http://www.benedelman.org/spyware/ex...ads-adult.html
Below was taken from the above page, and it's just a small sample, if you have good traffic, you were/are a target.

Ad number: 12808
Ad URL: http:// oas-central .realmedia.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.ap.com/AdultFriendFinderUSfebio4310atv/1/x01/ExactAdv/ AdultFriendFinderUS_io4310a_tv/pixel.gif/6
Redirects to reach ad destination: http://adultfriendfinder.com/go/p128244.subcreative1
Targets: access2.ifriends.net, adultfriendfinder.com, apps.nightsurf.com, gallys.nastydollars.com, grab.nastydollars.com, link.siccash.com, passion.com, search.passion.com, signup.avsofchoice.com, voy.voyeurweb.com, www.ampland.com, www.camgirlslive.com, www.consumptionjunction.com, www.cumfiesta.com, www.FLESHLIGHT.COM, www.freeones.com, www.girlsgonewild.com, www.ifriends.net, www.literotica.com, www.ls-university.com, www.men4sexnow.com, www.milfhunter.com, www.sleazydream.com, www.squirt.org, www.ultrapasswords.com, and 2 others

Very interesting..I'm sure those sites that are being targeted by AFF with that ad will be thrilled to see their names listed there...

I just pulled my aff links.

Thats fucked.

But you can win a Ferrari, get paid $105.00/join, passes to parties etc etc etc.....

It is all thievery.

What you forgot to say is that those ads date back to 2005 and it's not zango, it's exact advertising adware. So AFF has been stealing from their affiliates and others for quite some time, and they're using more than one avenue to do it too.

As mentioned many, many times already, zango is ONLY ONE of these applications. There are over 400 of them! Even if sponsors stopped using zango, they have a lot of other options that could very well go undetected. If everyone concentrates on zango alone, it will be very misleading down the road. Because a program isn't targeted by zango it doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that they're not targeted at all.

Missie

If you were not so quick to bash you might have clicked the link and found it was an affialite who was banned.

Redirects to reach ad destination: http://adultfriendfinder.com/go/p128244.subcreative1

But you just want blood so continue on.

After your admission of using zango it was an easy conclusion to jump to. Sorry, my bad. :(

However, the bottomline remains the same... zango is not the only program out there being used to do this and it's been done for a long time.

Missie

That link was still active when I clicked it earlier Lars:disgust :warning

It doesn't really help you to start putting this on Missie. What she has been doing the last few weeks has been for herself AND for the affiliate community.

You fucked up. And yes, you owned up and admitted it. The problem is that you guys at AFF still haven't really shown that you are actively doing anything to remedy the situation.

Lars, I don't know you, I don't promote AFF, never did and most likely probably never will now, but I have a question for you.

So you terminated the affiliate who used exact advertising last year. Why? He/she was taking sales from other affiliates and you as well. But by using zango yourself, you are doing the exact same thing.

Based on your own reasoning, an affiliate is basically forced to use scumware to promote AFF because if he/she doesn't, others will. So why terminate an affiliate for doing the same thing your'e doing? Where's the difference? Different scumware application?

I have no personal agenda here, just curious.

Missie

Yes it was active for the rest of us as well until the thieves just took it down.:2 cents: :disgust

where did he say he banned that affilaite for using scumware? i am sure he was banned for something totally unrelated.. because obviously it would look silly to say he was banned for the same reason Lars is defending.

besides... as he said, "some people call it adware" and its "perfectly legal" ---- so that why would that be a reason at all to stop an affiliate.

That's what I'd like to know as well so that's why I asked. :)

Missie

Totally off topic, but that's called Pareto's Law. Knowledge is power, G.I. Joe!

In all fairness, how do we really know it was an affiliate and not an AFF account set up by AFF so if it got heat they could blame it on their "affiliate" and just close the account and make a new one.

This is a fair question for all sponsors who are playing the adware game, only seems logical they would do this. I am sure some affiliates of these companies are trying their luck with "adware" as well but how can we tell the difference.

Also if you banned an "affiliate" for using adware but you continue to use it yourself, isn't that another major conflict of interest ?

Didnt you read?
Lars says he was forced!

Lets help him out and track down the evil forcing demon!!!

FREE LEGENDARY LARS!!!

We both know people like that.

Thats starting to sound a bit desparate Will.....

Its Lars we are talking about - not Bush.

We are talking about someone who has openly admitted to redirecting affiliate traffic to serve their own purposes. I know Lars has done a lot of good for the business and he is probably a very nice guy, but this situation in being handled very poorly and there is really no nothing good to be said about what they have done.

That's a great page Lars. Can you take it further now and automatically just send ALL ZangoToolbar useragent users to that page?

In-house affiliate accounts to track specific traffic are commonplace.

Something like this

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_user_agent} zango
RewriteRule ^$ banned_affiliate.html

thats what Ibill used to do when we used to spam way back when... they would give us a master account... unlimited sub accounts... then when someone would post spam on the boards and make a big deal for Ibill to terminate the account... they would make a statement "hey man, thanks! we terminated account number xxxxx" and you never saw spam with that ID again. meanwhile, behind the scenes, the money always stayed in the master account and no one ever missed a beat.

not a wild assumption at all. in fact, its quite common practice to play games like this. all anyone ever sees is an account number or affiliate id. who creates affiliate id's? why would you do shady shit in your own name when you can just create an affiliate id like "rogue_russian" and do whatever you want... then "terminate" it when you get called out for it?

damian... i swear to christ... is this the first day in the biz for some of you clowns?

A lot of good?....maybe so but those "good deeds" had an alterior motive in the end.

