@AussieDave 248766 wrote:
I don’t want to harp on about this or turn this into another CR/RA thread.
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Accountability like integrity is thrown about a lot. Both are MIA in our industry.
I think that last sentence really sums up the last 3-4 years in this industry very well! As you outlined in the OP 10-12 years ago we enjoyed a much closer community where affiliates were genuinely interested in helping and learning from one another vs. cutting each other’s throats – being forgetful and flat out telling lies that whether intentional or not DO hurt others directly!
Certainly back then there were some who preferred the latter; for example prophet who loaded dozens of cookies from his sites pages to steal others referrals, but the majority of the community stuck together to speak out against such injustices and the programs paid attention – enough to change the way they configured their cookies!
That environment was much more conducive to affiliate friendly programs vs. organization/association friendly programs which paid more attention to the operators of the sites where the affiliates gathered. Once those sites started placing more emphasis on making money for themselves vs. fostering communities for affiliates to gather, the entire gambling affiliate industry changed.
With the community based sites rushing to fill their pockets as full as possible, the programs quickly realized it was going to be much more difficult to compete with the 100 other programs for the exposure they once gained simply by offering a quality product/service to the individual members of the communities.
Grand Prive, Be Winners, Best Casino Partner, Wager Profits, Vegas Affiliates, Casino Coins, Casino Rewards, Brightshare, the list goes on and on – many thought at one time to be the best of the best, have now gone west – the wild west that is! They all are fully aware of the fact that there is very little any one affiliate can do to affect change so they strive forward beyond what once were commonly accepted boundaries of operation! Pushing the envelope of poor service, lying, cheating and stealing knowing that if and when need be, the community sites would have their backs in almost every instance and that the individual’s voice could and would be silenced.
At this point, sadly I agree with Inspiration and surrender nothing is going to change in those regards – as long as these sites place more emphasis on making money, we will never again have the legitimate community we once had; least not without total overhauls and clearly that is no longer in the best interest of the sites so it won’t happen!
Personally as I have stated elsewhere I am fed up as a person can get with regards to liars and cheaters and though I have always been outspoken against that crowd and at one time thought a unified front was the way to go and truly believed we would get there, the last 3-4 years have led me to the realization that things are simply not going to change! Seemingly haven been transitioned into the ‘new’ old west I can see only a few remaining options! Truly if that’s the unlevel playing field we are now forced to play on – I say arm yourself to the gill – it’s going to get a whole lot more bumpy before this wagon ride is over!