So here is my take as a very successful affiliate and model on Chaturbate... I will try to be succint so I will do a list.
1) Affiliates who drive traffic to the site deserve all their revenue. It is unfair when models poach the affiliate accounts. Since both models and affiliates are allowed to work with the affiliate program and models have a first hand interaction with the account holders we can definitely say there is a conflict of interest between affiliates and models that tends to resolve in the model's favor.
2) On the other hand many models drive more traffic to Chaturbate than the affiliates themselves. They hook members on social media and funnel the traffic to their Chaturbate room. Many models have MASSIVE online presence on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Youtube, and some (like me) have massive mailing lists. These models drive fresh traffic to Chaturbate and they too, should be compensated for it. You might think that the 50% they get from tokens spent on them should be enough, but what you aren't seeing is the model only gets 50% as long as she is online working live on cam. It is a very rare case when a model receives offline tips worth anything. While an affiliate wakes up in the morning to 100 USD revenue while he was sleeping, a model never sees this. While an affiliate can take a week off and still see revenue generated by the members he converted last year, last month, etc... a model relying on her tips will get 0 that week. So models do resort to the affiliate program as a safety net.
3) When a model pushes hard for conversions because she has some skin in the game she will convert users with other affiliate cookies too. She converts 300 anonymous to members? Maybe 100 had her cookie, 200 had someone else's. As long as she doesn't ask members to clear cookies and create new accounts, any conversions that she makes where someone else has the cookie in place will go to the original referrer. So, if a model pushes for conversions the affiliates win too.
4) The problem then is a matter of whether the model is POACHING existing members or CREATING brand new ones. I personally always considered it below the belt to act in the second way especially those models who added that to their bios. My wording was always "IF YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT then please log-in to help me climb in the contest and IF YOU DON'T then create one using this link xxxxx". This should be fine. But many models do not word it like that.
5) There IS a real problem of a conflict of interest however... the stink affiliates are making on GFY and other forums is a little off base because they are simply SPECULATING. Meaning: it is impossible for an affiliate to know when a big account drops why it happened. Some members simply run out of money and drop off the site out of the blue. Others get caught by their wives. Some members simply decided one day that they had a funnier username in mind and they create it from their office computer without your original cookie in it. It is simply a fact of life in affiliate marketing that you have to keep converting new accounts in order for your income to remain the same because users do tend to have a lifespan and that's simply the way it is. And what I see is many affiliates who aren't seeing a profit like they would like, instead of taking a hard look at their own hustle, start to make up a scenario in their minds in which models are stealing all their accounts. And while this does happen, it isn't as prevalent as you would think.
6) Another thing to consider from the models perspective is this... there are 100s of members who come and go and spend here and there and wouldn't ditch their account for any model. You get to keep the revenue of these users forever. However, these members who don't establish a connection tend to stop spending rather quickly Each model has a handful of members she really devotes herself to both in terms of emotional connection and special attention. If she didn't do this the members would never spend as much as they do or maybe even at all because the spending is connected to the relationship with the model. Many models consider this extra effort they put into the relationship and the loyalty these members have for her a reason to keep the revenue for themselves, because if it wasn't for them the member wouldn't even be there. If the model switches platforms, the members would go with her, etc.
7) In my humble opinion Chaturbate should be very strict with models about not using their affiliate link while they are broadcasting. Only to use it off-site, for instance, in their social media so they make sure that the accounts they are converting are fresh. However, I am sure that even if the site would set a rule like this in place, affiliates would say that models are sending all the traffic to their twitter so they can poach from there.
8) Even if Chaturbate wanted to forbid models from their affiliate program it is VERY HARD to police. As it is right now ANYONE can use the affiliate program, unlike CPA networks where you have to go through 15 hoops, send them a picture of your cat and swear over the bible your traffic is clean, Chaturbate lets anyone use an affiliate link. This is fantastic in terms of usability but it does make it harder to stop models from using the program as a model would simply have to create a new user accountt to get a referral link.
9) No matter what the actual scope of the problem is... or how Chaturbate handles it, the real problem is the opinion climate and right now Chaturbate's affiliate program is suffering a big hit. This drives affiliates away from Chaturbate and they start promoting other offers like Stripchat which is now ubiquitous and taking the spot of what used to be Chaturbate banners. This should be worrisome to Chaturbate AND to affilaites like yourself who promote the site because tippers follow herd mentality and they tip when they see others tipping. If the flow of new users slows down your own affiliate accounts will stop spending as much because they will not see the tips flowing across site. Someone interested in promoting this offer also should have an interest in others promoting the site too because the more fresh quality users are on CB the more tips will flow and that brings up the spending across the board.
10) As a model, all in all, I wish there was an easy solution. A camsite is nothing without traffic and traffic is owed to affiliates who send it our way. If push comes to shove I wouldn't be entirely opposed to CB banning models from the affiliate program, but I don't think it's on CBs best interest considering how much fresh traffic models bring from social media and how hard they try to convert it while on cam. Maybe they should keep strict rules as to the wording on the bios.