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@peter, you’re the boss, but I thought posting affiliate links was against the community rules?
The rules against posting affiliate links apply to those using the site. It’s pretty common in various reddit, Facebook and other groups to have that policy and the group owner can post affiliate links to compensate them for their time. In the case of LinkedMusicians, those affiliate links are the only method I have to get some help funding the site. So far, my first year costs for the site are around $1,700 US. I’d be lucky if the affiliate links bring in $20 US per month at our community’s present volume.
For you or anyone that doesn’t want to use them (they don’t change the price you pay), you can strip out the code at the end after the ? or #. Affiliate codes often use the letters “aid” for affiliate ID, if you’re looking to remove it.
As far as people using the site posting affiliate links for their own profit, its not the same thing. They didn’t put more than 3,000 hours and $1,700 into the site. This isn’t going to break even. I’m just looking to hopefully get to that point within the next couple of years. A few people have asked about helping with the costs of the site and I will put up a contribution page in the future. Consider that Cakewalk Forums is support and marketing for a business. VI-CONTROL generates 6 figures of revenue from developers from their pay to play model and advertising. KVR easily makes over $1 million per year. This site’s model is not going to be a money maker like those communities, and we’re unlikely to get that volume of traffic any time soon. I’m committed to making this the best community to research plugins and libraries and not have the manipulation that goes on at say VI-CONTROL (most users don’t have any idea, but they are aware of the toxic culture). Anyhow, my tendinitis is killing me. I’ll be happy to answer any questions. Just ask. And never hesitate to be candid.
Your friend who keeps the beat. I suppose I'm also the chef at this place.