Consumerist has me all suspicious of this post...

Just one gift certificate? For ALL of us?

As far as I am concerned this is a disservice to your visitors and consumers generally. All we have is someone's "word" that the information will be "aggregated," but there truly is nothing to stop anyone from mining it more minutely and building individualized profiles. The survey responses will get tied to cookies, no? Which (unless you delete cookies religiously, and refuse them in the first place when possible) means that you could easily get customized spam-ads when you visit websites that check your cookies. And that total strangers know all kinds of things about you that they have no business knowing.

A wise consumer NEVER, I mean NEVER, just offers personal data about themselves (especially income - jeez). Yes, even for a raffle ticket for a $100 prize. I mean, how many stories has Consumerist done about data theft and data abuses?

There is no way I'm going to provide personal information to you for the chance to win something. Of all the places to see this kind of thing, this was the last one I would have suspected.

This is a tet, to see if consumerists are ju8st as gullible as regular joes, many people believe themselves to be impervious to fishy scams thus leaving them uncautious and vunerable to scam artists

I don't really see the big deal. It's not like they can steal my identity with this general vague information. If you don't want to do the survey, then don't. (Not that I am disputing your right to say whatever you like about it. :) )

Yes, it's all a trap for personal information! Please don't answer this survey!

(because it will just increase my odds of winning)

^ Yes! Don't enter so my chances of winning increase!

Consumerist probably doesn't give a crap about your data... the companies that advertise on the Gawker network and here obviously have a vested interest in knowing your stats. The data is probably going to be aggregated and used for marketing purposes.

@darkclawsofchaos: If that's indeed the reason behind this survey, the lack of trust and lack of respect "the big reveal" will generate will chase away users.

I think they're justing looking to get a broad demographic of the site users to adjust their marketing/advertising efforts.

@kidnextdoor: OMG! Kid is right! DON'T ANSWER IT!!!

(Damn... can't delete my other post)

"All of your information will be kept strictly private"

Yeah, Thats what TJX said, and the US Navy, and countless other companies that have my personal data.

God forbid Consumerist do something with a throw-away e-mail address. Oh noes!

all they want is your age, income, educational level, name and email

It's a marketing survey. It's vague - your name and e-mail aren't even required. For all that The Consumerist has done for me I figured "Heck, they have to pay them somehow. Why not?"

Hell, if The Consumerist started charging $5/yr for access I'd gladly pay it, just like I do for wunderground.com (it was $5 when I joined years ago).

I didn't think that The Consumerist readers were THAT paranoid. Wow.

i'll take it...wth, you guys have my spam email address anyway. =)

... waiting for story about how Amazon refused to honor the Consumerist.com gift certificate...

A lot of the users on Consumerist are total douche nozzles now. I'm about ready to give this site up because of all the bickering. I go to Fark for that..

@MercuryPDX: Consumerist's motivation isn't all that untransparent or sinister - Gawker Media's revenue comes from ad sales, and it's to the benefit of both the advertisers and Gawker Media (and consumers too, really) to have a better idea of the demographics.
@demonradio: I'm not sure if Consumerist readers are any more douchey than other GM sites, but this site does seem to have more trolls. I'm actually okay with douches, but the ones here aren't entertaining. Rather, they tend to be the whiny victim blamers and "This story sucks" types.

Jeez, some of you guys need to get hobbies.

Oh I'm sorry. I forgot to add my standard tag.

/humor

That's what I'm talking about.

Well I entered last year to win the Ipod and nothing bad has happened. Besides this Gawker Media chip I have implanted in me it's a little annoying bzzzt...crackle.. I love Gawker Media! I love The Consumerist! Death to humans!

@ThinkAboutItPlease: To be fair, the can get just as much (if not more) information about you and your surfing habits buy purchasing it from your ISP. They just need to run a query for requests from you IP address to their DNS server and they can see which websites you visit. So like it or not, you are being tracked. At least this way they are up front about it and want to know who looks at their website so they can tailor the ads that appear. Plus you have a chance to get $100 gift card.

"A wise consumer NEVER, I mean NEVER, just offers personal data about themselves (especially income - jeez). Yes, even for a raffle ticket for a $100 prize. I mean, how many stories has Consumerist done about data theft and data abuses?"

