MeFi Affiliate IDs?

April 24, 2005 3:58 PM

This thread gave me an idea. Could we set it up so links going to amazon or iTunes contain a MeFi affiliate id, so when visitors buy songs or books, some money could go to a MeFi general fund for hosting or sending mathowie on vacation or whatever?
posted by null terminated to feature requests at 3:58 PM (10 comments total)

The wealth shall be spread amoung the proletariat! From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! Rise up, brothers, and claim the spoils of our capitalist oppressors for the collective good.

(Yeah, sounds like not a bad idea, but I'm sure some individuals might not like their links being treated this way.)
posted by Jimbob at 4:09 PM on April 24, 2005

Then maybe a notice under the posting area, saying "Feel free to use these affiliate ids when posting" or a checkbox that, if checked, would automatically convert links.
posted by null terminated at 4:10 PM on April 24, 2005

You can use this greasemonkey script to rewrite amazon urls to include the affiliate id of your choice.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:15 PM on April 24, 2005

You can use this greasemonkey script to rewrite amazon urls to include the affiliate id of your choice.

That would only affect my links...if Mefi did it automatically, the hundreds to thousands of people clicking on the links would all have the Mefi affiliate id.
posted by null terminated at 4:16 PM on April 24, 2005

Yes, I understand that. I'm just suggesting the script as a possibility in the interim.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:29 PM on April 24, 2005

null terminated : "Then maybe a notice under the posting area, saying 'Feel free to use these affiliate ids when posting'"

I very much like this idea. Optional, and extremely easy for mathowie to implement if he were to do so.
posted by Bugbread at 4:46 PM on April 24, 2005

I've tried several things out. I've had an amazon associates ID for years now and there are only so many ways it can be used here and I found it kind of obnoxious to attach the "metafilter-20" ad code to the end of any amazon URL that shows up here...
posted by mathowie at 1:39 PM PST on February 2 [!]
posted by sciurus at 5:58 PM on April 24, 2005

Um, that greasemonkey script un-edited simply rewrites amazon affiliates to "wwwpalitoycom" so be sure to edit the script before installing.
posted by shoepal at 6:29 PM on April 24, 2005

sciurus (quoting mathowie) writes "I found it kind of obnoxious to attach the 'metafilter-20' ad code to the end of any amazon URL that shows up here..."

Granted, to do it automatically might be obnoxious, but to make it an option certainly makes a lot of sense to me.
posted by LairBob at 7:15 PM on April 24, 2005

If anyone wants to just install the script without editing, it's available here configured using the metafilter-20 code. (which I hope is correct)
posted by shoepal at 9:39 PM on April 24, 2005