Disclaimer... I really have nothing to do with managing our Snowcovered programs, although I was aware of changes being made.  But I can definitely respond to any suggestion that there is "dishonesty" attributed to the team.  And like all programs, I suspect there will be some iterative improvements here.  The thing to remember is that an affiliate program that does not attract and inspire affiliates would be kind of self-defeating.  No need to attribute nasty intentions to something that just didn't come out the way someone else might have done it.  You know?  That said, polite and objective criticism is always welcome... its how things improve.

Things change fast on the web.  A year long "lock" on a referral gives no incentive to anyone else to improve their website, attractiveness, content, SEO or visibility.  A more reasonable lock time still recognizes referral but also makes it possible for the most ambitious site owners to be rewarded.  Personally, I'm not sure about the session cookie... but the old referral "lock" simply did not make any sense and discouraged any newcomer from participating as an affiliate at all.  It's not that the old terms were "too generous"... they were, in fact, unfair to a growing community (in my personal opinion).

The beautiful thing about entrepreneurial-ism is that it ensures that buyers will always have choice and that new businesses will always have opportunity.  There are some folks out there who do a great job of promoting products but receive no compensation because of some referral lock that occurred 8 months ago.  That sounds more like "control" than fair market dynamics, doesn't it?  For those who invest in effort that results in referrals, they'll be well rewarded... that sounds fair and honest, doesn't it?

Scott Willhite, Co-Founder DNN

 Now THAT's funny... *grin*

Cheers

Scott Willhite, Co-Founder DNN