As I expected, the Amazon experiment shows fairly conclusively that the revenue to be obtained is not sufficient to justify any potential controversy that this might cause.
From the other day when I started this, to now, our complete earnings
are $0.34, yes, 34 cents.
These earnings are based on the sales of 5 total items, 4 paperbacks from Amazon, and 1 hardback from their used Marketplace. (However, it looks like the earnings may not have been credited for all the items, so it is possible that a few more cents will trickle in.)
In any event, it is clear to me that under the most optimistic scenario, with the links made more prominent or more often or whatever, the Amazon program could return at most $200 per month. I just made that number up out of thin air, and I actually have no particular idea as to how it could be forced that high.
Therefore, I eagerly conclude that this whole issue is a dead issue, and that we need not consider it much further, if at all.
--Jimbo