Staffing Annoyances of Affiliating

[VirusZero 176]

So when it comes to affiliates, what are some of the practices that annoy you when trying to affiliate? 

 

I'll get into things that annoy me in a bit. 

[Elena 546]

When people hide affiliates that you can't see them.

 

(Yes, I know, I might be a hypocrite because my new site which isn't open yet to the public is doing the same thing... but it doesn;t mean I like THIS at mine either. I just couldn't make my co-administrator in charge with coding and graphics to understand it, as she is more after a certain visual style, and I can't do anything in the coding and graphics realm. I can just write). 

[Kit the Human 759]

I used to hate that people put their affiliates inside their index page, rather than their footer. I'm building my new forum with the affiliates in the index though, so it won't bother me anymore. 

[Rune 1,099]

"Fill out this form with a bunch of information we don't need!"

 

You don't need my site name, link, genre, button image and the code in top if everything. Just let me drop my code and what kind of slot I want.

 

Inequality in button placement. If my buttons are on the footer, visible on every page, putting yours in a hidden spot or forum description isn't fair. I don't care if you have me at the end of a million scrolling affiliates, just make sure I'm on every page like you are.

 

Buttons breaking (I'm looking at you Photobucket) and sites not going around to provide new code. You are aware it us an issue, you have access to every link. Just drop a post. It's easy and we appreciate it, I promise.

 

I have strong opinions on this. Clearly.

[Uaithne 543]

I hate that I forget that I requested affiliation somewhere and leave people hanging. Haha.

 

Heck, I hate hunting for affiliates and having to copy and paste their code, then copy and paste my code, then go to the next site and copy and paste their code, and copy and paste my code, etc.

 

A necessary evil.

[SoulsRPG 15]

9 hours ago, SithLordOfSnark said:

I hate when a site won't affiliate with an 18+ site just because there's isn't.

 

I dunno, I can understand this.  If you're a site with minors, why would you want to link an 18+ site on your forum homepage, which your (underaged) members will be encouraged to click on and visit?  If you have minors on your site, I think it makes sense to only want to affiliate with sites that said minors can go to.

[Dragon 673]

Affiliates in general are annoying, honestly. I've never seen much evidence that they even do jack all to increase traffic on a site. Back when I included a "how did you find us" section in the initial character app I only ever had maybe 3 people say "following an aff link"; and in all the years I've role played I've never actually found and joined a site through an aff link. 

 

 

[lola_shvarek 5]

10 hours ago, SithLordOfSnark said:

I hate when a site won't affiliate with an 18+ site just because there's isn't.

 

I wouldn't feel right in affiliating with an 18+ especially if it was a sexual one. It might even be against the law to direct minors to somewhere with graphic sexual roleplay.

 

As for affiliates as a whole, I personally stick to RP directories or sites that are in the same theme as mine. It's quite difficult for me to accept many affiliates because I feel like I should know what their communities are like and if they share the same values as my own. I'm picky about endorsing people I don't know at all.

[Rune 1,099]

34 minutes ago, Dragon said:

Affiliates in general are annoying, honestly. I've never seen much evidence that they even do jack all to increase traffic on a site. Back when I included a "how did you find us" section in the initial character app I only ever had maybe 3 people say "following an aff link"; and in all the years I've role played I've never actually found and joined a site through an aff link. 

 

 

I tend to use them more to refer people to them if they can't join us. 

[Dragon 673]

9 minutes ago, Rune said:

I tend to use them more to refer people to them if they can't join us. 

 

In what way? 

[Rune 1,099]

32 minutes ago, Dragon said:

 

In what way? 

We get a lot of underage folks that want to join and can't for the obvious reason. It's proven helpful to go "There's urban fantasy boards in our affiliates you can check out!" Might help someone else get a member.

[Icewolf 258]

Affiliates that remove your site without even telling you there was a problem. I might not do it anymore because of this issue as I feel like I'm giving them free advertising and not getting anything back from it. (There is the ad board for that...) Affiliates are supposed to be more than just a link exchange and if you contact the site when there's a problem, it shows that you care about your affiliates.

[Morrigan 1,826]

I loathe when people alter my aff image in any way shape or form whether it be via CSS or manually.

 

My affiliate button was made with a purpose and I don't fucking alter yours so why do you alter mine? Because the colorful block of images at the bottom of your site is distracting? Don't have 30 affiliates then!

 

/salty

[nyx 164]

I dislike when people refuse to use the default button size most boards use.

[Uaithne 543]

2 hours ago, Dragon said:

Affiliates in general are annoying, honestly. I've never seen much evidence that they even do jack all to increase traffic on a site. Back when I included a "how did you find us" section in the initial character app I only ever had maybe 3 people say "following an aff link"; and in all the years I've role played I've never actually found and joined a site through an aff link. 

 

 

I like to click on affiliate links. It's fun, and sometimes you find yourself places that weren't available through local directories.