IIRC there are instances of exceptions of having referral/affiliate link on the OP, I guess that's related of freebitco.in, it was a quality thread and full of info regarding the topic and it wasn't deleted, it was held and even got questioned on meta for discussion. I'm still finding this thread.

Meanwhile, here's a thread of full of referral links made on 2012 and still up, not sure for the links though
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=120757.0