Update 7/10/06 -- see the bottom of this post for a day-after update.

Word out of Affiliate Summit in Orlando is that a Commission Junction representative has stated that there's no end to regular HTML links. If this is in fact true, that's great news. Independent reports are on Revenews and ABW.

I'm not there, but based on the reports,

This is your website using CJ's LMI Javascript links...

This is your website using CJ's LMI Javascript links with Javascript disabled...
 

Any questions?

The webmaster of StyleForFree has been experimenting with Javascript links and has been sharing her experience here on ABW.

She points out some of the great things about

I received this question from a CJ publisher this morning:

I was happy to find your site today and read more about the new CJ affiliate links. I thought I'd start converting last night, but even when checking the option for the link to open in a new window, the JS script did not operate in that manner. I've seen target as a Y/N before in

The Commission Junction Link Management Initiative (LMI) has prompted a strong reaction from affiliates. CJ is planning a change their link structure from plain HTML links over to mandatory use Javascript links. While some may feel that "links are links", or that it must be fine because similar offerings, like Google Adsense and Yahoo

One of the major issues with CJ's new Javascript links is that they prevent affiliates from sending traffic through local redirects. This is a very common method used for tracking and link abstraction. It is, after all, the method upon which traditional affiliate and other tracking links are based. I use local redirects extensively in just

UPDATE: I've added the "How did I do this?" section at the bottom of this entry containing a tool developed to see inside CJ's Javascript Links.

Now that CJ's new Javascript links are available for examination, we can better understand what will be possible, and what will not.

My first glance at the links last night and my test page showed

As promised, CJ has launched their Link Management Initiative on June 23 (a bit early for them, still the 22nd on the west coast).

Here's what a basic link code looks like.

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.dpbolvw.net/placeholder-1299? TARGET=_top&MOUSEOVER=N"></script>

My first observation is

Instead of focusing on the theories and speculations as to why CJ is going forward with what seems to many of us outsiders as insane, my primary focus has always been on the technical aspects. Hey, I'm an engineer, not a politician.

Commission Junction's new FAQ remains vague on technical details, but it is at least a little less vague.

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)

Thousands of Ebay affiliates received an email yesterday regarding their position on CJ's Link Managment Initiative, or their new javascript links. It's pretty vague, but it seems that Ebay is not terribly keen on the idea.

Instead, according to the email they're implementing their own tracking system that is compatible with CJ's reporting.

Those are the incredulous words of an old friend at CJ. (I don't think I'm giving him/her away with that quote. They're in Southern Cal. They all talk like that.)

and yes...another entry about the Link Managment Initiative. It's that important. Like David Lewis wrote recently, I have also been taking a vocal wait-and-see approach to

I don't think I've spoken to anyone who thinks it is a good idea.

The recent announcement that Commission Junction has made regarding their change to Javascript links has caused quite a stir. Angry affiliates are speaking out on message boards and in blogs. Others are pondering the move, seeing no possible good that can come of a change to

News of Commission Junction's Link Management Initiative (background here) has caused a great deal of speculation from all around the industry, from in-the-mud advertisers and affiliates on message boards and blogs to those who comment from the sidelines.

I mentioned the ABestWeb message board thread, yesterday, which has spun into several

Commission Junction Announced this morning that they're fundamentally changing their linking technology from static HTML links to JavaScript links.

Phase I of the Link Management Initiative involves a cutover to the default link type being this new JavaScript link. What's a JavaScript link?

Some other providers use JavaScript links. The