Y’all, are you aware of all the companies that pay for surveys?

I’m hustling for income right now, so I use a few of them. Enroll is not worth your time. Mostly they ask for free demographic information from you, and if you get a survey, it’s literally just a few cents. There are some better ones with actual UI feedback, but I’m a bit wary of them. However, now that I have some gain issues with my web cam sorted out, I might do them more and then review them here. Mostly, right now, I do Survey Junkie. Thought about linking them, but they’re easy enough to find and don’t need my little link to make bank.

The gist of it is, you sign up, give them all your demographic specifics, and then they have a dashboard of surveys you can try for. Mostly they are a pittance – 20 minutes for 70 cents, that sort of thing – but if you are efficient, you can make a little petty cash fairly easily. Not much – basically half a tank of gas with a little bit of effort, maybe once or twice a week.

There are pre-qualifiers for most of the surveys, and you’re going to be kicked out 4 out of 5 times on average. Mostly those are quick double checks of income, gender identification, age bracket, that sort of thing. There’s this new screening device, though, that seems fashionable amongst these survey developers. They like you to write them a little paragraph about something personal – your favorite food, best holiday, you get the picture. No explanation. They just ask you to “be specific”. I can’t decide if these are a test of compliance, or if they’re looking for keywords, or if it’s just a bald-faced grab for more demographic material, somehow.

Anyway, I’m absolutely over these. Normally this is where you’ll see the most clues to the personality and background of the survey developer – their inherent class bias, etc. I don’t think they understand who’s taking these surveys, mostly. Asking about my favorite place to holiday is at the very least a bit insensitive, really. And asking for a few hundred words without compensation – as an “aspiring writer” – I really, really hate that. So sometimes I answer seriously, sometimes I tell them a story about living with an abusive man, sometimes I just layout my opinions on their own probable demographics and resultant bias. And I can do the same developer’s screener with the same question for different surveys, and I get completely varied results. Sometimes they kick me out and say I don’t qualify. Sometimes – and this is more common – they say I’ve “broken a rule.” Never do find out what rule, though. It’s a puzzle. Not an important one, but something that occupies my mind. I can’t figure it out. If I do, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, picture me – rebellious, survey-taking, anarchist.