Affiliate with dcNET

AKA, shameless plugging all around! Woohoo!

If for some inexplicable reason you are actually fond of this website, would like to support it and would not be ashamed to see a link to your own website displayed here, you've come to the right place. I figured I could get by without affiliates for a while, but it has come to my attention that... well... I want attention. As is customary, I am willing to give your site reciprocal attention, and quite happily at that if I find your site interesting and enjoyable.

Requirements

Quite frankly I find some of the affiliation requirements I see on Pokémon fansites trivial and stupid, so I won't ask you for something ridiculous like some obscene number of unique hits or whatever. I am pretty picky about what I do ask for, though, so I suggest that you get your P's and Q's in order before you contact me. I'm not asking for a lot, after all, so it won't kill you.

I would like to stress before I start that affiliation is mutual. Unknown and backwoodsy as this site currently is, I know of at least one instance of someone who linked here as an "affiliate" without ever speaking to me about it first. They meant well, but I knew nothing about the site and hadn't had a chance to see it beforehand to make sure it was something I was actually willing to support. Do not do this; it's considered poor etiquette. If you just want to link to dcNET then by all means go ahead--I won't turn down free publicity!--but if you want to affiliate then we actually need to discuss and agree to the stuff below.

• The majority of the site's content must be in English.
• The majority of the site's subject matter must concern a subject featured on dcNET. This generally means Pokémon, though I have no problem affiliating with a site consiting primarily of, say, Phoenix Wright content. I may make an exception if the subject is something else that I am interested in and think a few visitors might like as well. Your site can have other content, but there is a difference between a Dragon Ball fansite with a page of Pokémon content and a Pokémon fansite with a page of Dragon Ball content. (Hint: I do not like Dragon Ball.)
• All of your site's content, layouts, images and other related materials must be created by you or by your staff; used with clearly-indicated permission from the original creator; or official/public domain content that everyone is allowed to use (i.e. the official Pokémon sprites). Theft and other illegal activities will not be tolerated.
• In a similar vein, I am not going to affiliate with standalone forums, oekakis, or other similar websites with content that is primarily generated by a large userbase and not by actual site staff. No, not even if your forum is huge and has over 5,000 users and 100,000 posts.
• The majority of your site should be relatively work- or school-safe and appropriate for viewers under the age of 17. Any content meant for older audiences should be clearly marked as such. Outright porn, hentai or similar will not be permitted.
• I don't care how many pages you have or how many hits you get. All I care about is how interesting and/or useful what you do have is. You can get thousands of unique hits a day and have 1200 pages of content, but if that content is crappy or makes you look like a bad clone of a more popular site then I don't want to affiliate with you.
• I don't care if your layout is a Webs premade or something, as, again, my primary concern is the quality of your content. At the very least, though, you should choose a layout that looks nice, is readable and will not make my eyes bleed with its horrible, garish colors. A hand-made layout unique to your site is always a good thing, of course.
• I know I'm the poster child for infrequent updates, so I won't ask that you're updating with something new every day. Your site should not be dead, however, so I will ask that you update at least once or twice every three months.
• Your spelling and grammar don't have to be perfect, but your writing does have to be readable and something resembling professional. Excessive chatspeak or sentence structure that looks like it came from a seven-year-old is not cool. (An affiliation requirement that says anything about "spelling and grammer" is not cool either, by the way. If your site has phrasing to that effect then I will be sorely tempted to reject you on the spot.)
• You should be at least halfway tolerable as a person. We can all be snide every now and then, but I am not altogether too fond of outright jackasses.
• I need to like your site. It can have lots of unique, interesting content, a great webmaster and otherwise go above and beyond the other requirements, but at the end of the day if I don't like it then I just don't like it and probably won't want to recommend it to others.

Affiliating with Other dcNET Sites/Projects

Generally, if you're affiliating with dcNET then you are affiliating with this site alone and not with any of the other projects in the network (currently the Phoenixdex). If you are interested in affiliating with one of the network sites and not with dcNET, mention this in your affiliation request and we can work something out.

Alternatively, if you would like to be considered an affiliate of several or all of the current dcNET network sites, you can request this as well. Your button or link will be displayed on all sites in question; because I will be displaying your link in more than one location, however, I may hold your site to a higher standard than usual. It's only fair that I reserve this extra exposure for top-caliber sites, after all.

After You Request Affiliation

If I reject your affiliation request, I'll generally do my best to explain exactly why I turned your site down and suggest ways that you can improve for your next attempt. After you take my suggestions (or politely defend your side of the argument, if applicable, and manage to convince me), you're welcome to try applying again. Whatever happens, please don't take my rejection personally; my opinion of your site has nothing to do with my opinion of you.

If I accept you, congratulations! I'll add your button to whichever sites you've chosen to affiliate with, and I'll expect to see my button up within a week or so. I will continue to keep up with your site to make sure that you're still meeting my requirements, and if you slip below them I will de-affiliate with you and remove your button. I will also remove your button if you remove mine without warning, if your website breaks without warning, or if you go on one of those idiotic and unnecessary hiatuses (hiatuses will be classed as "idiotic and unnecessary" at my discretion). If you see that I've removed your button and want me to put it back, contact me again and explain the situation.

If you are going to be making any major changes to the site that could affect your affiliate status (such as changing URLs, a massive change in site scope, a hiatus that you think I might consider worthwhile, etc.), please contact me and let me know as soon as possible. I have no problem updating your URL, but if you don't tell me and I can't find your site then I will consider it dead. Changes in site scope may mean that I'll need to re-evaluate your site and make sure that it's still something I'm interested in remaining affiliated with.

 

That's about it, so go ahead and contact me if you're interested.

Pretty Buttons

Need a dcNET button or other image for your affiliate or link section? Here you go!

(88x31)

(350x80)

(350x80)

Please save the images you use to your own server or image hosting account (like Photobucket) and link to them from there; I don't mind affiliating with you or getting free publicity, but I draw the line at you leeching my bandwidth. Thanks.

Sorry, but I don't have buttons in other sizes at the moment. You're welcome to make one on your own if you really need one in, say, 88x16 or something.

This page was created on 03/12/10 19:15:58 and last modified on 09/06/10 22:07:59.