skimlinks at Metafilter?

February 21, 2012 9:36 AM

skimlinks?

I didn't find "skimlinks' with the search tool; where can I read more?
I started looking after reading this:

"How Pinterest modifies its users’ links.
... Pinterest is able to do this across their site by using the service skimlinks. This service is rather innovative in that they automatically go through a site and add affiliate links wherever there is a link to a product that has an affiliate program associated with it. While many forums, smaller web sites and even Metafilter have taken advantage of the service, ...."

http://llsocial.com/2012/02/pinterest-modifying-user-submitted-pins/

posted by hank to MetaFilter-Related at 9:36 AM (13 comments total)

Person is wrong, we don't use any outside service, we code our amazon redirects ourselves.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:37 AM on February 21, 2012 [7 favorites]

It pretty much taking certain URLs, often pointing to Amazon or other e-commerce sites, and rewriting them so that they contain your affiliate id. When the user clicks on one of these links and makes a purchase at the e-commerce site, the original site gets a small sum of money.

If you're interested in the programming aspect of this, here how it's done.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:53 AM on February 21, 2012

Yeah, I'm not opposed to the idea of doing more affiliate things, I'd like to branch out from relying on Google too much for site revenue, but I wouldn't do it secretly. I have no problem in Pinterest coming up with ways to pay for their service either.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:56 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

We also have a faq entry about it. Pinterest got in a bit of hot water for not disclosing it ahead of time.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:00 AM on February 21, 2012

Matt documented the logic behind it a couple of years ago, and that resulted in one of the most useful Wordpress plugins ever (by mefi's own fishfucker).
posted by jbickers at 10:13 AM on February 21, 2012 [4 favorites]

I just drooled a little bit, but that plugin hasn't been updated since...a long time ago...so there's little hope it works now. Any idea?
posted by TomMelee at 12:27 PM on February 21, 2012

I fail to see why this has been a problem with Pinterest. (Caveat: I don't use the site.) If you're pinning something, you weren't going to get any cut of the seller's profit anyway, so what do you care if the free service you're using (Pinterest) is making affiliate money?

On mefi, if I linked to a site where I'd get a cut of whatever was sold, the post would be deleted and I'd be sternly warned if not banned. So I'm not losing anything by mefi being able to take that money.
posted by desjardins at 12:32 PM on February 21, 2012

TomMelee, works just fine on all of my sites.
posted by jbickers at 12:56 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you're pinning something, you weren't going to get any cut of the seller's profit anyway,

On Pinterest, you might well be pinning things from your own website or a friend's, so this logic doesn't necessarily stand up. Works just fine for Metafilter, of course. I also don't have any problem with either Pinterest or Metafilter changing the affiliate links. The issue with Pinterest, for those who were outraged, was that they hadn't disclosed that they would be doing this.
posted by bardophile at 9:40 PM on February 21, 2012

Is Pinterest like Linsanity?
posted by fuq at 5:59 AM on February 22, 2012

wholelinks.
posted by mullacc at 6:41 AM on February 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is Pinterest like Linsanity?

They both have a high turnover:assist ratio, yes.
posted by Mister_A at 9:05 AM on February 22, 2012 [3 favorites]

Has the "Linterest" mashup been made yet?
posted by garlic at 1:22 PM on February 22, 2012