AFN Affiliations - 2025

[Son of Hobbes]

Good morning everyone!

We've been able to operate on donation now for awhile and that's been AWESOME, we cannot begin to say how grateful we are for all the donations that have come in, the generosity you all have shown, and even the support by those not able to donate but still support the site! That said, the donations aren't always consistent with the bills coming for the month, and we want to help create some safety nets for when we have "low months" or simply to have a little extra to throw around for upgrades or doing some fun things for the site. And ultimately we'd like there to be less pressure or feeling of obligation to support the site financially (especially if we can do it through means available that aren't real intrusive.)

Our proposed idea on the table is to affiliate with a N. American-based seed bank (to cover this side of the pond,) then affiliate with a European-based seed bank (to cover that side of the pond.)

We actually have been affiliates of The Vault for literally years, it's just been a bit touch-and-go with our communication with them (but he's here sporadically, and I think if we start pushing and promoting George and the Vault a bit, that we could have him here more often and we'd start to see even more AFN-directed offers and contests!) I'm honestly not sure if I've ever heard a dirty word about these guys.

For North America, we'd like for us to use Multiverse Beans. We've known Paul for a long time, he actually advertised here with us for a good while, and we had a really good 2 hour long chat on the phone here the other week about the future of things and where we both want to be. Multiverse is probably one of the most solid seed banks I've personally seen in the USA, incredibly consistent and amazing feedback from their customers.

I'm fairly certain the Vault ships internationally, and Multiverse just opened up their shipping world-wide (with a guarantee on the order as well,) so they should be able to ship to virtually anywhere on the planet unless it's a hostile territory.

The other idea we had was to do an Amazon affiliate program, where we could post affiliate links to popular products you guys are already using. If you order from Amazon, you'd click on the link for the product (that you were going to buy anyway,) and we'd see a small portion of that come through from the affiliate program.

That way if you WANT to support the site and help through these means, you can! And if not, no harm, no foul, no one's getting bent out of shape.

Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions? Suggestions? Let 'er rip?

At the end of the day, thank you all for supporting the forum! We see good things on the horizon for AFN in 2025!

 

[WildBill]

I think that's quite an excellent idea! I've bought from both seed banks and got great service!
The Amazon affiliate is an excellent idea also!

Also, don't hesitate and be sure to let us know when donations are needed!


Edit............. Any update on the podcast appearance?

 

[Son of Hobbes]

I think that's quite an excellent idea! I've bought from both seed banks and got great service!
The Amazon affiliate is an excellent idea also!

Also, don't hesitate and be sure to let us know when donations are needed!


Edit............. Any update on the podcast appearance?

I didn't hear anything from the guys on this last weekend; it sounds like it's been tough for them to get the "crew" together (I believe the last one was the FIRST one they've done.) I'm following up on it though; I was telling the staff that's part of the plan for 2025 is to really push and get our name back out there.

We're also going to push more on the Skunk magazine affiliation; it got backburnered more than "fizzled," and I think there's still some great opportunities for us to work together in terms of content sharing!

We have two volunteers now helping to bring vendors on to the forum again; @SOOTDAWG is our official AFN Sales Rep, then I'm bringing in my good friend (from Boone Farms) John Johnson, who is educated, well spoken, and honestly really excited at the idea (he's commercially grown but hasn't done much with home growing, but he speaks the language and I think he's going to be a great asset!)

So with that, I'm hoping we'll see some new faces, some products for testing again, and getting some good buzz going!

 

[WildBill]

I didn't hear anything from the guys on this last weekend; it sounds like it's been tough for them to get the "crew" together (I believe the last one was the FIRST one they've done.) I'm following up on it though; I was telling the staff that's part of the plan for 2025 is to really push and get our name back out there.

We're also going to push more on the Skunk magazine affiliation; it got backburnered more than "fizzled," and I think there's still some great opportunities for us to work together in terms of content sharing!

