MySpace Spam Bulletin Techniques? Against TOS?

Discussion in 'Affiliate Programs' started by natekapi, Dec 15, 2006.

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  1. #1
    I was checking out some MySpace spam bulletins recently (ringtone ones) and noticed something kinda tricky. Instead of linking directly to their affiliate URL they are doing something like this for their URL:

    www.google.com/url?q=http://ipods.freencome.com/

    Which your browser recognizes as:

    www.google.com/url?q=http://pods.freеncome.com/

    First off, why are they using Google to redirect to their affiliate link? Is it so that MySpace won't detect the affiliate URL? Or is it so their ad affiliate won't detect that the traffic is coming from MySpace? Also, whats up with the URL encoding? That's and old school trick that phishers used to use right there, but I'm not really sure why it's of any use to these people in this situation.

    Also, this brings me to my last question. Is it against the TOS of Affiliate Programs to do this kind of stuff? I mean posting MySpace bulletins like this. I've been using CJ lately so I'm wondering if this is legit or if I would get in trouble. What about Azoogle and other Affiliate Programs? Are the TOS alike with these two companies?

    Sorry if this is kind of a long post but I think this is an interesting topic since we all know how well MySpace can work for promotion.
     
    natekapi, Dec 15, 2006 IP
  2. ltwo

    ltwo Peon

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    #2
    Myspace will filter out urls, thats why they use redirects. Encoding urls does exactly that, encode, to help against filters and hiding affiliate ids from being reported.

    Some programs have zero tollerance for spam, including bulletins from myspace, that could be one of the reasons. The best way to know if they are okay with using myspace promotion would be to call them or email. :)
     
    ltwo, Dec 15, 2006 IP
  3. natekapi

    natekapi Peon

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    #3
    OK. So is it really bad if you don't encode your URL?

    I'm guessing that quite a few people here probably do this whether it's against the TOS or not...it seems like a grey area.

    Oh and one other thing....what about using other sites besides MySpace to post your affiliate URL's to? Like say, Craigslist...
     
    natekapi, Dec 15, 2006 IP
  4. john269

    john269 Notable Member

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    #4
    The best thing is to not do spamming at all. If you have a site and you spam it on others, then when your site get's spammed you don't like it. That's how I see things.

    But then again, it is up to you what you want to do.
     
    john269, Dec 15, 2006 IP
  5. natekapi

    natekapi Peon

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    #5
    I would consider excessive MySpace bulletins spam, but I'm not really sure I would consider a niche relative bulletin post with some relative news/info and an affiliate link spam. Is Craigslist posting really considered spam too by affiliate programs??
     
    natekapi, Dec 15, 2006 IP
  6. htmlindex

    htmlindex Prominent Member

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    #6
    htmlindex, Dec 17, 2006 IP
  7. Seiya

    Seiya Peon

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    #7
    Thats sneaky, google should stop letting people use that url query :x
     
    Seiya, Dec 17, 2006 IP