Hello from Garrett French of ToolCrib.com

Vaughn,

Sorry, my previous post was way too critical of Garrett. Looking back at it now, it is a blatant flame. So I’ve removed it. Its true that Mr. French has been very up front. In some of his original posts, he states that he will steer his customer to FWF for comments / questions on a product. But I have my doubts that he still does that. Some FWF comments recommend products that he does not carry, or deals that he cannot match.

Just a thought; can FWF apply for the Amazon Affiliate program?

There are already 85 threads and 163 posts that mention Amazon after just a few months online. In fact, posts on FWF probably already have links to all the major tool vendors.

FWF expenses could be offset by just getting paid for the hits, let alone a commission on the sales it generates.

I'm not suggesting adding a permanent link at the top of every page. Worst case, just one page with preferred vendors on the Hot Deals forum. But preferably, no permanent links.

Unfortunately, there are traffic trackers that can follow individual posters comments and links on any forum. As we click, some of our own members may be getting paid because of links in their FWF posts. It must happen on SMC all the time. I believe that is what Bill Pentz was alluding to in one of his posts on SMC. In fact, it is possible to get paid even without adding a link to your post, just mention the company name.

I know it sucks, but if FWF does not benefit, someone else will.

If I knew it would benefit the forum, I would go through an FWF Hot Deals web page to get to Amazon. I'm sure Mark's Hot Deal links alone have generated thousands of dollars in sales for Amazon. Note that I am not suggesting Mark is getting any kickback. I appreciate his heads-up posts.

Anyway, its just a wild thought.
J

Apology accepted, Jay. We all have nights like that.

You raise some interesting points about setting up affiliate status with one or more vendors. I suspect it would (or will) be a hotly-debated idea, with valid arguments on both sides. I also wonder how it might affect our non-profit status. (That might be the dealbreaker.)

The Amazon bookmark in my browser is set up to point to an affiliate link that's tied into an Internet radio station I listen to -- www.radioparadise.com -- so they get a little bit of money whenever I order via the link. It's my way of helping support the station. Seems it could be a pretty painless way to raise funds for this place, if like I said, we could remain non-profit.

As far as forum members who are steathily posting links (or even product mentions) for which they get compensation, I don't know that there's any way to detect all of that type of thing. On the other hand, I'm not sure it harms Family Woodworking when it happens. If someone's an obvious shill, it's usually pretty apparent, and folks soon learn to take that person's postings with a grain of salt. There are, of course, several product representatives that are members here, but they make that point known, and they also offer useful info and advice regarding their products. They also participate in threads that have nothing to do with their products. We welcome folks like that.

I don't want to sound like I'm passing the buck here, but these seem like the kind of things that can and should be discussed once we have a more of a formal elected committee running the forum. I know that one of the founding premises of this forum was that it be a non-commercial site, but another premise was that it be member-run, so if the membership agreed to the idea of becoming an affiliate, then it would happen.

i`m dead set against linking the forum to any vendors/manufacturers, either directly or indirectly! the costs to keep us online are small and i see no reason we would want to place ourselves in a possition of "owing" anyone?
please try to remember that this forum was set up with the premis of the free exchange of woodworking information, and i fear that by allowing any corprate intervention we would be jepordizing the very premis of the forum....tod

tod evans said:

i`m dead set against linking the forum to any vendors/manufacturers, either directly or indirectly! the costs to keep us online are small and i see no reason we would want to place ourselves in a possition of "owing" anyone?
please try to remember that this forum was set up with the premis of the free exchange of woodworking information, and i fear that by allowing any corprate intervention we would be jepordizing the very premis of the forum....tod

Click to expand...

I'm right with Tod on this one and am still a bit uneasy about Garrett's "mining" of our collective intellectual property. Yes, he has been up front about it, and is asking nicely but there is something about it that just doesn't seem right -- sort of feels like he is a magazine publisher who doesn't pay his writers; we're doing all the work and not getting compensated.

Jay

jay, i`ll share my hard earned knowledge with anybody interested in learning...magazine editor or ceo of xyz corp... and as most folks know i`ll argue with a rock ......if garrett is helping folks out by gathering up advice and posting it in his "blog" thingy that`s fine with me......if he`s getting paid for his efforts that`s fine by me too.......heck look at the folks who publish the magazines we all subscribe to, they`re making money off each and every one of us and we don`t hold them accountable......it`s not like we`re prostituting family woodworking for money or recognition, we`re doing what we do.....offering our opinions on various aspects of woodworking to help folks out....tod

I've come late to this topic, so apologies if this point has already been made.
My first reaction to the original post was, perhaps rather simplistically, if his responders were going to post on this forum, (i.e. point 1 in his second list) then what was the reasoning behind point 5 in his first list?
Or is he going to act solely as a relay, (with FWW attribution??), to those of his correspondents who choose not to use this forum?
Regards