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I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)

I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)

I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)

I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)

I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)

I recently answered a question, and included a (fully disclosed) affiliate link in my answer. Prior to doing so, I checked the FAQ here, and found nothing, so I checked the main SO FAQ, and found a section basically saying to be careful because that can be frowned upon, but that it is OK if the links are disclosed.

Not surprisingly, I got downvotes (and later a couple of upvotes for the disclosure), and someone commented with a link to this thread on meta. I will be very candid and say that I don't like Robert's answer. Not because I want to be able to post affiliate links and profit from this site (greedy capitalist pig that I am), but because it is such a broad statement leaving no room for us to discuss how our community should work. Furthermore, the question linked to only referred to Amazon affiliate codes, which are auto-changed to the SO affiliate code anyway.

Because my comment on Robert's answer hasn't been noticed (as it shouldn't be, on an old question with an accepted answer), I'd like to bring the issue up for discussion here.

Are there any cases in which affiliate links will be considered appropriate in this community?

(again, for me this is not about my answer getting downvotes - it's about us as a community deciding how we want things to work here, and purposefully considering the issue and how we want to handle it)