Yeah, posting referral links on Bitcointalk isn't allowed. You won't get banned for it, just your posts will be deleted. So, I promote affiliate links indirectly. All these referral links is uploaded to my blog, and here on Bitcointalk just post links to my blog.
What if someone leave affiliate links directly in their profile page? They do not post affiliate links, so they will not get deleted posts, but how they will be treated if they won't get bans, as you wrote?
You can leave affiliate links in your signature, profile and etc, it will be ok. It's only not allowed to leave direct ref links in your posts.
@DdmrDdmr, offcourse, if someone will post a lot of ref links like using spam bot, offcourse he is risking to get temporary and maybe even permanent ban. But nobody will ban just for few posted affiliate links. It will be deleted same like shitposts, off-topic posts and etc.