Sponsor Consoles = Stolen Sales?

[Useless]

Ref: http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...d.php?p=444277

Perhaps I'm just an ignorant cunt, but I've always been under the impression that when sponsors offer console/no console link codes, that the consoles they were referring to were their own. In other words, I assumed that any console popped on a tour or during an exit, was a further effort to make the sale for the affiliate who had sent the traffic -- because that makes sense.

Whenever I've hit the occasional Adult Friend Finder console, I've assumed that that sponsor was a bad apple and I'd yank their links. Yet after reading TopBucks' post, I'm beginning to wonder if that is standard operating procedure. Since '02, I've almost always chosen no-console links because I hate pop-ups and know that my surfers do to, so I've never really investigated the issue.

So, I guess I'm asking if all big sponsors are stealing from their affiliates in the same manner as TopBucks? And what does it mean when a sponsor owning such a wide variety of sites decides to promote the sites of another company over their own? Doesn't that imply that they believe that their own sites simply cannot convert as well as another sponsor's sites, even via console?

Why would you send traffic to a sponsor who can't sell their own network?

Discuss.