Speaking as a sponsor, I can't imagine doing anything like that. It seems very shortsighted to piss off your affiliates, particularly when there are so many programs to choose from.

We've occasionally experimented with different pricing schemes, but they've always been attached to specific promotions with separate tours and join links that can't be accessed from any of our regular join pages or tours. In most cases, they've either been short-lived specials or experiments to see how pricing variances affect conversions.

Perhaps you should email Matt directly and see what he says. If you get a response, be sure and post it here.