278 New Posts Today

[Angel Djambazov]

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to get everyone's opinions on this one. Relevant reading is the PepperJam post that kicked things off publicly: PepperJam Post;
Affililiate Tip's round up with a brief Kerri Pollard response: Affiliate Tip Post;
An excellent analysis by Scott Jangro: Jangro Post;
A pro PepperJam post on Revenews by Carsten Cumbrowski: Carsten Post
And my two cents.
Thoughts?

[Kevin]

Who are Pepperjam and CJ?

........

In truth, I see CJ's point. Guess they're not wrong all the time.

[Trust]

Short version. They went from managing a lot of CJ merchant programs, to still managing those programs and then wanting to become a full fledged affiliate network, a direct competitor to CJ and the other networks out there. So that's just competition and competitors will go at each other and not always cleanly. But with this it's hard to make a judgement since all the facts aren't out there and you're only going to be hearing one side of the story, since I don't expect CJ to comment publicly on it, especially on blogs. It's something that's going to be handled by the legal departments. Jangro did a great job with it.

[Rhia7]

I'm not going to reveal the affiliate merchant's name but I received an e-mail with the subject header of: "ACTION NECESSARY"
and then I was urged to: "switch out your current links ASAP, and replace them with Pepperjam Network links."
Anytime I get an e-mail saying I have to do something, I often either want to run the other way or I want to think about it.

I'm not sure if I want to sign on to the Pepperjam Network except for the fact that I would be promised "a dedicated Pepperjam Network account manager'" -- what type of relationship would the dedicated account manager have with me?
What is a dedicated account manager vs. a non-dedicated one?

[OTProf]

Pepperjam leverage both their knowledge but also their privileged insider position in setting up their network. For CJ to be ticked is understandable. Competition is good, but no one likes having your competitor come out of your own kitchen/family/etc.

Angel's post is well-written and I found his comment to his own post enlightening:

"One comment I feel is necessary to add is that members of ABestWeb are complaining their comments, those not entirely pro PepperJam, are being removed from the Kris’s post."

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

Originally Posted by [url="http://www.jangro.com/a/2008/03/07/pepperjam-jammed/"

Kris Jones[/url]]Also, the fact that CJ did not contact Pepperjam first and say “we’ve got a problem here” is completely ruthless and unprofessional, especially considering Pepperjam was a strategic partner of CJ for nearly eight years and during that time generated millions upon millions of dollars in profit for CJ.

GMAFB!!!

IMO - This is nothing more than a tantrum over CJ's [justified] aggressive business tactic. Additionally, as Trusty has previously stated, this hoopla is apparently not much more than an opportunistic and over zealous PR opportunity by PJN! At least PJN is incorporating transparency with this effort :P

BTW, the David and Golith crap/drama/analogy by Woods is nothing but more of the same "allegedly" orchestrated PR horsehockey!

I thought the saying was "you can't make this up", but obviously I was wrong ... you can!

[Angel Djambazov]

Originally Posted by Haiko de Poel, Jr.

BTW, the David and Golith crap/drama/analogy by Woods is nothing but more of the same orchestrated PR horsehockey!

You will then love my Robin Hood analogy, grin.

[Trust]

Angel, posts getting pulled. You were talking about at their own blog? Was wondering about that. I didn't see anything getting pulled at Revenews unless I missed it. Just checking over there and I still see some heated ones up, ones he wanted pulled.

And for example:

"BTW - if possible, I would request that since this is such an important matter that you do not allow comments from people who refuse to reveal their identity (i.e., use an alias)."

http://www.jangro.com/a/2008/03/07/pepperjam-jammed/

Saw the same request over at Revenews but didn't see anything removed from any of those blogs, so I figured you were talking about their own blog?

[Rhia7]

Originally Posted by Trust

Angel, posts getting pulled. You were talking about at their own blog?

Maybe they have Google Blogger Blogs? Blogger likes to pull posts

[Angel Djambazov]

Originally Posted by Trust

Angel, posts getting pulled. You were talking about at their own blog? Was wondering about that. I didn't see anything getting pulled at Revenews unless I missed it. Just checking over there and I still see some heated ones up, ones he wanted pulled.

Yeah I was talking on the PepperJam Blog. It first came to my attention here: http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102171

[Eric Ewe]

Smart guys at PJ (Kris, Aaron, etc)

Personally, I never like the idea of an affiliate going OPM, then starting their network.

I think CJ could have given them a courtesy call and tell them that enough is enough, and not the route that they took.

That being said, what PJ did is wrong as what Rhia7 said.. that is messed up.

Where does PJ's fiduciary duty lie?

[HardwareGeek]

what CJ is doing is nothing wrong.

There is a huge conflict of interest here and if peperjam doens't see it then their founder with all of his degrees needs to be re educated.

