Referral Link spamming have been quite an issue the last few month. People were disguising referral links to get Cartel coins. I have seen people posting their referral link but make it appear like it was a link to something else, like a SWTOR guide or whatever. People would click on the link thinking they were going somewhere other than becoming that person’s referral. Pretty annoying stuff, but with today’s server maintenance, they made some changes. Now, when you click on someone’s referral link, it will prompt you with a confirmation dialog before accepting the referral. This was implemented to help stop any potential “griefing” that could occur from folks spamming their referral links.

Below is the official announcement from Eric Musco

EricMusco

Update on Referral Links on the Forums | 02.25.2014, 10:06 AM

Hey everyone,

I wanted to let you know that as a part of today’s maintenance, we made a change to how referral links work. Now, when you click on someone’s referral link, it will prompt you with a confirmation dialog before accepting the referral. This was implemented to help stop any potential “griefing” that could occur from folks spamming their referral links.

In lieu of this change we are going to be lifting some of our forum restrictions around referral links. You are once again allowed to place your referral links in your signatures. However, keep in mind that if you are found to be “spamming” your link around the forums, you can still be actioned. Any type of link spam is not permitted and this includes your referral.

Thank you everyone for your patience as we worked through this. Let me know if you have any questions.

-eric