Even worse is the trend at boingboing, over the last 1.5 to 2 years, of putting in an obvious throwaway article just for the affiliate link.

Here's a recent example:

http://boingboing.net/2013/08/24/flash-gordon-1980.html

Add a little color commentary about how you like the Queen soundtrack, a bit about some related context, and then stick in the affiliate link.