[Chuck Hamrick]

Angel you are my hero. We need more people like you and Haiko who are not governed by an employer and can speak your minds. I have been waiting for this subject to surface particularly since Pepperjam was introduced to me as a CJ top 3 affiliate years ago. I have not had a chance to read all the information provided but give a Big Bravo for getting the conversation started.

[Greg Rice]

Like Trust said, we are only getting one side of this and likely that's all we will ever get.

Who is wrong and who is right? From what I read PJ should have expected a negative response. I kept wondering "What did PJ think would happen? They had to know CJ wouldn't be happy, what network would?"

If I was attempting what PJ did, I surely would have seen this coming. Maybe not to the extent that CJ did but would surely expect them to not be comfortable with this and that there would be consequences. Did PJ expect CJ to just roll over or stand idly by and lose clients?

With such limited information it's difficult to take sides. But I'm still wondering "What did PJ think CJ would do?".

[HardwareGeek]

Originally Posted by Greg Rice

Like Trust said, we are only getting one side of this and likely that's all we will ever get.

Who is wrong and who is right? From what I read PJ should have expected a negative response. I kept wondering "What did PJ think would happen? They had to know CJ wouldn't be happy, what network would?"

If I was attempting what PJ did, I surely would have seen this coming. Maybe not to the extent that CJ did but would surely expect them to not be comfortable with this and that there would be consequences. Did PJ expect CJ to just roll over or stand idly by and lose clients?

With such limited information it's difficult to take sides. But I'm still wondering "What did PJ think CJ would do?".

What more information is needed?

A consultant turns into a service provider, there for competing with another service provider who has clients that are consulted by the newly formed service provider, making said consultant now biased.

If you were peperjam and your clients are on other networks, when their contracts on those networks are up for renewal, would you say hey stay with CJ they did good for you or would you encourage them to switch networks?

I am surprised other networks haven't done the same thing yet.

[sfcom]

On the internet, an ant can morph into the size of a dinosaur with the correct PR. The fact that PJ keeps erasing posts is especially disturbing. Free speech, but only when you agree with me... Not exactly a tactic that would make me trust a company.

Please get the damn thing over with already, as I want to see the PJ interface that I have heard such WONDERFUL things about (spam or not...) Curiosity is killing me but I refuse to sign up until 1) they re-open their sub-forum here or 2) CJ, LS, PF, or SAS buys them out. Who thinks I'll be waiting more than a year?

-sfcom

[Eric Ewe]

Originally Posted by sfcom

CJ, LS, PF, or SAS buys them out. Who thinks I'll be waiting more than a year?

-sfcom

Doubt that it's going to be SAS.

[samharrelson]

@Trust: Nothing is getting pulled at ReveNews despite people asking for a few of the anony comments to be deleted even though they were adding to the convo in my opinion. If comments are getting pulled on Kris' blog, that really says something about the situation.

Sam

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

Thank you for that "official" clarification Sam.

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

The derailing posts by Sam Harellson have been moved to http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102320

[rematt]

Gentlemen, in post http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102171 I was referring to the PJ blog. Specifically the post that I saw being deleted was the one from Bob from Pets Warehouse. After reading Bob's comment I opened a new window to add a comment of my own and noticed that Bob's post had been removed. At that point I saw no reason to leave a comment of my own as it would have likely been deleted also.

Here is a screen shot of the comment that Bob left:



And here's what it looks like now:



I didn't realize until much later that I still had the original window open so I was able to take this screen shot.

-rematt

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

rematt,

Thank you for posting that - for the thread topic's discussion.

As I elaborated to Mr. Harellson, I was merely bumping a thread per:

http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102320

and pursuant to:
http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102313

[sjangro]

nice catch with the screenshot. I went back through my dozens of browser tabs looking after I heard about the disappearing comments.

Seems Bob hit a sore spot, though admittedly, it was completely off topic.

Were there other comments deleted?

[sfcom]

I agree with SJ on this about Bob's post being off topic. But, it could also be that they viewed he was just trying to get some free advertising himself. Why not just use "Bob" instead of "Pets Warehouse?" Possibly if the same post was made under a different username they would have left it (still doubtful...I know...)

-sfcom

[PetsWarehouse.com]

Originally Posted by rematt

Gentlemen, in post http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=102171 I was referring to the PJ blog. Specifically the post that I saw being deleted was the one from Bob from Pets Warehouse. After reading Bob's comment I opened a new window to add a comment of my own and noticed that Bob's post had been removed. At that point I saw no reason to leave a comment of my own as it would have likely been deleted also.
-rematt

That's too funny the way stuff goes round, I hope to see Kris at the NY Expo and ask him face to face that same question.

I don't need to hide who I am so in any affiliate communication I use the company name not for a plug just so Kris could place the issue.


Bob