopping for' or interested in from a company which is
included on your shopping list is a pledge of much greater significance.

> However, I occasionally get spam with affiliate links
> to "legitimate" companies, some of which have products that
> sound like I might be interested in.

That's what I call mainsleaze.  That is spam from a major company.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble and such have been guilty of such practices in
the past.

> (At least enough to look
> into them further.)  The spam gets reported through the usual
> channels, and if I have time, I will search for the proper
> place to report the affiliate abuse.

You could also include a genuine snailmail letter to the mainstream
company advising them that you were previously shopping for some
particular product that they make, but then you got the affiliate spam
and you took their company's product off your list of consideration.
They should know that affiliate spam costs them sales instead of just
improving their sales.

> However, what do you do about the original company?  If they
> are legitimate, and have a product that you might buy had you
> run across them through other means, would you do business
> with them?

I would tell them that I would not consider doing business with them.
If you just email a company, it will be disregarded.  If you are a
person with experience in writing snailmail to companies, you are
probably already aware of the fact that they consider a single snailmail
to be a very very important voice that deserves followup.

A friend of mine who snails and telephone calls various product opinions
or company policies and such finds himself involved in conversations
with high level company brass on a regular basis.

If you mail your 'opinion' and rejection of mainsleaze company
promotions by affiliates, it will likely be a deterrent.  Tell them you
will never buy a product from a company which has policies which
encourage affiliates to try to profit by spamming for the company which
doesn't itself engage *directly* in spamming.

The affiliate is profitting from mainsleaze product spamming and the
mainsleaze company is running their promotional or marketing programs or
'partnerships' in such a way that it *causes* affiliates to spam because
the mainsleaze company is looking the other way while the affiliates
spam.  Or the affiliates of 'sub-companies' which are 'hired' by the
mainsleaze to perform marketing functions.

-- 
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin