First, I was registered user at text-link-ads.com (TLA). While I’m not very active using TLA, I do sometimes got emails from them. Mostly an announcement email regarding their new product.

On Nov 20, I got the following email from TLA:

Hello, we are excited to announce our newest publisher offering www.inLinks.com
inLinks allows you to sell simple text link ads within the content of your website
without the annoying pop ups that other competing programs have! We also have
launched the most aggressive affiliate program in the blogosphere! Paying out up
to 15% of all referred publisher revenue for a full two years! You can promote
inLinks via banners or simple links

There are many benefits that make inLinks a great fit for your site:

Ads that are easy on the eyes. Sell in content ads without the annoying pop up

Predictable revenue. Get paid a flat rate per month per ad sold.

Full editorial control. Approve or deny ads as they are sold or allow us to control.

Blog friendly. Install our simple plugin and we take care of the rest. Just sit back
and collect your monthly earnings. Plugins available for: WordPress, MoveableType
and Drupal.

Sign up to start making more money with your website now!

Thanks, TLA

75 Broad Street | 23rd Floor | New York, NY 10004 | 877.480.9755 |
http://www.text-link-ads.com

© 2008 Text Link Ads Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Email date: Nov 21.

I must say I’m interested in inLinks because they have plugin/module for Drupal, which I’m using at the moment and the way the links showed “…simple text link ads within the content of your website…”

Long story short, I registered with them and add this site to the system. Something weird here, somehow they have invalid thumbnail of my site. See picture below:

I do not know where they pulled the thumbnail, maybe they produce their own. Since Alexa Thumbnail Service is showing the correct thumbnail. Their Alexa rank is correct though.

Ok, long story short again… I downloaded the Drupal module which they provided, which is a zip compressed file. I extracted the file, got the following:
inlinks:
- inlinks.info
- inlinks.install
- inlinks.module

I open the inlinks.info file using my text editor, this is what in there:
; $Id: inlinks.info,v 1.3 2008/06/05 23:36:00 mikejoconnor Exp $
name = Inlinks Ads Integration
description = Allows users to sell hard coded links within the node body.
core = 6.x

Well, looks like this module coded for Drupal v6.x. Too bad, mine is v5.x. Since I’m very interested to know how this network works, I manually install the module. A few minutes later I got this email from inLinks:

My_Name,

It appears that you have installed our plugin on a domain other than the one you submitted.
You submitted kaliphonia.com, however, [color=red]your plugin was recently enabled on . [/color]

Please install your plugin on the proper site, or contact us with questions.
Your site cannot be enabled in our marketplace until this issue is resolved.

Thanks,

inLinks.com
[email protected]
http://www.inlinks.com/

© 2008 InLinks.com – 75 Broad St. 23rd Floor, New York City, NY 10004

Email date: Nov 21.

I was installing the module on the correct domain, why do I get such email?

I got the feeling that their system isn’t 100% ready. Why? See the red line, “…enabled on .” This is either a typo or they don’t get the domain name. I think it should read “…enabled on.” or “…enabled on somedomain.com.”. Notice the extra space between “on” and dot.

I replied the email on the same day and stating that the module was activated on the correct domain. No reply from them until I write this (Nov 30).

Ok, since manual install do not work properly. Actually its installed, but no inlinks menu showed up on the backend. I asked them if they have module for Drupal v5.x (Nov 21). Three days later I got a reply:

Hi My_Name, yes our ad script should work with Drupal v5.x.

Thanks

——————
inLinks_Director_of_Customer_Relations_Name
Director of Customer Relations

InLinks
Tel: 877-480-**** ex. 1571
Fax: 646-417-****
Email: dhay****@inlinks.com
http://www.InLinks.com

Email date: Nov 24.

I believe he does not consult with their developer before answering my email. Because the module is clearly for v6.x, not v5.x. I’ll show you one proof why I believe the module is not available for v5.x.

File inlinks.install, line 50:
drupal_install_schema('inlinks');

Drupal “drupal_install_schema” function is only available on v6.x and later. Reference: http://api.drupal.org/api/function/drupal_install_schema/6

I replied the email on the same day (Nov 24), stating that the module will not work for v5.x and I included above proof to them. I haven’t heard from them again regarding this issue since that day. FYI, its Nov 30, 2008 18:41:48 now.

While I was very interested in trying how this one works, but the way they handled this issue turned me down. Not to mention the timeframe takes to answer my email. For now, I’ll drop this network.

Note: some personal part of the email was hidden to avoid personal matters goes to public.

Edit:
—–
Jan 10, 2009: Fixing some typos.