The secret is out and it's not pretty

[altivo]

Apparently LiveJournal has been using custom JavaScript code to modify some links on user pages dynamically when they are clicked. The action replaces the "affiliate ID" value in the link with another value. This doesn't affect all such links, but only those on a specific list of providers, including, apparently Amazon and EBay. The intent of this

Comments

[cabcat]

I call schenadigans on this...I better get my broom. (if you don't watch southpark you won't get this reference)

[altivo]

You're right. I don't. But that doesn't matter. ;p

[quoting_mungo]

The code was supposed to be pulled last night, according to Martha or whatever the name of that occassionally-actually-helpful staffer is. The intended behavior far as anyone has been able to tell (that I've seen) was not to replace users' affiliate IDs, but to add an affiliate ID to links that didn't already have them

[altivo]

My issue with that brief response is that this is the sort of thing that should be stated up front in the terms of service and announced as a change so that all users are aware of it. Instead they just slipped it in there and hoped/believed that no one would notice. If they intended to reap income from unaffiliated links, they should say so. I for one would have avoided posting links to Amazon for that reason, because I do NOT want to give LJ money if I can avoid it. They've already alienated me to a great extent with their past behavior, both under SA and under SUP management.

All's well that ends, period.

[gabrielhorse]

My only thought is, "every trick in the book..."

Also, sorry to here your LJ is now RIP- six years is a long time to put up with crap you don't like, so I geuss you could say you stuck it out there. But, then again, I've always said life is like that- one minute people follow each other's lives, the next you find yourself asking, "whatever happened to so & so?", and so it goes...

Re: All's well that ends, period.

[ext_227120]

Actually the journal is not dead, it just moved, comments and all, to altivo.dreamwidth.org.

You can still read it from your LJ account if you add altivo_dw_feed as a friend. To reply so I can read it, you need to click on the Dreamwidth link at the top of the journal entry, and leave your response over there. You can log in using OpenID to do that as long as you're logged in at LJ.

Re: All's well that ends, period.

[gabrielhorse]

I see... still seems like RIP though ^_^ I may stop by from time to time, but I wouldn't expect much from me if I were you... Life seems to be taking me in a different direction these days...