Lets Build an Analytics & Reporting Website for File Host Affiliates' Earnings

[Peter South]

Every File Host that I've ever affiliated with has provided their affiliate's with statistical information and reporting for earned commission. My thought is to create a central website which is integrated into various file hosts allowing users to view useful information on their earnings.

A couple thoughts I have on the types of information provided would start with a graph displaying the comparisons of file host affiliate earnings over a period of time; with another idea showing a list of files with associated earnings sort-able by the files which have earned the most commission.

One major concern for development of this website is that each user will need to enter each of their file hosts' log in credentials so that the website can receive the reporting data. These credentials must be encrypted so that only the user themselves can enter and change them. Also communication with the various file hosts which are integrated with will have to be done in an extremely secure manner, either using VPN tunnels and/or HTTPS authentication.

I don't know if this is something that anyone else thinks would be a good idea or not, so please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas (good or bad) on this concept...

 

[ankurs]

better make a installable APP instead of web service, because nobody is going to trust all user/pass with 3rd party

also multiple logins from 1/similar IP/s would raise a flag at file hosting sites and could lead to bans

 

[BlaZe]

I'm in for this project :D
I'm not a backend coder but I can mostly work on the visual impact of the website and manage it.

 

[Peter South]

better make a installable APP instead of web service, because nobody is going to trust all user/pass with 3rd party

also multiple logins from 1/similar IP/s would raise a flag at file hosting sites and could lead to bans

Actually I know what your saying and the idea (which I forgot to mention) would be that the site would anonymously share some stats with the other users so that each user could see where they stand in comparison to other users. A similar example of this would be Keep2Share's various monthly affiliate promotions which shows your position and the amount earned, while not revealing anyone's position. Here is a screenshot:

So yes, trust in security is a major concern for this to work. Ideally we could use a trusted open-source encryption tool (kind of like TrueCrypt) to encrypt credentials stored on the system.


As far as file hosts raising red flags, I authenticate from 10+ IPs from around the globe throughout the day as I perform uploads to various file hosts and I've never once been red flagged.

However, three years ago I had endless trouble with FileServe as I was downloading over 500GB per day (I was lucky enough to have a gigabit downlink at the office and was permitted to download as much as I wanted since we only needed the uplink for business use). They claimed they thought I was sharing my premium credentials while in reality I was simply downloading heavy at work with my laptop, then when I would go around to various places with my laptop JDownloader would automatically turn on and start downloading.

So really I don't think this will cause any red flags, and if it does we'll work with the File Hosts to have them whitelist the IP(s) of the server.

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Added after 1:

I'm in for this project :D
I'm not a backend coder but I can mostly work on the visual impact of the website and manage it.

We'll probably just use Twitter Bootstrap API for the front end like every other website uses thesedays. As far as managing it, it should be self managing and not require moderation as needed in for example forums like this.

But if you have any general thoughts, concerns, or ideas for this then feel free to share

 

[bubawuba]

Great idea, sounds hard to execute.

 

[Peter South]

Great idea, sounds hard to execute.

Thanks, it shouldn't be too difficult to do for 5 or 6 file hosts to start.

The real hard part will be figuring out a way to prove that passwords are encrypted and that anyone with root level access to the server can't decrypt them.

It didn't help that just as soon as I proposed this idea on here that the news dropped about the Z_O_O_M Uploader shithead using his service to harvest people's file hosting usernames and passwords to log in and delete their files.

After the holidays I'm going to explore this a little more with a few file hosts that I work closely with. Until then I'm all ears to any suggestions or ideas regarding encryption of usernames and passwords.

 

[Peter South]

Judging by the lack of response to this idea that I had I'm going to assume that the security of one's File Host accounts is to blame, and I completely understand those concerns.

So maybe the best way to go about this is with a slight twist...

Build an app that runs on Windows that logs into your File Host accounts and gets the affiliate earnings data which is then processed locally by the app itself. The app itself will have the ability to generate a CSV file that can be manually uploaded into a website to compare your earnings with other affiliates. The other affiliates will simply be those who have previously uploaded their CSV file to the site and will also be listed anonymously so that nobody could be tied to what their actual earnings are.

This way we'll still have the ability to share analytics with others to see how we are doing with various file hosts & will have a really secure kickass app that will make it easier for us to track file/image host affiliate earnings over time to see which host & what files earn the most so that we can maximize profitability.

So how about this new idea?

 

[FirstLast]

Judging by the lack of response to this idea that I had I'm going to assume that the security of one's File Host accounts is to blame, and I completely understand those concerns. So maybe the best way to go about this is with a slight twist... Build an app that runs on Windows that logs into your File Host accounts and gets the affiliate earnings data which is then processed locally by the app itself. The app itself will have the ability to generate a CSV file that can be manually uploaded into a website to compare your earnings with other affiliates. The other affiliates will simply be those who have previously uploaded their CSV file to the site and will also be listed anonymously so that nobody could be tied to what their actual earnings are. So how about this new idea?

Ed, you openly threatened the proliferation and misuse of personal membership registration data, as well as DMCA data, collected by your now defunct site (FileGuide).

You have been repeatedly banned on forums such as Kitty-Kats and AnonIB, due to such public threatening, OF YOUR OWN REGISTERED MEMBERS.

Why should anyone trust you with any of their information, ever? Seriously.