So you're proposing that affiliate links should be reserved to shaddy, useless articles wereas actually well written, useful articles should avoid it ? I understand the conflict of interest of course...
Opinion: This shadiness is not in having a referral link at the beginning of the article which seems to be the "accepted" way. The problem arises when almost every noticeable use of the word is a link and a referral code. Note probably not an automated replace but a conscious selection.
What I'm suggesting is that any article which appears to have been written for the primary purpose of driving affiliate traffic, as this one appears to have been done, is shady.