Hi Adam,
Don't worry about asking questions, we're here to help.
One thing to keep in mind is that for the most part you can only POTENTIALLY have your commission stolen by another affiliate IF the MERCHANT allows parasites or adware affiliates in their program. Many merchants, including 5 Star programs, pro-actively screen against that type of thing and some affiliate networks like ShareResults and Shareasale don't allow them in either.
Most of the stealing happens due to download applications the consumer has installed on their computer and they all work differently. Some are designed to pop on the merchant site no matter where the visitor comes from, so in those cases I'm not sure cloaking would help.
But there are some other reasons for cloaking or using a re-direct which is what most affiliates do.
Here's a thread with more info.
How to hide your affiliate links