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It's funny in a discussion of ethics to end with a sidenote about how the author wasn't making any money off paid referrals from his (inflated?) positive review of the system.


I can see how you'd think that, but I thought it should be included (because it lends more to the story of how they are being shady). The way I see it, we entered into an agreement with the referral program. They didn't honor their side of it. That's unethical. As for the review itself, I made it very, very clear that my links were referral links. I also made it clear that I was benefiting from the referrals (this was true of both of the referral programs). People could choose to believe that I was being honest or choose to believe that I was a shill. No trickery involved.


I do appreciate that. It's just that I, as a rule of thumb, take reviews from stakeholders with a grain of salt.


As do I :)


Is there anything in his post that would suggest the review is inflated? The nature of their referral system [0] is that it's opt-in, not like an Amazon affiliate link, so he's certainly not hiding his interest.

[0] http://www.pskl.us/wp/?p=353


I have a question...

Doesn't this (without a disclosure) violate the FTC's new rules about endorsements/testimonials in advertising?




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