Daily Survey Announcement

[kimntrent]

I think aol won't let you have that many email addresses. So that blows me away that someone would try that. I rotated between my aol and my gmail account but I haven't done one in so long. I just got fed up with not getting one and time has been an issue. I think we all need to do a little shopping. Or a few new referrals. Generate some smiles on the Sunshine clans face.

:hugs:

[tommygirl79]

Well, I guess my name's on the list too...probably for many of the same reasons as you other consistent users...

I would NEVER have thought of doing anything fraudulent...EVER! I was always the kid in school who stayed in her seat when the teacher was out of the class JUST IN CASE she had a camera watching. :)

Honestly, I've stopped doing the surveys the last month or so because it just got too frustrating for a measly .80 a day and I added up how much time I spent on it one day for nothing and that was it...

I am, however, mad about being pegged as being fraudulent when what I was doing was something that was deemed permissible as far as we knew. And as far as the mistype of one letter to add one too many emails - that's just ridiculous...

Honestly, SR as a whole is soooo much more important to me than any silly ole survey I can't qualify for - why would I put that in jeopardy...

The whole thing just has my dander up...(as my grandmother would have said)...

[aknight373]

i wonder if any of us can get a survery now ?

[Magical JenK]

Honestly, I've stopped doing the surveys the last month or so because it just got too frustrating for a measly .80 a day and I added up how much time I spent on it one day for nothing and that was it...

I know what you mean...but that measly .80 adds up FAST!!

[lanny76]

Yeah - for 30 surveys at .80 that's $24!! Plus the bonus you would get for completing so many - so it's not a huge wad of cash, but not chump change either!
Just imagine 170 at .80! :rotfl:

[Ellen aka Snow White]

Well if they only looked at January I shouldn't be on the list. If they look back into November and December I am as guilty as everyone else on thinking what I was doing was ok. There were a few times that we had friends over and the first time I was sharing about this great site and it became a joke that I couldn't qualify for the surveys so we actually took turns putting in different information to see who would qualify first - then that person had to take the survey. I thought since it was on MY computer through MY account it wasn't a problem - geez I was wrong. Then there was times that my family members tried! I'm sorry.

[tommygirl79]

Yeah, it does add up fast and I would TOTALLY be up for doing all three everyday and did for awhile, but I realized that other things had to come first and although my account is painful now in comparison, I had to take a break because my DH was beginning to think I was losing it over the frustration the surveys were causing! :-)

[proudmama2]

First I want to give a big :hugs: to the Sunshine Reward owners and staff!!!! Thank you providing a wonderful place to enjoy the SUNSHINE!!!



I've pretty much given up on the surveys. I may try one every now and then but I usually don't qualify. I’ve always thought that Greenfield wasn’t being very honest with us. The reason I say this is I’ve been 20 mins into a survey when their system crashes or kicks me out(my computer was fine) and I’ve spent 10min answering the pre-survey questions only to find out that I didn’t qualify. Those pre-survey questions sound to me like an actual survey only they don’t have to credit you for them. I’ve always taken my time in doing the surveys and have only given honest answers. Has anyone else had these problems?

[Kittykat]

i wonder if any of us can get a survery now ?

I was able to get into two of them this morning but didn't qualify for either of them. Figures. :p

[luvdisney00]

I guess I am just dumb about this fraud stuff, even though I did use different addresses (all mine and real) because I never realized that changing an email address with the same demo info would get you more surveys. DUH! I guess I thought that it was tracked by IP or SR # or something and that email was just incidental like it is on OTX.

Honestly though if GF was tracking all of us and our data, how come they couldn't keep the same survey from going to the same IP address twice or more? I don't think I've ever done the same survey twice, but some of them are similar and then go off in different directions. It's kind of hard to remember, they all get mixed up after a while.


Tricia, Cindy and sunshine family, I am sorry for all that you are going through and that you are taking a hit to your business. I am also so sorry if I did anything to contribute to it. You guys are great and SR is the only RP I am interested in because of the integrity and family feeling that is here.

[mrs.knip]

i wonder if any of us can get a survery now ?

I did get one this afternoon.

[kayjo]

Well, I'm definitely on the list and probably near the top. There are 5 different e-mails that my family uses. I have one, DH has two, and each of my DDs has their own. Throw in my niece's e-mail when she was visiting and now I'm up to six.
GF has never been one of my favorite companies. I used to participate in their surveys years ago and ended my relationship with them when they kept refusing to pay me for the surveys I took. I can see that they are still up to their old tactics of blaming someone else for their mistakes.
I can live with being blocked from their surveys as long as I am not banned from SR. If I am guilty of anything it is of assuming too much and you know what they saying about assuming things.

[Debbie Jean]

i wonder if any of us can get a survery now ?

Nope, my plug's been pulled by GF, though I did just finish an OTX survey.

But I worry that with so many people "banned" the numbers are going to go way down for Tricia. It will be interesting to see since it seems that a lot of us folks who are commited survey takers have been black-listed. On the other hand, without us taking up the slots, maybe others will find it easier to qualify.

I'd like to think something good could come out of this!

[lanny76]

I did get one this afternoon.

You're probably one of the good eggs!

[lanny76]

Nope, my plug's been pulled by GF, though I did just finish an OTX survey.

But I worry that with so many people "banned" the numbers are going to go way down for Tricia. It will be interesting to see since it seems that a lot of us folks who are commited survey takers have been black-listed. On the other hand, without us taking up the slots, maybe others will find it easier to qualify.

I'd like to think something good could come out of this!

