How to lose friends and the ability to influence people

Here is an important question for you: are you being completely honest with your site visitors when you recommend a product or service?

I am concerned that too often I am being presented with products and services which are not in fact the best or the most cost-effective. Yes, of course we are all in this to make money, but are we allowing ourselves to be seduced by the lure of lucre?

I am prepared to believe that between the time a post is created and I read it, new products or services have become available wherefore it is not the author's fault that their post now is superseded by something better. But I have come across websites recently where this cannot have been the case because the better product or service pre-existed the one being promoted on the website. If it is true that authors prefer what they are advertising, then of course their opinion is valid and there is nothing wrong in what they're doing. On the other hand, if the only reason they are recommending the inferior product or service is that they earn more money through such affiliations, then what they are doing–at least in my opinion–is dishonourable and immoral.

Speaking of, I no longer will add comments to websites which promote wealthy affiliate because it will be unclear to visitors of such websites that Wealthy Affiliate members wrote the comments themselves. For me, there is absolutely no moral justification for this to be the case without making it crystal clear to the casual visitor that he or she is reading what are paid-for comments, for incontestably, that is what they are.

As far as I am concerned, there is a simple way to determining if one's actions are good and moral and that is to ask oneself if one would be happy to be discovered doing the action? I certainly would be embarrassed to be identified as providing paid-for positive comments on a website promoting a community of which I am myself a member.

Please don't think I am virtue–signalling or trying to be holier–than–thou. I only point out what makes me uncomfortable and why I will no longer participate in providing any comments for a certain type of website, but that's just me making a point for anyone who might not have wondered whether we should do this sort of thing.

Perhaps this post will infuriate some (hell hath no fury as a vested interest parading as a moral principle 😉) and I will lose what little popularity I have, but in the end, we must each of us live with our conscience.

On that note, have a great day. 😊👍

Good luck to me, good luck to you, the good luck to all of us. Cheers.