# We're trying a money-making experiment **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 28, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611 "2010-04-28T10:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/1 "2010-04-28T10:38:50Z")
We’re trying something at the suggestion of an outfit called Driving Revenue that involves a bit of code on SDMB pages, and figured you should know about it. Here’s how it works. If somebody puts a link in a post, and you click on that link, the code inserts an identifier that tells the receiving site you came from us. If (a) the receiving site is run by a Driving Revenue client, and (b) you happen to purchase something from said site, we get a commission. The idea is similar to Amazon tags, or for that matter the bar code sticker that a retail sales guy puts on a product he recommends before you take it up to the register. Whether it’ll result in any significant income we don’t know, but we thought it was worth a try. You may notice “[outboundlink.me](http://outboundlink.me)” appearing the first time you hover over a link. Don’t worry, it’s nothing nefarious, just us putting on our sticker should you click on the link. ETA: If you’re planning an online purchase and wouldn’t find tossing a few nickels our way, a list of links to participating merchants may be found in [post #31](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12398565#post12398565) below, courtesy of Straight Dope Friend of Science **Rhythmdvl**. Click on the link for the merchant of your choice and we’ll get credit. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/2 "2010-04-28T11:17:09Z")
🙂 O.K We all need the money . ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/3 "2010-04-28T11:25:37Z")
Well done for going for this. It’s about time. Similar suggestions have been made to the SDMB PtB for many years now (particularly in relation to Amazon), so I’m glad to see you’ve found a mechanism that doesn’t really impact users, but can provide a passive revenue stream. That said I’m sure some will accuse you of infringing their “rights” etc. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/4 "2010-04-28T12:54:30Z")
Since there are probably plenty of posters who would be willing to do help out, is it possible to get a list of Driving Revenue clients? That way if there’s a choice between linking to [KitchenGadgets.com](http://KitchenGadgets.com) and [KitchenStuff.com](http://KitchenStuff.com), Dopers can use the one that might give you money. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/5 "2010-04-28T13:07:23Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Since there are probably plenty of posters who would be willing to do help out, is it possible to get a list of Driving Revenue clients? That way if there’s a choice between linking to [KitchenGadgets.com](http://KitchenGadgets.com) and [KitchenStuff.com](http://KitchenStuff.com), Dopers can use the one that might give you money. Here’s a link to what is probably a partial list. [Driving Revenue partners.](http://drivingrevenue.com/partners.php) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/6 "2010-04-28T13:53:19Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Here’s a link to what is probably a partial list. [Driving Revenue partners.](http://drivingrevenue.com/partners.php) How ironic. Amazon UK and Canada are both partners. eta: wait a sec, Amazon USA is there too. Well well well, this is a bit of a back door in. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/7 "2010-04-28T15:00:47Z")
Since this thread is about raising revenue for the owners is that the reason I can see 2 tracking cookies (Quantcast, Google Analytics) on this page? Does that bring in revenue also, or is there some other reason I’m being tracked? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/8 "2010-04-28T15:06:08Z")
As money raising efforts go, this one appears to be minimally intrusive. I hope it works out well. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/9 "2010-04-28T15:12:42Z")
> [@fortytwo](#): > > Since this thread is about raising revenue for the owners is that the reason I can see 2 tracking cookies (Quantcast, Google Analytics) on this page? > > Does that bring in revenue also, or is there some other reason I’m being tracked? Pretty much every commercial website in the world has Google Analytics on it, so I wouldn’t worry about that. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/10 "2010-04-28T15:24:49Z")
Seems like a reasonable way to get a few coins in the ol’ meter. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/11 "2010-04-28T15:42:04Z")
Dang. Too bad this wasn’t in effect last week when I followed a link to a programmable thermostat on Amazon and bought it, an accessory for it, and the 2-disk special edition of _The Dark Knight_. Oh well, can’t win 'em all. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/12 "2010-04-28T15:48:45Z")
Can I direct revenue to the SDMB if I click on a link that I inserted myself? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/13 "2010-04-28T18:23:49Z")
Newegg, TigerDirect, and MWave are all on there, so the tech side of things are mostly covered. Any idea what the links will preview like? Will it be invisible to the poster or clicker? As one of the paranoid ones, I tend to take a look in the status bar before clicking, and if it’s not to where I think it should be going, that could be a bit off-putting. Knowing what to look for would help. Is this for manually inserted links or ones created via the Insert Link button? I thought most Web sites had the ability to read the incoming header to tell where someone clicked from – how is this different? ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/14 "2010-04-28T18:29:41Z")
> [@fortytwo](#): > > Since this thread is about raising revenue for the owners is that the reason I can see 2 tracking cookies (Quantcast, Google Analytics) on this page? These are two well-known tracking services; the embedded code advances a counter when a page is accessed. We use the numbers to monitor traffic volume, and if you go to the Quantcast site, for example, you can see how TSD compares to other sites. Only aggregate numbers are reported; individual users aren’t tracked. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/15 "2010-04-28T18:30:13Z")
I like the idea. Although when I saw the title of the thread my first thought was, “Is **Ed** going into counterfeiting?” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/16 "2010-04-28T18:30:44Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Any idea what the links will preview like? Will it be invisible to the poster or clicker? As one of the paranoid ones, I tend to take a look in the status bar before clicking, and if it’s not to where I think it should be going, that could be a bit off-putting. Knowing what to look for would help. Here’s a link to an item at Newegg: [linky](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114789&cm_sp=NotebookDeal-_-34-114-789-_-04282010). Manual pasting in of URL. Here’s another: [linky](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114789&cm_sp=NotebookDeal-_-34-114-789-_-04282010). Used the “Insert Link” button. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/17 "2010-04-28T20:57:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Can I direct revenue to the SDMB if I click on a link that I inserted myself? I presume so, but to be sure, why don’t you click on a link and buy a car? We’ll watch and see if a revenue blip shows up. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/18 "2010-04-28T21:07:47Z")
Solid idea and great job of communicating it. I would have stressed out if I saw that “[outboundlink.me](http://outboundlink.me)” thing and didn’t know what it was. (I’m still a little weirded out by the “Google.analytics” thing. 😃 ) Seriously, thanks Ed! ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/19 "2010-04-28T21:36:37Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Solid idea and great job of communicating it. I would have stressed out if I saw that “[outboundlink.me](http://outboundlink.me)” thing and didn’t know what it was. (I’m still a little weirded out by the “Google.analytics” thing. 😃 ) > > Seriously, thanks Ed! … … … All this talk about Google Analytics has made me think I’d absolutely love to see the search terms people use to get here. Also, I find it a little creepy that there’s no indication at all on links that they are affiliate links. I have no problem with affiliate links, but I’d like to see this thread stickied just so people know since there’s no indicator on the link. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611/20 "2010-04-28T21:40:38Z")
Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing the information with us. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-trying-a-money-making-experiment/537611.md?page=2)