I am such a dumb arse. I was proofreading a blog entry and saw an adsense ad for 'get a free $500 home depot gift card.' No, I didn't click the ad, but I typed the uri in my browser to visit the site. So the site tells me to fill out this survey to get my free gift card. I'm in the middle of a home remodeling job, so yeah - I wanted the card, so yeah - I filled out the survey. This afternoon, my email box was full of spam! I was gonna delete them, but noticed the subject line, "Thank you for your order" on one of them. I open and read it - and in the fine print, it reads that I'm getting billed $15 a month on my phone bill unless I opt out. Phuckers! I'm supposed to be making candied yams, green bean casseroles and pumpkin pie for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner right now, but instead, I'm going through my spam to opt out of all these programs charged to my phone bill that I unknowingly signed up for. Right after I do that, I'm banning the site that set me up, with the adsense competitive ad filter so the same thing doesn't happen to my site visitors. Gah.
That's why it is extremely important to read the fine print on all those "Get a free *insert item here*" type of ads. One way or another there is some kind of catch. Nothing in life is free!
good one ... and i noticed your sig and read your wordpress tip... learnt one good tip today... thanks...