Ads that give away something for free for survey participation

Do you filter them?

[fredw]

I'm my two niches, I hardly ever see MFAs. What I do see a lot of, however, are ads to get something (in my niche) for free, for participating in a survey.

Are these sites scams? Do you filter them?

In a related question, what about Ring Tone sites? I checked a few of those out and they also looked like scams to me (advertising they're giving you a ringtone for free but charging subscription fees) and I have filtered those...

[Andrew Bassett]

I wouldn't call them "scams" per se since most of them actually send you money.

[fredw]

Well... let me define scam, then. In you guy's (and gal's!) experience, do these sites actually send the participants the free things they advertise they will?

[Rodney]

do these sites actually send the participants the free things they advertise they will?

Yes they do (at least the legitimate ones do).

The legitmate ones are just using incentive based marketing to gain customers for their advertisers. Check this recent adage article that helps explain the phenomenon:
[adage.com...]