Good post, Dominique. I agree 100%.
If we do nothing about this, it will happen again and again.
Remember the retroactive T&Cs fiasco from last year? If we hadn’t taken action then, where do you think we would be today? I suspect a dozen other programs would have rewritten their T&Cs to suit their needs. Commissions would have been lowered to 5%, “lifetime” players would have been stolen — you name it. Thankfully that trainwreck was turned around.
This situation is similar — it sets an important precedent, and it is extremely important that we speak up about this now. If we don’t, we’ll all be screwed in one year. As Party grows, and as they acquire additional properties, you will lose more and more of your “lifetime” players as Party simply puts them into their “house” account.
Is that what you want?
I am going to blacklist PartyPartners because of this. I strongly urge other webmasters who care about this industry to do the same. If we can hurt Party’s bottom line, they won’t be able to buy additional properties. If they can’t buy anyone else, then they can’t steal any more of our lifetime referrals.
Please take some time to help spread the bad news on player forums, on your own blacklists, etc. Trust me, it does work.