I have an idea that may create a (small) revenue stream for LW/SIAI. There are a lot of book recommendations, with links to amazon, going around in LW, and many of them do not use an affiliate code. Having a script add a LessWrong affiliate code to those links that don’t already have one may lead to some income, especially given that affiliate codes persist and may get credited for unrelated purchases later in the day.
I believe Posterous did this, and there was a minor PR hubbub about it, but the main issue was that they did not communicate the change properly (or at all). Also, given that LW/SIAI are not-for-profit endeavours, this is much easier to swallow. In fact, if it can be done in an easy-to-implement way, I think quite a few members with popular blogs may be tempted to apply this modification to their own blogs.
I have an idea that may create a (small) revenue stream for LW/SIAI. There are a lot of book recommendations, with links to amazon, going around in LW, and many of them do not use an affiliate code. Having a script add a LessWrong affiliate code to those links that don’t already have one may lead to some income, especially given that affiliate codes persist and may get credited for unrelated purchases later in the day.
I believe Posterous did this, and there was a minor PR hubbub about it, but the main issue was that they did not communicate the change properly (or at all). Also, given that LW/SIAI are not-for-profit endeavours, this is much easier to swallow. In fact, if it can be done in an easy-to-implement way, I think quite a few members with popular blogs may be tempted to apply this modification to their own blogs.
Does this sound viable?
Yes, under two conditions:
It is announced in advance and properly implemented.
It does not delete other affiliate codes if links are posted with affiliate codes.
Breaking both these rules is one of the many things which Livejournal has done wrong in the last few years, which is why I mention them.