[Wikipedia-l] Re: [associates at amazon.com: Amazon.com Associates program - your application approved]

Tue Jan 20 21:21:09 UTC 2004

Karl Eichwalder wrote:
> I should have stopped working on WP articles much earlier (as soon as I
> discovered the ISBN links to the external booksellers). 

Yes, because the very act of selling books is sufficiently evil that
you should disassociate yourself with anyone even remotely tainted by
it.  As soon as you discovered that Wikipedia actually links to people
who engage in such nasty business, you should have denounced us and
left immediately.

Is that really what you're saying?

Look, I appreciate that there are many very real concerns that can and
should be raised here.  But to storm off in response to a short term
test designed to give us information is insulting to our intelligence.

As for me, I fully expect that the net result of the experiment will
be to prove, once and for all, that Amazon links would provide us with
very little revenue so that it's not worth discussing this any more.

That's what the test is designed to show.  Your acting like it's some
kind of crime against humanity is not helpful.

It occurs to me that the current state of affairs -- linking to
Amazon, but doing so for free -- ought to be the *least* satisfactory
to those who hate Amazon.  They get the business, and they get to keep
all the money.  Doing exactly what we're doing now, but including an
associates link, will reduce their income, not increase it, at least
relative to the status quo.

--Jimbo