How affiliate relationships work on this site.

What an affiliate link is

An affiliate link is a URL that includes a tracking identifier so that the retailer or software vendor can attribute a sale back to the referring site. When a reader clicks an affiliate link and later makes a purchase, the retailer pays Sentinel Identity a small commission (typically between three and thirty percent depending on the program). The commission is paid by the retailer out of their existing margin — the reader pays exactly the same price they would if they had reached the retailer directly.

How affiliate links are marked

Any link on this site that is an affiliate link carries the HTML attribute rel="sponsored", which is the standard signal to search engines and readers that the link is a paid relationship. Where an entire post or section relies on affiliate revenue, a visible disclosure appears at the top of the article. The disclosure is not buried in the footer or hidden behind a link.

Programs the site participates in

The specific programs currently active are listed below. The list is updated when a program is joined or ended. If you notice a link on the site that appears to be an affiliate link to a program not listed here, please let us know.

• Amazon Associates (Canada, US, UK). Small referral commission on physical goods (hardware, books, FIDO2 security keys) linked from technical posts.
• Reserved for future certification-vendor partnerships. If the site adds an affiliate relationship with a practice-exam or training vendor, it will appear here.
• Reserved for future backup / security / MSP-tooling partnerships. Same note as above.

This list will grow as the site partners with vendors whose products are genuinely useful to a Microsoft admin audience. It won't grow to include vendors whose products aren't recommended editorially.

How affiliate relationships affect what gets written

They don't, and the rest of this section explains the specific commitments that back that claim up.

• Affiliate status is not a prerequisite for coverage. A product being written about doesn't mean an affiliate relationship exists, and an affiliate relationship doesn't mean the product gets special treatment. Products get recommended when they'd be recommended anyway, regardless of whether the site earns a commission on the recommendation.
• Recommendations are practitioner-driven, not commission-driven. If a higher-commission alternative exists to a recommended product, the recommendation stays with the product that's actually the better technical choice for the reader.
• Affiliate programs are never a factor in negative coverage. If a vendor whose affiliate program the site participates in ships a feature that has real problems, the site will write about those problems the same way it would for any other vendor.
• Sponsorship is separate from affiliate. A future sponsored post would be labelled Sponsored visibly at the top of the article, would not be intermixed with editorial content, and would follow the disclosure standards documented in the editorial policy.

FTC, CASL, and related compliance

Sentinel Identity operates in Canada and reaches an international audience. This disclosure is intended to satisfy the disclosure expectations of the US Federal Trade Commission (16 CFR Part 255 endorsement and testimonial guidelines), Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) where relevant to commercial electronic messages, and equivalent frameworks in other jurisdictions. If your local jurisdiction has stricter requirements and something on this page is unclear, please contact us.

Contact and corrections

Questions about affiliate relationships, corrections to what's disclosed here, or concerns about a specific link on the site: email info@sentinelidentity.ca or use the contact form. We respond within two business days.