Affiliate Links Disclosure

Discussions center on the use of undisclosed affiliate links in Hacker News submissions, including calls for transparency, policy concerns, criticisms of hidden referrals, and suggestions to add or disclose them for monetization.

📉 Falling 0.4x Startups & Business
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#2812
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Keywords

UGC xdesk.com YC OP IMO HN wpcommission.com referralfees.html WRT amazon.com affiliate affiliate links links amazon link referral linking ads product charity

Sample Comments

petecooper Jul 5, 2016 View on HN

Constructive suggestion: make a note of which URLs are affiliate links, or have a referral/affiliate disclaimer on the article.

ylem Feb 1, 2013 View on HN

Maybe get an affiliate link to help support the site?

jtsiskin Dec 14, 2018 View on HN

Why not make the Amazon links affiliate links? I don't think anyone would mind

packetslave Feb 3, 2024 View on HN

Posting an affiliate link is frowned upon, btw.

rebuilder Jul 30, 2018 View on HN

The article is just a host for affiliate links.

BobaFloutist Sep 4, 2025 View on HN

Affiliate links are literally ads

Gooblebrai Dec 25, 2022 View on HN

It would have been nice to disclose that your link is an affiliate link.

CodeMage May 15, 2011 View on HN

This looks like an affiliate link. If it is, couldn't you have disclosed it?

MJR Dec 28, 2010 View on HN

That article is Amazon affiliate hotlink heaven. All items mentioned are Amazon links with referral code hidden behind a domain redirect. I initially expected to get another article on the item I clicked on. But the links serve no purpose than to make some money off referrals.

boatsie Feb 10, 2021 View on HN

Presumably they use affiliate links.