Affiliates vs Links

[Todd]

Do you feel like affiliation has changed over the past few years? How do you approach affiliation on your fan sites/shrines? How do you differentiate affiliates from links? What will make you decide to affiliate with someone rather than do a simple link exchange? Are you picky when it comes to affiliation? I don't intend for you guys to answer every question. Just some points to go off of for a discussion on affiliation.

[Aku]

I would say before that affiliation was more directly related to your topic. I remember groups of shriners would specifically work together to be a part of a circle of links related to one subject (ex: Final Fantasy 8) and they would all link to each other on their page! I always thought that it was really cool and I always wanted to be the "Selphie" in someone's FF8 ring or whatever. XD To me it really gave the circle of shrines an exclusivity of some sort, haha. It was a bit cliquish...

I honestly don't have many affiliates for my shrines (I chalk it up to laziness more than anything though...), but since my shrine-fandoms are kinda niche, and because networking is good, I kinda like to be open minded about it. For example, I'm way more likely to find "Shounen Jump Heroes" or even "Shounen Manga Heroes" to affiliate with rather than "Gintama Characters". I don't think I'm picky, but even with link exchanges on shrines I do like to link to something at least somewhat relevant. I guess I'd rather my networking section be like an Amazon recommendation, lol. "If you liked "Brave Song" then you might like..." Haha.

For me, I'd say for affiliation, association with my topic matters more than with link exchanges. And sometimes affiliates vs. links for me just means "sites I specifically asked to exchange links with & strongly support their content" vs "other related sites I think are cool that you should check out".

[Crystal]

With my shrines I generally don't do affiliation, mostly because of the fact that my subjects are so obscure that no one has any related shrines (although technically this has changed over the years *happydance*). For those that do have affiliates I've just been linking them on the index page, but only because my shrines haven't been set up for them. If I'm friends with the owner of the shrine (or at least antiquated with them) I'm more open to affiliating my shrine with someone, but no one asks me so I haven't worried about it too much, heh.

[LadyDB]

I love affiliating because I feel like I don't connect with enough people on the net. I have so many websites and yet I feel like I don't know half the webmasters whose sites I visit. And I want to, because I like making friends.

So I love affiliating, and I've been trying to do it a lot more recently because I feel like my network is of a much higher standard than it was a few years ago. I can totally understand some of the gorgeous networks I admire prefer not to affiliate with someone who doesn't put 110% in like they do. :)

I don't like link exchanges. I say if you're going to do that, just affiliate. But I also just opened a new page (http://exit.rokuro.nu) where I have links I like. NOrmally I wouldn't do this, but sometimes, you have to go with the crowd to get your site out there more. So I'm more willing to do link exchanges now. In fact, I intended to add a topic soon asking if anyone wants to affiliate with me because again, I just don't know enough people and I'd really like to get to know some of these amazing webmasters. It's fun. :) <3

[Todd]

@Aku - I love that you relate affiliating to an Amazon Wishlist! That's exactly how I feel about it, too. I want my affiliates to be pretty similar in quality to my sites for that reason.

I'll link any related site, but I'm more picky with affiliation. I'd like my affiliates to offer more of or expand on something I started at my site. My affiliates at Poltergeist should help my visitors better understand other characters in Final Fantasy X, and the world of Spira.

I also affiliate with friends who have related sites. Stefi and I are really good friends, and we both have sites to a Final Fantasy lead, so we affiliated our Tidus and Squall sites. I've also affiliated with Ava's Lighting site, because Lightning is another Final Fantasy lead. I think they, too, expand on what my site started, just at a grander scale. People are able to learn more about the series through them, and not just FFX.

As for what I do with affiliates, I like to make affiliates pages and write little blurbs on the sites, telling visitors what they're going to get when they visit. It's like a little spotlight for those sites, which I think is kind of nice. They also get linked on the links page.

[Mikari]

I didn't used to differentiate it too much in the past, in fact, I used to have a section for "affiliates and links" and would put everything there. Later I just changed it to links. I never quite understood the difference, or maybe I didn't really create a difference, I just linked someone and they linked me. I'm sure there must be more to it, I just missed it for the most part it seems. There was no Amassment (that I knew of) back then and though I've been making sites since the era of angel fire and geo cities, I ended up connecting via webrings, cliques and fanfiction, and the topic of affiliates never really came up all that much. Maybe it's because I didn't take the first step and ask, or maybe it's because back then, big sites (meaning with tons of pictures) were a little "intimidating," and mine had lots of pictures... though not of the best quality... Oh God, the blurry pics, the memories... Now you've made me want to start another topic.

Sisters are different, I link Snow and Cherri in a more "prominent" way than anyone else. I remember when people used to have sisters, affiliates and links. Some people would only be sisters with their own alternate domains/sites while others limited it to a small number. I never linked any sisters when I started out in the distant past. Later I linked Cherri when she started hosting me and then Snow when she got back into webdesign. They're still the only two I have linked as sisters.

[Todd]

Oh man, I used to have siblings at my domain! Siblings were close friends, and affiliates were sites I liked. It began to be hard to differentiate siblings and affiliates, as I ended up being friends with all of my affiliates, so I stopped separating them. Now, my domain affiliates are all sibling quality; I have to be friends with someone to affiliate domains.

[dubiousdisc]

I think that affiliates used to be more like an alliance. Used to mean a lot more. Well, with search engines being at a baby stage, a major site linking to you meant lots of eyes looking at you - it's obvious that it was more important. I'm glad it has since changed though, the whole system was so cliquey and everyone had a giant page of affiliation requirements (I was guilty of that too) and honestly, thinking about it now, why did I even care... I'm glad things are more chill now.

At this point I don't even do serious business affiliation anymore, I just link to whatever I think someone visiting my stuff would want to see and if it happens to be a mutual link, hurray. It's more like, hey you, go to this site, it's cool.

[Todd]

I remember that too! I think in some communities it's more prevalent than others. The Final Fantasy community, for example is heavy into affiliation. It's where I started out shrining, so it's something I kind of just do with my sites. Doesn't mean I'm cliquey -- I support new shrines and webmasters -- but I know a lot of people have been. I don't list requirements, either. It's kind of just like, e-mail me, and we'll have a conversation.

[Crystal]

@Dubiousdisc: Ugh, I just looked over my files for my Zelda fansite I had years ago and apparently I was guilty of doing the same thing. Actually, looking at the old files is kinda embarrassing now. *cough*