Re: I remember.......
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when bonuswhores.com wasn't an outright shill zone, filled with a million blinking banners for sites I've never heard of.
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Because a site has banners to poker sites you've never heard of, that makes the site an "outright shill zone"? Just want to make sure I keep current on my definitions.
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I knew it wouldn't be long before you caught that, jek187. I don't mean to hate unnecessarily, but I think I have a point here. Not long ago, your site was clean & elegant. It posted the major bonuses available at the major sites. It had a forum for everything else. There was an air of independence about the views presented.
Nowadays, the site seems to be much more affiliate/"sales" oriented. It is now dominated by "Featured bonuses" (aka bonuses they paid you to advertise), a visually cluttered and very confusing layout, and so on. Hard for a regular joe like me to know for sure whether anything you've posted is based on unbiased information, or whether it is up there because someone paid you to post it.
The difference that really matters is this: I used to feel like BW was a rebel bunch of players seeking to squeeze the most out of the cardrooms. Now I feel, fairly or not, that the site is to a degree a tool of the cardrooms that may or may not be looking out for the players depending on the specific situation at hand. Above all, the site seems to be looking out for its own bottom line, rather than just serving as a forum for players to unite around the concept of maximizing bonuses.
I can't blame BW for securing new income streams, and making a buck or two. Anybody who takes the time and risk to run a site deserves that chance. I can safely say, however, that doing so represents a sea change from the earlier operation of the site. That's my point.
EDIT FOR FAIRNESS: The commercialization BW has gone through (or that I argue it has gone through) has affected countless other aspects of poker over the past few years, so they're hardly the only ones "guilty" on this count. The proliferation of ads and sponsorship of previously intependent poker blogs is another example of what I'm talking about. And let me be clear: I'm not making a value judgement, I'm just making an observation.
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