View Poll Results: Are GPWA Sponsored listings misleading?

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  • Yes they are

    20 57.14%
  • No they are not

    11 31.43%
  • Have no opinion

    4 11.43%
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  1. #61
    MichaelCorfman's Avatar
    MichaelCorfman is offline GPWA Executive Director
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    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelCorfman View Post
    1. Add support for AGD program rating information on sponsor affiliate program pages when available. This has been planned for a while, but on Friday the actual implementation plans were fleshed out so the work could be done.

    2. Add affiliate payment information for a program to the program's page using data gathered from the new affiliate payment system deployed on the GPWA website last week.
    I'm pleased to report that we have made progress with respect to both of these items.

    There is an announcement about the first item in the following thread:

    www.gpwa.org/forum/affiliate-guard-dog-ratings-ecogra-certifications-now-shown-gpwa-sponsors-181665.html.

    And, while I did not do a special announcement, we now show the most recent couple of payments from affiliate programs to affiliates as reported by the AGD affiliate payment application.

    More work is underway, so there will be additional announcements in this thread as more work is completed.

    We tend to roll development projects out on Wednesday for announcement in the GPWA Times newsletter released that day, and I am expecting to have an announcement next week of some additional work having been completed.

    Michael
    GPWA Executive Director, Casino City CEO, Friend to the Village Idiot
    Resources for Affiliates: iGamingDirectory.com, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com, GamingMeets.com

  2. #62
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    All good and proof of the continued movement towards the greater cause.

    Much Kudos to Michael and the GPWA
    Paul

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    GAU - Gambling Afilliates Union


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  3. #63
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    AK
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    Quote Originally Posted by penny-slot-machines View Post
    I think there will always be a huge incentive for programs to respond to affiliate problems here, irrespective of whether they pay to be listed or not

    Through these boards, I've been contacted by programs that do not advertise here. They simply PM me - generally after I had posted about problems I had with them.

    One program explained to me they don't have a board of their own here on GPWA as they refuse to pay the prices to be a 'sponsor'. It was still in their interest to use the boards, read my post and get in contact, though...

    Why?

    They want my referrals!
    That's funny.. I also get Spam Pm from other non affiliate programs on the private message system all the time. I figure if there unable to pay the little fee involved for being a sponsor they are more likely untrustworthy and or broke.

    I have had a problem with a non sponsor program here in the past.

  4. #64
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    Nandakishore is offline In Memorium, 1935-2014
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    The SPONSOR AFFILIATE PROGRAM DIRECTORY is now excellent. It includes all relevant information. However, I noticed that the Bronze Sponsor is not at all mentioned in the pdf document dealing with the sponsor packages. Is this just an ommission or is the Bronze Sponsor treated differently?

  5. #65
    MichaelCorfman's Avatar
    MichaelCorfman is offline GPWA Executive Director
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nandakishore View Post
    The SPONSOR AFFILIATE PROGRAM DIRECTORY is now excellent. It includes all relevant information. However, I noticed that the Bronze Sponsor is not at all mentioned in the pdf document dealing with the sponsor packages. Is this just an ommission or is the Bronze Sponsor treated differently?
    We made a decision to phase out the bronze sponsorship package several months ago - we decided three levels was plenty in terms of providing affiliate programs with choices - so we no longer offer a separate bronze sponsorship level in our marketing literature. Once the phase-out is complete there will be no more bronze sponsors displayed on the site - just platinum, gold, and silver.

    Michael
    GPWA Executive Director, Casino City CEO, Friend to the Village Idiot
    Resources for Affiliates: iGamingDirectory.com, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com, GamingMeets.com

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  7. #66
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    MichaelCorfman is offline GPWA Executive Director
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    I'm pleased to report that this week we have addressed item three from my list development projects posted earlier in this thread as ways I thought we could provide more clarity to affiliates about sponsor programs:

    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelCorfman View Post
    3. Make the links from affiliate program pages to the forums to affiliate programs much more prominent so that new affiliates are more likely to use that information in a decision about whether or not to work with an affiliate program.
    The announcement about the changes made are in this thread: www.gpwa.org/forum/new-information-included-gpwa-sponsor-listings-181783.html

    What we did was add a new section to affiliate program listings that covers recent forum posts. It lists a few threads from the forum, each with a link to the corresponding thread. And afterwards the posts is a prominent button to visit the forum for the affiliate program. My expectation is that this will result in affiliates being much more likely to review the forum posts for an affiliate program before making a decision to join the program.

