@casinojack 199440 wrote:
@Spearmaster – right now AGD will certify you free. Does the certification hold no weight in your eyes? You stated about checking software, due diligence on the program operators, meeting certain requirements, etc, but did not mention any guidelines. I was just putting in my 2 cents, that if a AFG said, hey this takes time, and throw us a couple hundred bucks to cover it, there is then nooen thinking they in it for the money.
With all due respect to AGD, which is a really good service, what they do is only part of a proper certification – that is to ensure that your T&Cs are fair to affiliates, and to notify whenever there is a change.
Absolutely useful stuff, don’t get me wrong. However, this is not really a certification of anything other than the fact that the T&Cs of the program are fair in the eyes of AGD.
As AGD says on the site:
* The first metric is what made AGD what it is, and is arguably its strongest selling point.
* The second metric is an indicator of sorts since it is based on payments to AGD – also useful but not really part of a standard certification process.
* The third metric is very general, and undoubtedly subject to various issues, problems, and other things that make this more of an advisory.
* The fourth metric – is not a metric. The fact that someone else is responsible for determining whether some program is rogue or not essentially carries no weight in a normal certification, despite the fact that Casinomeister is clearly an industry-leading portal and I happen to volunteer as a moderator there.
I’m not trying to determine what elements are necessary for a proper certification, but there are usually industry-standard measurements that should be used to provide a certification in any industry. This is why it’s called a certification – such as an ISO 9001 certification, for example – anything else should really be called “recommended”, “approved” or “verified”.
Frankly, I would love to see AGD’s T&C metric become part of an industry-wide standard certification. But again, with all due respect, I cannot see this being a certification on its own. And please note that the difference between Certified and Platinum Certified at AGD is “pay for placement”. In my mind this is an inaccurate way to represent a certification, though to their credit AGD actually states this clearly on their site.