Well, how many do _you_ have by the way? Since I used your code (just to be sure, as Bruce mentioned 5% and you wrote something about 10%, I didn't want to have any risks) I guess you also should be beyound the 100 ref-mark!

I currently have... *checking*... 112 Users referred and earned 4.85 USD from them - just ~2 times more and I get a free meal at McDonald's! Yay!

I really like referal systems like Dropbox + Tradehill, where both the referred user AND the "referral giver" (?) do benefit instead of just benefitting one party.


What really get's annoying though is how many people started to spam after some time... just put it away in your sig and post constructively. It will be noted!
I doubt that getting 200 referred users via a spam thread will see as many trades (and in the end income) as 50 users that take some time and want to reward someone by using their reflink.


One fact that I don't like is, that ref-income is in USD. I don't use USD, it constantly looses value against my currency and is imho about to crash - but I always have to wait until there is at least 1 USD in my account to be able to convert to BTC. I also fear the some day I will have 15 US cents, 8 Eurocents, 30 Pesos, 2 Yen... Bottom line: I want my ref-income in BTC - after all, this is a BTC exchange!


@bitcoinconnection: To see how many ppl. you referred, click on your user name/email address in the top right corner, you then get a full account overview or (if you dare ) use the link https://www.tradehill.com/User/Profile/

I don't have a tradehill account and the spamming doesn't help convincing me to take one.

I hate it. It encourages spam which is close to the last thing any company should want. And if I was going to trade there I would refer myself instead of giving some spammer free money.

ENOUGH ALREADY!  Tradehill created a legion of spammers, this makes me less likely to use the service.

Just discovered that bitcoin7 is doing it too. They don't have so much spam although they are still open. What's the catch?

To me it really reinforces the types of people that are drawn to bitcoin, the spammers & beggars & scammers. The only thing I have against tradehill is their referral program that they designed to be spammed (use it on forums! etc.). I'm really glad to know I've had to see all those annoying ads nonstop since they launched so a few lucky people could earn almost enough for a fast food meal.

To be clear, I consider the join tradehill forum posts that are/were made here on an hourly basis to be just as much spam as something sent through email. Sure, it's mostly the fault of the forum administrators who let all manner of scams and spammy self promotion through, but it still falls on you for having designed a system to take advantage of the atmosphere. Because that's what referral and affiliate programs are mostly for: to let businesses enjoy questionable promotion tactics while maintaining an air of deniability.

I don't expect you to stop it as it's clearly a very effective means of promotion here. But I'd at least suggest you make it clear upfront that you'll cancel the accounts of anyone spamming via email, blog comments, or forums or irc where it's against the rules - and provide an easy way for someone to make a complaint about it.