Funny... I gave some personal info about my self to get my Safeway club card and that saves me hundreds of dollars a year and I have never received spam because of it.

There is a time and place for paranoia...but you are overdoing it.

Anything else? Social security number? My mum's maiden name, perhaps?

I would think that if someone wanted to know more about the readers, they would check out the profiles of the active posters. :P

Am I the only one who suspects that this is just a test to see how gullible some people are for this?

@KivaWolf: I'm rotating my IP address every 15 seconds! They'll never be able to trace me alive! We need to attack all IP addresses, simultaneously!

Does it every occur to anyone to fill out surveys with FAKE info?
Especially for all of you that are so paranoid someone might find out something about you...you can even use use your spam email, presumably the one with all fake info too.
Sure I have a Vons card and a Ralphs card...think either of them has any of my real info? Why bother? I still get the card, the cashier could give a rats ass what name or address is on it. Just like a survey.

@XTC46
I agree, this survey is innocent enough. But Safeway? Saving money? :o My gosh, that place deserves its own "furniture pricing stunts" expose.

BOT, it's a bit interesting how this site that so regularly exposes mischief falls prey to its own medicine.

I've already sold my privacy.. what's another survey?

Oh my God, I was such a fool to answer the survey! They -- they know I went to COLLEGE! Clearly they can steal my identity now.

@8abhive: Safeway does save me money on small things. Without their club card, there prices are about equal to everyone else's around here (still not cheap I paid 5 bucks for a gallon of milk last night and that was on sale) So If I can use their card and save on average 30 percent of my bill Im going to. I do my big shopping at costco, but for small stuff their club card is great.

I find it amusing that the editors/writers haven't commented yet to assure or dessuade. Whether it's a test or whether they just like to read people squirm, that's rather douche-y.

$100 between thousands of readers doesn't really excite me. i don't do surveys anymore because i read one survey that said most surveys are just made up on the spot. lol.
@CumaeanSibyl: and is your name as gross as i think it is? or is that my dirty mind.

How about randomly choosing poll takers to win an expenses-paid trip with each of the Consumerist staffers, instead? At least that way, it's 4x the prizes (and infinitely more fun!)

Kewl X-Men-wet-NY-streets photoshot commemorating the event part of the deal?

...Or a ticket redeemable for One Baby-Sitting Voucher. Drop off your kid at Consumerist in the morning, pick up a Consumer Avenger at night!

(Cape and spandex Consumer Avenger (tm) uniform sold seperately)

@synergy:
Maybe they're busy hunting down a sweet Monday Morning Deals feature -- shiny new tinfoil hats for most of the above commenters. ;-)

Wow, some of the responses here are pretty idiotic. There's nothing wrong with a little demographic research, folks. Clearly, Gawker's gotta sell its ads, and they need basic information to do that. They probably want to compare their idea of their readers to the responses, though the survey is useless for any statistical inferences since the population is not being sampled properly.

Nobody's putting a gun to your head; don't take the survey if you're not interested. Sheesh.

If someone is truly informed about data collection and detailed profile building processes (it helps if you are a techie), use of these profiles for surgically targeted advertising, and the way any personal data collection increases your vulnerability to identity theft (thanks to a security breach at ChoicePoint, let's say), and still is fine with filling out surveys (honestly) that provide personal information, then I have to respect that decision.

I also acknowledge the truth that people who don't know about this stuff, or are not concerned about it, help fund the free websites that everyone gets to enjoy.

On the other hand, I do personally think that many folks, especially without a tech background, don't appreciate how vulnerable they are to personal data theft and consequently to identity theft, and to scams that are helped along by access to personal information. I personally think, again, that it's a wise consumer policy to simply never offer personal information when you don't have to. If you've been stung by identify theft this policy may feel reasonable rather than paranoid.

Re club cards as a means to save money: Club cards involve a substantial expense for Safeway (equipment, infrastructure, personnel), which is passed on to consumers; non-club card stores do not have this overhead. Anyone interested in this subject might appreciate this page within nocards.org: [www.nocards.org]