    Michael
    GPWA Executive Director, Casino City CEO, Friend to the Village Idiot
    Resources for Affiliates: iGamingDirectory.com, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com, GamingMeets.com

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    Betpartners (25 June 2009), Chips (25 June 2009), Nandakishore (27 June 2009)

  9. #67
    MichaelCorfman's Avatar
    MichaelCorfman is offline GPWA Executive Director
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    I'm pleased to report that this week we have addressed item five from my list development projects posted earlier in this thread as ways I thought we could provide more clarity to affiliates about sponsor programs:

    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelCorfman View Post
    4. Incorporate changes into the GPWA website to help make it clear that higher sponsor levels are based on the level of support provided to the GPWA by a sponsor program and that sponsorship levels do not correspond with some sort of recommendation level for a particular program.

    5. Create some type of guide for affiliates (particularly newbies) on choosing affiliate programs that can be linked to from various places in the site that explains how to choose an affiliate program, and that clearly emphasizes the importance of looking through the forums and also makes is clear that sponsorship is not an endorsement as indicated in item 4 above.
    As announced today in the GPWA Times newsletter and in the announcement thread www.gpwa.org/forum/new-gpwa-wiki-focuses-guidance-choosing-affiliate-programs-181911.html we have actually gone to very significant lengths to address item 5 in a fashion that I believe we will all be proud of over time by creating a GPWA wiki.

    Unlike forums, a wiki enables members of a community to collaborate together with one another to develop articles that represent the knowledge and experience of all of the members. The initial project that is the impetus for the launch of our wiki point 5 above - a project to share with one another how to evaluate and choose affiliate programs. Between all of us we have a great deal of practical expertise in this area. I believe all of us can benefit by sharing that expertise with one another.

    Included in the new wiki is a page on GPWA sponsorship with the following initial content:

    Many affiliates view an affiliate program's sponsorship of the GPWA positively when deciding whether or not to work with an affiliate program. There are a number of advantages to working with GPWA sponsor programs, but it is also important to understand that the fact that a program is a sponsor of the GPWA does not mean the GPWA or its members have performed any special certification for the program. While the GPWA does maintain certain standards, there is no guarantee that every sponsor program lives up to those standards.

    All GPWA sponsor programs sign a contract in which they agree that the affiliate program and the operators they represent will abide by the GPWA code of conduct which includes the following provisions.

    * Abides by all laws, regulations, and license requirements of the jurisdictions within which they operate.
    * Is truthful in all promotions and publishes only accurate information about their operations.
    * Publicly discloses any rules and registration procedures affecting affiliates or the public.
    * Uses only ethical means of promotion either directly or indirectly through others.
    * Pays both affiliates and players promptly in accordance with published terms and conditions.
    * Promptly responds to complaints either by affiliates or by affiliates on behalf of their players.
    * Accepts responsibility for compliance with the terms of the sponsor code of conduct.

    However, affiliate programs are run by people, and even people with the best of intentions sometimes do not live up to their commitments. This can be particularly true if an affiliate program encounters financial or staffing difficulties or if the ethical commitments made by a sponsor program do not have the full support of the owners of the program or the owners of the gaming sites they represent.

    Good affiliate programs act in an ethical fashion, take responsiblity for their mistakes, and work hard to ensure they are corrected. The GPWA operates independent forums for sponsor affiliate programs to create an environment where there is visibility around the interactions between affiliates and sponsor affiliate programs. This transparency enables affiliates to review the experiences of their peers and factor that information into considering whether they wish to work with a particular affiliate program.

    When evaluating whether a GPWA sponsor program is an affiliate program you would want to work with you should look at the comments of fellow webmasters made in the forum for the affiliate program to see if the program lives up to the commitment it has made as a sponsor program. If you work with a sponsor program you should share your views with fellow affiliates in the forums. And when you see a complaint about a sponsor affiliate program you should understand that every affiliate program has affiliates that are not happy with it at least some of the time. Look at how the affiliate program responds. When an affiliate program shows that it cares about issues and wants to work to have them resolved then you know that you have an affiliate program that wants to work with you as a partner.

    One additional factor to consider is GPWA sponsorship level. Sponsorship levels are determined by the level of funding a sponsor program provides to the GPWA and the level of exposure the program receives on the GPWA website in return. So higher sponsorship levels indicate a greater level of financial commitment to establishing and maintaining relationships with GPWA members but they do not indicate a different level of endorsement by GPWA members.
    If you have ideas for further improvements to this page you can make edits to the contents of the page on the wiki at GPWA wiki sponsorship page. Or you can add more information about how to choose affiliate programs in the guide being created in the wiki. Just click on "WIKI" in the top navigation bar on the GPWA website to read or edit our new wiki.

    Michael
    GPWA Executive Director, Casino City CEO, Friend to the Village Idiot
    Resources for Affiliates: iGamingDirectory.com, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com, GamingMeets.com

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  11. #68
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    Great job Michael!

    I just made some minor edits to some content. It's really easy and straight forward to navigate, edit and add content.

    The GPWA Wiki is sure to become a very valuable resource for the entire industry.

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