"In general, how easy could one make it for people to recommend products to each other, and split the commission between publisher, recommender, and facilitator?"
That's exactly what Squidoo is designed for. It's especially designed for short pages that combine advice and information with product recommendations.
If the recommender already has the ability to earn affiliate money without the platform taking a cut, why would the recommender want to give the platform a cut? With Squidoo it makes sense because they get more traffic than they would otherwise, but if I could just set up an Amazon affiliate account and use that to post a link onto news.yc, what do I stand to gain by giving YC a cut?
why would the recommender want to give the platform a cut?
Because setting up affiliate accounts and links is a pain in the ass. You gave Google a cut by not making it a direct link - a 100% cut... if there were an easy way of inserting a link straight to Amazon, you probably would have done it.
Also, platforms would be interested in providing more prominent placement for recommendations than they would other content. In other words, ads configurable by the website's users. Kind of like what Adpinion is doing, but instead of just voting on ads, you actually recommend relevant ads for the content.
I'm usually really cynical about my own ideas, but this one seems pretty solid... am I missing something?
Imagine if YC were to automatically load the links, and re-format them to use the YC referrer, and then add a button in your profile that allows you to request a check for your 1/2.
You don't need affiliate accounts with 15 different companies. The platform takes care of it for you, and cuts you a check. Think of it as a meta-affiliate.
That's exactly what Squidoo is designed for. It's especially designed for short pages that combine advice and information with product recommendations.