I am not talking about LARS, I said AFF. It's large company. I doubt LARS went and sat down in the advertising department and did this himself. He may not have even know that AFF bought traffic from zango until this came out a few weeks ago. Maybe he knew before hand, maybe he didn't. Thats why I have always made it clear by saying AFF to what is going on and only saying "lars" in response to what he is posting here.

So who do I speak to when ClickCash are pulling a fast one?

We both know they are....

ClickCash - NastyDollars - MaximumCash

I have been trying to get a response from CC for 7 years. You are as close as I have got - so speak up Will.... whats your response?

fyi I got hit with a zango install and i didnt even know i had gotten it. so dont give me this "its legal shit."
whats funny is in florida i walked past rocco and saw he had a zango badge on, lifted up and laughed in his face. Later that evening he asked what that was all about. I told him. Then he explained his side of the story. He told me that people were prompted to install and there were clear removal instructions. He made it sound not that bad. He was actually a nice guy too. I guess while they shake you with your right hand they stab you with the left. In anycase, Im not from geek squad.. but i can install a raid 5, overclock a dual xeon board etc etc, and removing this was harder than that.
thanks for wasting about 4 hours of my life zango.
Duke

I think the worst part about AFF's involvement in this, is the fact that the remain completely silent unless they are forced to take some kind of action. I don't believe that we would have had any kind of comment from AFF if Zango hadn't named them as one of their customers and they are still playing the same game. I guess they are still hoping that this mess will be forgotten in a few days.

Lars and AFF. Come forward and inform us of the actions you are taking against spyware. If any.

I have attempted several times in these threads to get the focus off AFF, Zango too for that matter. No-one has claimed that the sponsors Lars represents are the only ones at fault, but the threads do keep returning to them. My concern is that such a narrow focus may make the problem seem smaller than it is.

But I'm not clear what point you are trying to make. Are you suggesting that if other sponsors tolerate or work with scumware companies that makes it okay? Because if you are condemning these three sponsors, that would appear to weaken the defense of AFF that you have been so tirelessly mounting these last few days.

You are absolutely right that someone cannot reasonably condemn one company without condemning all. But that applies to you as well as to the posters you appear to be trying to discredit.

You got it right when you said I was trying to put some balance into the debate.

This thread has been a GFY feeding frenzy from post 1.

Lars has put himself on the line. The only sponsor who has BTW, and trust me there are more that should be.

I choose to believe him - and not the GFY rabble - what he said makes total sense to me....

If you think about it, programs now would be smarter to play with companies like Zango and a handful of the whales instead of spending large amounts of $$$ catering to the minnows in the pond.

There are a lot of "behind the scene" programs that make millions and don't have more than 20 affiliates and they are by invitation only.

At some point, smart business owners are going to sit down and see how much ROI they get for giving out $200 of free drinks and lap dances to someone who sends them 2 sales a month, in addition to the salaries and benefits they are paying employees to cater to the "little guys", plan lavish parties, etc.

I know 99% of the posters here don't want to hear this, but if a lot of these "companies" start actually acting like buisnesses and have P/L statements, etc., having small affiliates really won't be worth the effort. :(

Yes, because that "insignificant" (their words) 0.5% of their traffic makes them so smart. You're dumb.

After Zango released a statement confirming that AFF was their customer, and had been purchasing ads that would overwrite their affiliates urls, etc.. etc..

Peaches, how many 'little guys' go to shows? How many 'little guys' ask for special favors from reps?

I am a 'little guy' and play by the rules...I expect any company to respect this and not screw me over. My two or three or x amount signups a month are not costing them anything but to cut the check and postage.

Last year my AFF was a couple of hundred negative and I kept my links up (it all worked out). With cams.com, last month they double paid me and not one person via email could respond..my links are still up and I did cash the check (it will work out again).

I am not pulling any links and I do feel 'little guys' are worth the effort to keep...most of them are honest and are not looking for a free ride.

BTW, I am Little Gal :upsidedow

IME as both an affiliate rep and as a freesite owner, most of the work done and money spent is on smaller fish. They go to shows - they get 4 of them to pitch in and get a room. They eat free food and drink free booze. They email you constantly for every single little thing. Will some of those become whales? Possibly, but these days, unlikely. But when you put down $20K for a party/sponsorship, pay one or two people $80K a year plus benefits and travel expenses to run these events and only 3 of your biggest customers are there and the rest are just sucking up the freebies, at some point you have to question "Why are we doing this?"

Like I said, it's harsh, but it's true. I would predict in the next few years you'll see fewer affiliate programs, per se, and more "invite only" programs. I've seen several programs already cut down on their parties, sponsorships, contests, etc. I've also noticed quite a few are "combined" sponsorship parties. It used to be you'd have to decide between 4 or 5 different parties to attend at the same time during a show. Now the whales are being treated to private sit down dinners and the minnows to the combined sponsorships free for alls.

A good program, with several years of customers and traffic streams, could even run with no affiliates. One of these traffic streams could easily be programs like Zango.

I guess what I'm gently trying to say is that to program owners, $$$ is the grease that runs the engine. If they have a way to make more money while spending less, they're going to do it. Keeping little affiliates happy isn't always on the top of their priority list.

What about attracting whales from others programs that show up? Could be one good reason why it's good to have a presence. Why does anyone exhibit anywhere? They probably question it and/or vent about it but at the end of the day there are reasons they continue doing it.

Aren't affiliates really just a way of brokering traffic that you get to test first before you pay for it? Doesn't that marketshare add up? Would AFF give up it's marketshare to it's competitors like Sexsearch, Datinggold, etc? Wouldn't it start to add up as new affiliates come online?

Any "minnow" can steal your programs traffic with Zango. It isn't exclusive to whales.

Just buy em out

You just pointed out what I was saying:

1. Fewer and fewer programs are throwing out good money with expensive exhibitions, parties, etc.
2. Whales are being treated like gold.