Comments on: I Need Your Help!

By: Mike Sty

Mike Sty — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:52:44 +0000

@chb

“I think it’s pretty funny that the advertising agency is trying to figure out what products to market to your readers when all they really need to do is read one day of your blog to realize WE WON’T BUY CRAP!”

I think that’s the idea – Trent wants to only promote things he doesn’t find totally useless.

By: chb

chb — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:28:56 +0000

I think it’s pretty funny that the advertising agency is trying to figure out what products to market to your readers when all they really need to do is read one day of your blog to realize WE WON’T BUY CRAP!

By: Bill in Houston

Bill in Houston — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:55:12 +0000

I must be going blind. I can’t see the URL. I guess I’m too late.

By: Shauna Redmond

Shauna Redmond — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:51:32 +0000

A day late a dollar short maybe. i went to fill it out and it wasn’t there. just didn’t get to your email in time i guess.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:58:50 +0000

A website survey that closes the same day the post appears seems pretty useless. If I were you I would protest to the survey company, as a large number of your readers are not counted. This will result in you being lowballed on the rates they offer you for advertising.

By: Tentaculistic

Tentaculistic — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:31:34 +0000

Oh, and IRG – your cynicism seems a bit much in some cases. I put down exactly how much I make and as close as I could remember to how much I spend online. Why on earth would I lie about that? Birth date of course I lie about, that’s Identify Protection 101, but why would I bother taking the time to fill out a survey, and then deliberately foul up the results? Especially since it’s something I’m doing for someone I appreciate. That’d be both weird, and entirely too labyrinthine for my simple little mind. If it was called the Complicated Dollar, I wouldn’t read it :)

By: Tentaculistic

Tentaculistic — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:26:26 +0000

Hi Trent – happy to help fill out the survey. I had no problems. ING – good point but maybe not the best solution. Instead of abandoning the survey (which helps Trent, who helps us), you might try lying about everything but year of birth (since that’s what they really want anyway… unless they’ve started including an astrological feature: “Trent, we have discovered that your Pisces tend to react to blue pulsing ads, whereas your Capricorns just want to see pictures of babies wearing bunny ears…”) – ha ha that’d be awesome. I’d pay to be in on that meeting!

Oh, and Trent I appreciate your keeping the blog free. Since a lot of your comments are really centered around cutting non-essential spending so we can meet our goals, it seems like it would defeat the point to start charging us to teach us how to save our money :) Glad you agree on that.

Best to you, hope it all works out well!

By: danielle

danielle — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:31:53 +0000

the survey is closed, but I would have filled it out as an upper middle class working mom in her 30’s who visits daily ;0 which is me. no tv here too LOL

By: parrothead

parrothead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:22:49 +0000

Unable to fill out survey, not active.

By: Jeanie

Jeanie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:21:38 +0000

Unable to fill out survey because the company website says survey unavailable. So sorry tried to help but no survey no help.

By: Lenore

Lenore — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:19:15 +0000

On a completely unrelated topic: TRENT, did you see Oprah yesterday with Suze Orman? She had the audience’s collective jaws dropping with her new advice to pay only credit card minimums instead of trying to pay them off. The credit card companies are closing accounts as soon as people get to a zero balance. She also said to save 8 months of income as an emergency fund. Very much worth watching if you can find it somewhere.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:12:23 +0000

I did fill the survey, but I admit that I tell lies concerning my birthday. Only the actual year of birth is correct to reflect my age. (The reason is mentioned by Cathy). I really enjoy reading The Simple Dollar. I hope I can help you by answering the survey as correct as I can, Trent! Good work!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:09:04 +0000

I took the survey. I wished I had read the comments first. As I too thought some of it was poorly asked. Just did the best I could. Good luck. I am also in agreed with a commenter above – hate those flashing ads.

By: sandra jensen

sandra jensen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:36:56 +0000

Happy to give back to you just a little of the help you have given me. Good Luck, Trent, hope you increase your “income streams” markedly!

Sandy

By: Cathy

Cathy — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:12:58 +0000

Colleen c: With an unscrupulous person/company, it could help them with identity theft. I would not get paranoid about it now, the risk is very low. The survey is probably not from a phishing site. Just going forward, surveys should not ask for your specific birthday. It is good habit to put your birthdate as 1/1/yyyy.

By: colleen c

colleen c — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:41:04 +0000

Happy to help but agree the survey was problematic as I am a homemaker and community volunteer… Wound up putting down “company of 4″ as that is my family size.

I put my real birthday down and since reading these comments I am freaked out… Like I should have lied?

By: Leigh Hulcher

Leigh Hulcher — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:22:11 +0000

Some similar comments to those already posted. I’m in sales (Realtor) so I’m on-line alot doing research for clients. #10 and #24 didn’t fit. That being said someone is paying attention since Homemaker is now a choice. That’s a good sign!

By: Bubba

Bubba — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:16:03 +0000

I’d also prefer to pay a nominal subscription fee for an ad-free site.

Just saying…

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:58:19 +0000

I, too, had a problem with the business category. Not because I am a homemaker, but because I work in corrections,

By: Shelly

Shelly — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:54:30 +0000

I agree with the others who have mentioned that the survey was poorly designed. I create surveys for my company regularly and I take lots of surveys for various research groups online. There were several situations here where I was forced to give an answer even though nothing applied to me. That’s going to dilute the quality of their results, for sure. There should never, ever be a situation where you require a response but there is no response that applies to the user. At the very least, for some of those, they should have had an “other” option (and possibly the ability to specify). It’s a little harder for them to process because some people may think they’re an “other” when they really could have fit into one of the categories, but it ensures better results.