i know NOTHING about lead gen

We've all heard the horror stories of affiliate managers rolling in to start up a program and getting canned for spending epic cash on crappy leads. Sorta like starting up a PPC campaign with no daily limit and "weight loss" in broad match.

I'd prefer not to get fired within a month, to be frank. So i've resolved to not be one of those guys. 

But man, am i ever starting from scratch. Virtually everything i've ever done has been transaction based - the concept of spending money solely for information is terrifying. 

I've been posting to wickedfire and getting pistol whipped along the way, but at least a few kind affiliates (or nasty ones that have me trusting them) have at least pointed me in the right direction. 

Here's what i'm doing:

 - working with the network (inuvo) to start me out small with some quality affiliates

 - scrub, scrub, scrub. I'm not going to be nasty about it, but if i value my head i've got to make sure we get at least a semblance of quality

 - watch who's bringing me what, and suspend affiliates bringing me bunk

 - scrub, scrub, scrub

 - build relationships with affiliates driving good leads

 - scrub, scrub, scrub

 - disabled any tiering or pre populated forms

here's what i'm really terrified about - 13 year olds getting spammed with free macbook offers giving me their informashuns on their path to laptop glory. 

so we'll see. keep ya posted.