Links on the forum automatically converted to affiliate links to participating retailers

[LinusTech]

This article is a good read. How would the community feel about us enabling something like this? 

 

The forum has recently become more expensive to maintain with some of the defensive solutions we've had to implement, and of course any additional revenue for Linus Media Group keeps us all fed and happy in the long term as well.

 

It looks like the main affiliate aggregators are skimlinks and viglinks. Here's a basic description of what they do (they are basically the same): 

 

http://smartadsensealternatives.com/skimlinks-review-2013/

 

PLEASE DO NOT VOTE ON THE POLL UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE LINK ABOVE

[DalekDoc]

Are you considering only skimlinks which from what i understand only redirects urls or skimwords as well which turns product mentions into link..?

I'm asking because to be honest, the latter sounds a little annoying.. but hey if it helps you hire more people so you can do more unboxings and hopefully more than unboxings as well grow less reliant on sponsor money.. I'm all for it..

 

Edit: You should open a Tip Jar as you're planning out further monetization.. it's completely optional and unobtrusive and i'm sure many people would love to contribute.

[iruixos]

If it helps generate money for the site, and isn't annoying on the user's end then I say go for it.

[TicTac]

If it helps generate money for the site, and isn't annoying on the user's end then I say go for it.

What he said!

[Mysticode]

As long as you don't use the skimwords feature of skimlinks, I don't see the harm.

[XiaoPigs]

I'll support as long as it helps out the forum. Just make sure it doesn't like interfere too much with the forum and it'll be all good.

 

I almost won't mind if you added some sort of donation button. There are plenty of us out there who I think would be willing to donate like a dollar or maybe even more for you guys :)

[LinusTech]

Are you considering only skimlinks which from what i understand only redirects urls or skimwords as well which turns product mentions into link..?

I'm asking because to be honest, the latter sounds a little annoying.. but hey if it helps you hire more people so you can do more unboxings and hopefully more than unboxings as well grow less reliant on sponsor money.. I'm all for it..

 

Edit: You should open a Tip Jar as you're planning out further monetization.. it's completely optional and unobtrusive and i'm sure many people would love to contribute.

 

I am considering Skimlinks and Viglinks right now because they seem to be the largest/most reputable ones at the moment. I still haven't done a ton of research

 

I don't think we will stop taking money from sponsors on the video side in the foreseeable future. Right now that's a HUGE part of the revenue for Linus Media Group. Without sponsorships we'd have shut down a couple months ago. 

 

With that said, more money enables us to buy equipment we need (just spent $2500 on some stuff we need for Computex coverage), add more staff, and expand our operation in general.

 

It appears that with those services there is some user-configuration that might allow you to control just out intrusive it is, but I haven't been in the control panels for either of them at any point, so I can't comment on how it would work. Personally automatic hyperlinks with little pop ups always drove me crazy when I was reading, so I don't really want to do it, but want to see how others feel.

[SuBw00FeR]

I'd honestly rather this than having ads all over the place. It's a simple fact that they need money to keep everything running, this is WAY less obtrusive than ads all over the place. If i'm gonna click a link and buy the product anyways, why not make it give you some money?

[gliliumho]

It appears that with those services there is some user-configuration that might allow you to control just out intrusive it is, but I haven't been in the control panels for either of them at any point, so I can't comment on how it would work. Personally automatic hyperlinks with little pop ups always drove me crazy when I was reading, so I don't really want to do it, but want to see how others feel.

 

Perhaps Slick can comment further on this.

[joelthezombie15]

I guess I'm not understanding are you asking if we mind ads on the forum?

[Commissar]

you could start a bitcoing pool..... works for... certain other poeple.... just avoid btcguild... they have a 30 worker limit, and we managed to register 494 workers... and their ssl is shoddy... and their admin is an asshole. "hey, want to add like 3 ghash/sec to your pool?" response- "no, gtfo"

that said, i'm assuming it's something like ad.fly, but you would make sure it's safe. have you tried adsense ads on the page?

[LinusTech]

I haven't discussed this with Slick yet in any kind of depth so I don't know if he'll have much more insight than I already do, but rest assured we will do a slow roll out if we decide to go this route.

