Cookie Question

[Toby]

Originally Posted by cd34

On one hand, Webmaster A could be legit, Webmaster B could be a user-installed toolbar, in which case Webmaster A should get credit

On the other hand Webmaster A could be legit, Webmaster B could be legit, and Webmaster B should get credit.

OR...

Webmaster A is a less than honorable TGP or LL owner using unscrupulous means to pre-set cookies for many sponsors, and Webmaster B is a legit submitter sending traffic to one or more of those same sponsors.

Bottom line, tracking cookies are way too easy to abuse.

[cd34]

Originally Posted by Toby

Bottom line, tracking cookies are way too easy to abuse.

Its not just cookies -- any tracking method you use will have the same potential for abuse.

cookies, IPs, browser hash, some combination of the above. Anything that you use to try to establish a surfer's identity can easily be stuffed to create that 'last seen from webmaster B'.

Long long ago, tours had the webmasters url in a query string, no cookie was set, and you didn't get a chance at a signup from someone that bookmarked a tour. In that case, the console that pops up over the tour that you sent the traffic to would get the credit.

From a tracking perspective, this scenario will always be a conundrum.