[ic] AOL losing session data.

[Dan]

On Mon, 2002-08-26 at 19:14, Dan Browning wrote:
> At 07:06 PM 8/26/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >On Mon, 2002-08-26 at 18:19, Dan Browning wrote:
> > > At 05:48 PM 8/26/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> > > >Quoting Dan <ic@concolor.org>:
> > > >
> > > > > Does anyone have an idea of how to keep AOL users from losing session
> > > > > data? I have had quite a few AOL users come in through affiliates and
> > > > > the affiliate has not recieved credit for their order. This is an
> > > > > intermitant problem with some AOL users not having a problem while
> > > > > others do.
> > > > >
> > > > > I am using IC 4.8.5
> > > > >
> > > > > Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
> > > > >
> > > > > Dan Sabath
> > > > > concolor web services
> > > >
> > > >Hi Dan,
> > > >
> > > >I think the problem lies in the fact that AOL caches the pages of a 
> > site, and
> > > >that is why the users may not be getting proper credit.
> > > >
> > > >Hope this helps.
> > >
> > > I would also add that it is a solvable problem, as AOL wont cache unique
> > > URLs (mv_pc=..., etc.).
> >
> >I wish it were this easy. They are coming in via a URL which includes
> >the mv_pc= variable.
> >http://www.purebio.com/cbin/purebio?mv_pc=0101cws
> >
> >It might be an issue with post variables in the URL.
> >I've checked it with AOL v.7 but haven't been able to get a hold of any
> >end users who know which version they are using.
> 
> Aha, I see what you mean.  You don't get the benefit of the random mv_pc 
> since you are using it to track affiliates.   If I were you, I'd look 
> into using another variable for the affiliate tracking or for the unique 
> URL (perhaps forcing id=? even if they do have cookies enabled).

Hmm. I like the idea of forcing id=? even with cookies. I'll have to
look into how to do that. The main issue is that these are coming in via
google adwords and the URL set up there is static. As it is for many
affiliates. 

I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed. It is not an issue
that would be readily obvious for most affiliate programs. Who is going
to notice that you aren't giving an affiliate credit? We noticed it
because we have tied our shipping charges to affiliate referals and are
having to send refund checks for shipping.

-dan