Referral links are OK, as long as they're disclosed.

Finding good things is not easiest either and if that leads to a reward, I'm not one to deny somebody the opportunity to earn.

End of the day, transparency matters and defines IMHO. Let the user/visitor/reader decide if they want to still click it (or remove the referrer from the link). But don't use a URL shortener without disclosure about it being a referrer (or affiliate) link.