[GreenToxon]

I think the ads when hovering over words is pretty annoying. But I love your videos and because of them the forums as well. I use Adblock on Google Chrome, as do a lot of others, so I wouldn't see the hyperlinks/popups or ads around the sides etc etc. But the thing is, I would still want to help out the forums and I wouldn't mind donating money for the forums.

 

What I'm getting at is, sure I wouldn't mind the skimlinks because they wouldn't affect me but I still want to help the LMG and donating is a better alternative to me. (So adding a tip jar apart from the ads)

[Talsyrius]

Not really too keen on the automated link thing, but as far as ads goes I assume that those who find them annoying can just use an adblocker.

[LinusTech]

I guess I'm not understanding are you asking if we mind ads on the forum?

 

It's not the same as ads. It's basically going to convert links to products into affiliate links automatically. If I understand it correctly it also has other features that will insert "where to buy" links for products that are already being discussed in a particular thread.

[Raj8396]

This sounds great every time i see a product reference i can just hover over it to find how much it costs and stuff, would be really cool for buildlogs.

[Commissar]

I think the ads when hovering over words is pretty annoying. But I love your videos and because of them the forums as well. I use Adblock on Google Chrome, as do a lot of others, so I wouldn't see the hyperlinks/popups or ads around the sides etc etc. But the thing is, I would still want to help out the forums and I wouldn't mind donating money for the forums.

 

What I'm getting at is, sure I wouldn't mind the skimlinks because they wouldn't affect me but I still want to help the LMG and donating is a better alternative to me. (So adding a tip jar apart from the ads)

trust me, if you ask nicely, people will disable adblock for your site. just look at teksyndicate; he asks nicely, and lostsa people whitelist his site. I do.

[EYCEthebest003]

Is there any sort of binding agreement to this or would you be able to back out of it any time you wanted, say, If the links were to become obstructive. Also do you know of any forum currently running this so that we could see how it would look?

The way it is described as a whole, it seems like a good idea to me and as long as it isn't a huge hindrance I am all for it!

[culpaFX]

A fairly good idea :) Linus, Slick and the Mods do so much for us whether it be the forums or on youtube, if you need to put ads on this site just so you can feed yourself at the end of the day then that's fine by me :)

[IceSanity]

I almost encourage ads on websites because to be frank, Its not really harming me in any way but providing money to the provider of the website. 

I do however never look nor click an ad for the life of me...which would be the same case for this hyperlinking.

I think that this method of monetizing will bare little revenue due to the fact that majority of users here will carefully plan buying equipment. This is a tech. forum, we all plan before we start buying parts for our pc's. This hyperlinking method imo is aim'd towards impulsive buyers. Not only that, wouldn't the normal consumer want to choose their desired outlet to purchase their goods? I'm Canadian and if this hyperlink ad sends me to an USA only website...well your not getting any revenue. 

I also think this can be quiet harmful to what LinusTechTips is really doing to the tech world. From my understanding, the business you guys are in is to Inform consumers of products before they purchase them (it's also marketing), thus resulting that you guys raise awareness of products. If a hyperlink sends forum users to crappy products that they buy and they find out it sucks. Who is to blame? They will blame the "website" that sent them to buy said item (even if they may be blind to the fact it was an ad).

Just my 2 cents on this topic. Go for ads rather than hyperlinking "words" written in some dude's post.

[Godlygamer23]

If Linus goes the ad route, I'd disable adblock plus on here. So he gets the maximum revenue possible.

[joelthezombie15]

It's not the same as ads. It's basically going to convert links to products into affiliate links automatically. If I understand it correctly it also has other features that will insert "where to buy" links for products that are already being discussed in a particular thread.

Okay if im understanding fully that sounds cool

[foxhound590]

If it helps generate money for the site, and isn't annoying on the user's end then I say go for it.

What he said.

tho if posable do a trial run for a week or 2 and see how it turns out.

[giantdad]

Eh.. I don't really like it.

 

Thing is everytime I see a link I think it will be a review or a video from you on the product. And then boom..it's ads.

 

I would endure it though if it's not going to be as intrusive as thoughs sites where they highlight every keyword and when you mouse over a baloon appear. God those are annoying.

[Peopie]

I'm not really sure what an affiliate link is, but if they are changing a link to something else, where will the original link go?