We have two volunteers now helping to bring vendors on to the forum again; @SOOTDAWG is our official AFN Sales Rep, then I'm bringing in my good friend (from Boone Farms) John Johnson, who is educated, well spoken, and honestly really excited at the idea (he's commercially grown but hasn't done much with home growing, but he speaks the language and I think he's going to be a great asset!)

So with that, I'm hoping we'll see some new faces, some products for testing again, and getting some good buzz going!

I do what I can, but living in Shadowland makes it difficult to keep exposure down and be effective at the same time. When more logical heads prevail and we have decent cannabis legislation here in Shadowland, I plan to do much much more.

If you can, when you have the time, please try to set up a thread with instructions and tips that we Members can do here on the website to help bring traffic to the forum.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

I do what I can, but living in Shadowland makes it difficult to keep exposure down and be effective at the same time. When more logical heads prevail and we have decent cannabis legislation here in Shadowland, I plan to do much much more.

If you can, when you have the time, please try to set up a thread with instructions and tips that we Members can do here on the website to help bring traffic to the forum.

I totally get that; I moved back to Nebraska which has little freedoms for cannabis. BUT, they did just pass medical, and we're supposed to see all the official rulings for what that looks like here by summer of 2025! And if that happens, surely they will allow commercial cultivation, and then my ass is FARMING AGAIN YEEEEEAHHH! They are also talking about care-giving here, so there's going to be some options it sounds like!

 

[WildBill]

I totally get that; I moved back to Nebraska which has little freedoms for cannabis. BUT, they did just pass medical, and we're supposed to see all the official rulings for what that looks like here by summer of 2025! And if that happens, surely they will allow commercial cultivation, and then my ass is FARMING AGAIN YEEEEEAHHH! They are also talking about care-giving here, so there's going to be some options it sounds like!

Very nice!!!!!

I'm all about the care-giving aspect! I would absolutely love to have the freedom to take care of my fellow veterans!
I would absolutely love to have the ability to set up a nonprofit to not only take care of disabled veterans, but also offer consulting to help veterans set up their own grows so they can take care of themselves and enjoy the grow.

I could die happily if I could do that........................ After quite a long period of time doing so!

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Very nice!!!!!

I'm all about the care-giving aspect! I would absolutely love to have the freedom to take care of my fellow veterans!
I would absolutely love to have the ability to set up a nonprofit to not only take care of disabled veterans, but also offer consulting to help veterans set up their own grows so they can take care of themselves and enjoy the grow.

I could die happily if I could do that........................ After quite a long period of time doing so!

I would love to see AFN start working with some non-profits again!

I even thought about doing some food drives or sandwich-making for the homeless (locally) on behalf of the forum.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

The affiliate program sounds like a great idea. Sitting in the same boat with the laws in Florida, real draconian, took a good look and think about about them and figure if I get caught out I would most likely end my days in prison. Going to really rework my operation after this crop is done.
But I'll support any way I can.

 

[Buzzard]

Hopefully the seed banks would use postal service for delivery because both Amazon and UPS think the world is flat, and apparently I live just past the edge. I would still have to donate in order to support the site, so keep that option open.

 

[BII]

What will affiliates get? Display advertising or what?

Why not develop a request of proposals (RFP), an outline of exactly what AFN offers and seeks from sponsors (affiliates), and collect proposals and competitive bids from diverse cannabis growing-oriented businesses, including nutrient, lighting, soil/media, etc. manufacturers/marketers, including the big seed manufacturing companies, etc. not just regional (e.g., US, EU) end-user seed (re)sellers? Go with the highest bidder(s) or otherwise best offer(s)? Larger scope may be appropriate. Perhaps a regional program is OK for seed resellers, but most other markets and companies now operate and market globally.

Is AFN from the start limiting its affiliate program, keeping too much within its 'comfort zone' and familiar participants? Is there some bias in favor of small time operations? Maybe AFN needs to target the major manufacturers and marketers, who can profit more (and pay more) from being an affiliate?