Following the rumors yesterday is news today via an updated FAQ (login required) from Commission Junction that they are easing up on their plans to make a hard cut-over to Javascript links for any newly formed advertiser-publisher relationships after June 23rd. The plan to roll out Javascript-based links (as opposed to plain-old HTML links) remains. However, it will be optional in all cases.

The FAQ states that this will be the case at least until early 2007 and that they will give at least six months notice before imposing any hard requirements on use of the new link types. It's a start for sure.

There has been quite an outcry from the affiliate community about this change, which speaks to now only how widely-used the Commission Junction platform is all over the world, but also to how important a change that CJ is making.

Notice I say "is making" and not "was". While they have postponed the required changes, they have specifically not backed off on the plan toward the final requirement of Javascript-only links and still speak of the benefits we will gain from them. So while this issue has become less urgent, it is certainly no less important. There remain technical and performance issues with the use of Javascript links that remain unanswered. I still maintain that there is no replacement for a plain HTML link.

The immediate crisis of the looming June 23rd date is over. CJ will be giving us an opportunity to evaluate the Javascript links and dare I say that they now have time to change their minds.

I do plan on giving the new link methods a fair look. The end result may be no different than what I am expecting of these links, but I don't feel that I can reasonably reject the notion without myself being open to the possibility there are reasonable technical solutions. They hint toward some of these in the recent FAQ, which I'll cover in a separate entry and otherwise report my findings.

As long as Commission Junction has in their stated plans that they will be moving to linking structure that requires the remote loading and execution of javascript code on every webpage affiliate link, I will keep the petition going and encourage anyone who is concerned to sign.