126 New Posts Today

[glittered]

Why is it when LS create something that has all the potential to be a great thing they just don't finish the job? Sometimes I wonder what sort of lazy people work at these places. It seems they have some very good creative people there coming up with these ideas but the people who are responsible for implementing them, developing them and making them work, testing them are just plain lazy, useless and they should be going back to school to learn how to get a job doing something completely different.

One example is the RSS feeds, excellent idea, so much potential but it is just a circus and basically a joke.

Some merchants have worked out how to get around the LS messed up system and offers feeds that are updated every week but on the other hand we have many more merchants that place a feed up and just leave it there and never update, I have had to disable many of those some time back. I'm just going through now and checking many of these feeds and implementing new ones that work, I have checked about 5 new feeds that are all completely useless. One from CompuUSA that has images plastered all through it (what if we don't want images) - that is bad management by linkshare as well....

Two other merchants that I just found rss feeds for are Forzieri & Brigade Quartermasters but the last time these were updated was in 2007 - nice.

I have a whole lot more to go through now and I very much doubt I will find anything I can use, such a shame!

And just to add..., why can I go to AvantLink and create an RSS feed there for any of my merchants and they work perfectly every time, they never have expired promotions & they never have images. Consistency, efficiently and management, 3 key things that are missing from LS's system.

[glittered]

I gave up at LS, it was just a joke, honestly. Anyway I then realize I have a list of new Avantlink merchants to join & I have been meaning to get up online with some promotions. It took me a a few seconds to login & get approved for most of them and now I'm adding their RSS feeds. Wow what a difference, it is like from coming from a using a broken down old bomb to a Ferrari. At Linkshare you just have a list of merchants with a bunch of outdated and non workable feeds listed where on Avantlink you are presented with a very nice tidy & intelligent interface. It asks you for simple standard details including which website you would like it for, what sort of implementation, RSS, Javascript etc... there is a space to name the feed and choose if you want test, images or both then you select which merchant/s you would like to use it for. just brilliant.

[simcat]

Yeah, I just went looking for coupons for a certain LS merchant yesterday and could only find ones that expired in March...'07. Guess this mindset applies with RSS too.

All this technology for self updating websites, maybe people forget it all has to be done manually at the beginning. Somebody has to enter some updated original information at some point.

I agree about avantlink, they spend some time making sure things are working.

[AffiliateSyndicate]

Glinted - how do you use RSS feeds? To learn about recent promotions in a RSS reader, or to populate your sites with dynamic content?

I have always seen RSS more as a communication tool than anything...

[glittered]

I use them to populate my site for content especially for promotions. I would display a link and show an example but I won't as I know the link rules here are tough. I use rss for many things, from displaying & affiliate content like from ebay listings, affiliate promotions to showing promotions from a database on one of my sites to another site through rss. There is also plenty of ways to use image, video, general content or news rss feeds too for those that want them. The problem here is there is no control, no management and no standards. At least on Avantlink they always work if you want text only ones and they also have the option for those wanting images plus there is nothing outdated which is another big problem with LS rss.

The only positive or consolation is that a few merchants have got it under control and at least Linkshare tried as bad as it is which I guess is better than CJ who have nothing...

[ske9963]

Well said..
Great Idea, BAD Management

[flamingoworld]

Funny how years later nothing has changed. Some of the feeds not updated still since 2007. I found maybe 6 I can use besides the Walmart ones with all their rollback products and topsellers in them.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by flamingoworld

Funny how years later nothing has changed. Some of the feeds not updated still since 2007. I found maybe 6 I can use besides the Walmart ones with all their rollback products and topsellers in them.

heh - What's that saying, Connie? Oh, yeah, "The more things change the more they stay the same."

[bibby]

The issue isn't only with LS but CJ as well. CJ has a beta area for RSS feeds but many have not been updated either.

[bradk]

at least CJ has working CSV files. One merchant of mine on there (and so far, only one) even distinguishes sale prices vs regular so I can detect sales. On LS, I think I have 1 merchant whose feed file actually works. None of the LS tools work for me, nor have they ever, and anytime I ask LS about it, either they tell me everything is fine or give me some other completely different answer that speaks to them being oblivious.

[glittered]

I'm sure nothing will change if you come back in another 2 years