A lot of people reach out to find out what the rules are for putting your referral links/codes in the comments to posts on Doctor of Credit. One reader mentioned doing a search and not finding anything, so I figured we’ll grace Google search engines with a dedicated post on the subject.
Rules:
- DO NOT LEAVE A REFERRAL LINK/CODE IN THE COMMENTS ON ANY PAGE WHERE WE DON’T SPECIFICALLY SAY THAT IT’S ALLOWED. (Note to SEO gods: please get this line up there somewhere in the search.)
- We occasionally allow referral links in the comments to specific posts. When we anticipate a large volume of referrals, we usually create a dedicated page for them. If expect few referrals, we’ll sometimes allow the referrals in the comments of the main deal/offer post.
- Even when we do allow referrals, be sure to read the rules carefully. For example, we’ll typically write to only leave the referral link without any additional information. In that case, don’t add “thanks” or anything else of the sort. We’ll also typically write that you should only leave referrals as top-line comments; don’t leave your referral as a ‘reply’ to another comment.
- Referrals which don’t comply with the rules stated will be removed. Repeat offenders will be banned from commenting.
- Never, ever leave your referral more than once in the comments of one post. If you don’t see your comment show up immediately, please, please give it some time as it goes through moderation. It’ll usually come through within a few hours, but sometimes may take a day or two. (Here’s Why Your Comment Isn’t Showing Up on the Site.)
- We often close the comments for referrals after a given amount of time to prevent abuse and to reward regular readers.
Our main goal in having referral threads is to get some bonuses to regular readers of the site. Before using a referral from the comments, consider spending a minute or two to find a referral from a reader who you recognize as being helpful to the DoC community. You can also click the “i” at the top of each comment to see the commenters history. And – if comments are open – leave a reply to let the person know that you used their referral. (If comments are closed, you can try replying to the reader in the comments of a different post by looking at their comment history.)
Sometimes referral link posts say don’t thread comments. In that case, is it okay to reply to thank someone and to let them know if we used their link?
delete
First off, I want to say, I am immensely grateful you guys William Charles Chuck allow referral links. My family has certainly benefited!!! Coming from someone who has tried to help DoC moderate the referral pages without any power to do any correction, I feel your pain. I can understand not wanting to make the referral pages stand out, as that will provide a honey pot for the lurkers and spammers. I know everyone has ideas, but I made this suggestion before. I think the dedicated referral pages should be reset/erased every so often, whether that be a year, 6 months, whatever the time-frame, and then locked sometime after to avoid abuse. I can also understand not wanting to reset reader/contributor content on your site, because they provide info, context, and DP’s that would be erased, but “Used yours” and “Thanks” and “Appreciate it” is not useful. If you want to be really coordinated, you could put out a schedule of when the reset will occur in advance, but I know, that just adds more work for you. Problems I see: The links get old: I believe the top few posts are the ones that often get the majority of the referrals, some of which may be maxed out, or so old that they no longer have an account so the referral is wasted. The person that signs up typically gets paid still so the new user is happy, but bigger picture, another ACTIVE DoC community member lost out. Mobile phone browsers: I think the top few links posted being the breadwinners is partially due to the fact many of the longer pages stops downloading when using mobile versions of the referral page, at least for me when I am on Android Chrome, and pretty sure I tested Dolphin as well. I assume this is a WordPress issue/bug, which means every long page has tons of missing reader comments. Workaround is, on my phone, I have to accept the desktop version of the page, and then I need a microscope/zoom in to read the page and see all the comments, and most people aren’t going to do that. Research is just not going to happen: I don’t think the majority of people are going to do research who is most deserving, as long as they get their piece of the pie from being referred. Justifiably so, they are more focused that they get signed up via a valid link and looking to meet terms. Also, some probably want to spread the love, instead of referring the guy/girl who posts a lot elsewhere on the site, which I certainly understand. Depending on the list of referrers, I can sympathize with, and sometimes I have picked the person I assume is least likely to get a referral (e.g. looks like they got skipped in a chain, not because they were a jerk). It’s this mindset that some probably side with the newest links, and that’s where “Jerkhead, the link spammer”, makes out… Read more »
Gman, I have never seen the read more button on a comment. I think you need to post this on your blog and link to it. Sheesh ;). Fwiw, I only use the referrals of DoC contributors I recognize.
Hey man, I was on a roll. Read more button is a thing. Just my 3.5 cents. Blog? I have no such blog. And you aren’t the “most” and “many” I was referring to. Go order some more 75% off flowers. BTW, Sam’s Dosh posted.
Thanks for the feedback. Honestly, there are probably a number of things that could be done better and more efficiently, but all these take a lot of time. The key is to find the improvements which are the most helpful to readers and are doable in the time we have.
Not sure how to accomplish but the other issue is when the referral website post gets cross posted to Facebook, it is always confusing as it says to leave comments with your referral. And then people leave comments on Facebook with the referral instead of the actual website post.
Yeah that’s ok, I don’t think many people are getting referrals from the comments section on the FB post
Please use my referral. If this is against the rules, please remove.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/referyourcard
Thanks!
😉
🙂
Is there an easy way to find these referral pages? For the life of me I can’t find them.
Yes, it would be helpful to have a permanent link to a listing of all approved referral pages.
We don’t do that because we want to reward readers who are regularly on the site, not to be a place where referral-hunters go to post their referrals (there are such sites for that).
We should maybe make such a page so that people who want to use a referral can find them. So far, we just include the link in the main deal post we write.
The original posting can become very dated and the still valid referrals seem to get buried. So any way to help find them would be helpful.
Usually you can just search for ‘referral’ and it’ll show the most recent threads. If you’re looking for a specific referral post just do a google search for “card name referral” or similar.
Someone here used my referral and it was awesome. Thanks for having a clear space for referral links to be posted sometimes even if it’s a pain.
A much needed addition to your best in class site. 👍
You have significantly more patience than I would in your place.
Are people (or rather, email addresses) banned from commenting after violating these instructions?
In some cases, yes.
Thanks, very clear and concise. 🙂