I hate threads like this. i can't help but feel they are directed at me, because of my social anxiety disorder. SAD is an irrational feeling that everyone is watchig and judging you negatively harshly and unfairly. I can't scratch my nose on the street without feeling humiliated, like everyone saw it, evgeryone thinks I PICKED my nose, and everyone thinks I'm disgusting.
It is kind of paranoid, but it is different than paranoia in that I can recognize that the feeling is irrational and false. Knowig that doesn't help, however.
So, I'm going to keep my response as simple as I can.
From the beginning, the focus of my reviews has always been on the devices, not the suppliers. I try to stick to quantifying the performance as objectively as possible. In fact I usually try to list all the available purchasing options, rather than recommending one over another, unless there are differences in the quality.
WHen I started using affiliate accounts I made no bones about my motivation; I had lost one of my two part time jobs, and couldn't afford to keep reviewing if I didn't earn some income off it. I openly and publicly announced my reasons, and asked for comment, including PMing directly the people I thought most likely to find fault with it, and those whose opinions I respected the most. NOONE objected, and many people told me I deserved it, and wished me success.
Dusty gave me the best and most succinct advice; just be honest and trust my audience to judge me fairly.
As I mentioned at the beginning, trusting people to judge me fairly is the hard part for me due to my SAD. Being honest is easy.
SO, yes, I am trying to make money. Some of my discount codes earn me a comission, and some of them do not. I always ask for the discount code for my viewers first, then ask about a comission for me, and if I can only have one I take the discount. More than one retailer has pointed out it would be better business for me to do it the other way around, but that's why I'm not a businessman.
SOme retailers offer affiliate accounts but will not offer a discount, and for those I ask you to follow my link IF you choose to buy from them.
My approach to minimizing bias is first, as mentioned, to simply focus on the performance, and second, to cast as wide a net as possible and sign up for as many affiliates as possible, so I have no incentive to push one supplier more than another, assuming the devices are equal.
As I've said before, I'm not going to open my books, but for a couple of recent examples, Smoke 51 is one of my biggest comission accounts, and one which I can track daily. I am currently recommending against them, because I didn't think their newest cartridges performed well enough, and I have seen a corresponding drop in sales. Cest`la vie.
If you like the old style S51 carts I can recommend Greensmoke, Red Dragon, Bloog, Vapure, or eSmoker Shop instead, and I have accounts with all of them, so I can hope that it will all even out in the end for me. And if not, Cest la vie.
My most frequently made recommendation is for a DSE-901 for your first e-cig. I reccomend the best price I can find in stock at the moment, and with a warranty if possible, and that's almost always someplace I do not get a comission from.
Never trust anyone who says "trust me." I try instead to demonstrate my honesty, and to trust you to judge me fairly. And frankly, anyone who thinks I have not been honest IS judging me unfairly and incorrectly. And fear of that unfair and incorrect judgement haunts me daily. THAT alone would keep me honest, even if nothing else did.
The only other things i hagve to say are on the rules suggestions:
I disagree with the idea of subdividing the reviews among different categories depending on whether it was a purchased or a free review copy. Look at the insane subdivisions in the reviews at ecigtest and tell me again that's a good idea. To find a review there you've got to know what device categoiry, whether its a video review or text review, etc.
No, there should be one review section, one subsection for video reviews, and that's it. Anythikng more becomes a hinderence rather than a help.
I wouldn't really object to being required to label myself as a semi-pro reviewer, except that I PAY for the right to have a custom title, and I LIKE calling myself an E-Cig Embassador.
A sticky explaining that people MAY receive some compensation from discount codes is fine, but I've learned that affiliate codes and links are the engine that run the blogosphere, making almost all major blogs possible, so any such sticky should make it clear that these are NOT some unethical, shady, underhanded deal. It sould also point out that this forum, and probably all others, is at least partly funded by advertisements, affiliate banners, and direct sponsorship.
IOW, pointing out explicitly how a profit motive COULD lead to dishonesty without ALSO pointing out that similar revenue earning tools are widely used and not generally considered unethical in themselves, would be unfair, and misleading.