That's what I was thinking! Maybe the newer members will have a less frustrating time now that some of us who've been here for a few months or longer are on the 'booted' list. So maybe that will keep some of them here.
I'm not going anywhere - I'm not blaming SR for this mess at all. A lot of it is my own ignorance/errors - or things GF didn't tell SR were things they didn't like. I have found SR to be an honest and 100% friendly and helpful and fun site - so I'm sticking around, surveys or no!:love:

[Blessing and Miracle]

I'm guilty too, but I'm gonna blame mine on Tricia! :rotfl: I didn't even know we could use different emails until probably December when I couldn't get a survey for nothing and I made a post and sweet ol' Tricia suggested I use another email. My respone was: what, I didn't know I could that, so I'm guilty as charged!

Now I don't do any other RP, but I do take polls from another site, but I don't think they are from GF and another program with Hilton Honors, and I don't think they are GF either.

I think we shouldn't be in trouble but GF should be! They should have a better system in place to prevent repetiveness. As for the person who completed 170 in placce, that's just unbelieveable and I wonder if that number has been over exagerated a bit, as I can't even imagine that happening!

I haven't completed a survey since early January and I don't know if I'm on the list or not. I did try a couple of days ago, but was kicked off mid way and haven't tried since. Maybe I'll give it a try and see.

As for those that tried to cash out because of this, they aren't real SR members! The real ones wouldn't do that as we know that family sticks together!

I hope the problem is resolved soon, Tricia! Try not to worry so much. When man closes one door, God always opens another one! Love you!:love:

[dis4ever]

I guess i'll have to add my name to the guilty list. I too used more than one email address and I also had myself,dh,(2) sons and their wifes taking survey for me. If this was wrong i'm sorry. I did cash out, but it was before i came to forum to read what was happenning I have been waiting for the weekend survey to credit so i could order (3) TGIF Gift card. I didn't do this to hurt SR and i'm sorry if i did. I understand fully why they are hold off filling them and i have no problem with that. Do what ever is neccessary to keep SR going. I felt i was a member of the SR family and hope by cashing out when i did doesn't mean i'm not. I think alot of SR and the people here and wouldn't do anything meaning to hurt SR. Again I apologize.

[Wendi63]

I guess I'm guilty too. I also thought it was ok to use different email addresses. I think I saw it posted on the forum somewhere that different email addresses were allowed as well as allowing different members of the household to try for surveys. Since I have five children and two step children we have several different email addresses as well as demographics. If I had known that it wasn't allowed, I would never have used anything but my original email address that I signed up with.:sorry: about the grief that it has caused the Sunshine family. But to be fair, Greenfield should have made their rules clear to everyone instead of back pedaling at this point. Greenfield is questioning the Sunshine members integrity but where they should really be looking is in the mirror.

[dizneemom]

Well, I'm on the naughty list, too. I'm irritated that GF didn't make the rules more clear. We all know that if they were, there never would have been posts that encouraged the use of different emails and having other family members attempt surverys. And none of us would have tried it if we knew that it would put SR in jeopardy.

So if putting me in the survey timeout chair will satisfy GF, then okay. I'd rather sit out and see SR in good standing than have them cut off Tricia and make other members suffer the consequences of my actions.

[speechteachri]

OK, I tried reading through some of this this am, but it just made me depressed before work. We all come here for fun and comeraderie, and add a little extra cash into the mix and you get a great combination! I love SR, and will continue to. A huge part of that is the ownership and management of the site. I do feel like we are all a big family here, and that Tricia, Cindy, Sunshineguy and Angie all take great care of us. Thanks once again to all of you!

That being said, I am probably guilty too, as I have use several e-mail addresses (all mine...all real) to TRY to get into surveys. I have not ever thought twice about it. I have on occasion been accepted into a survey I have done previously, but I have always closed out of it, not wanting to take advantage of the system. I am also guilty of changing my income demographic, for several reasons. 1. Our income changed when I went to work full time, 2. I used to put in our total household, now I have been putting my personal income. No real reason for the change, just dawned on me one day that they weren't asking for total household. Anyway, alot of what has already been mentioned. I also rarely get into surveys anymore, and neever had great luck, unfortunately, so I haven't tried much lately.

Now I will have to go try to get into one for the day, just to see if I am on the naught list, as I probably will be.


Well honestly, I'm extremely irritated by all this. You can't give me guidelines, but you say I break them. You tell me to let my family take surveys, then get mad cause my demographics and email addy changes. My personal thought is some advertiser got all in arms about something and now its coming down on us.I don't think its fair, I don't think its right, but, they have us over a barrel, so, until we can get futher clarification, or they can fix their friggin system so it doesn't allow us cheaters in,we are relegated to just looking and listening for the go ahead and how we should be proceed. I know like me, all of you have given honest, clear answers to the best of our ability. What would we gain to lie? And, if perhaps we did the same survey by mistake, so be it. Its not like we can remember what we had for dinner last night let alone a survey we took 3 months ago. And, if our DH or some other family member took the same survey, so what, they answered their way, so in essence, they got another good survey from it. I could go on and on, but for the sake of SR and you guys having to read this, I'll quit here. As usual, I think you all get my drift.

Cindy, I agree with everything you said! My first instince was to be angry at GF about the whole thing.


I wish I could get hard core with GF on that yogurt survey :angrywife:

Sorry, couldn't resist......I'm having a really hard time letting that one go! (In case you haven't noticed):rotfl:

I am having a hard time letting go of the yogurt one too!

While I can't blame GF for trying to catch those who "cheat the system, and I know those people are out there, it is too bad that their "fraud watch" puts us all and SR in particular under suspicion.

It is a sad day! BTW, I just tried...I'm flagged too.

[3dog2kidmom]

Sad to say I am blocked too, but I fully expected it... we do have many email addresses, and when you add the floating gmail dots into the mix ours probably rival those listed earlier in this thread (thank you for not posting my list, Tricia). Also guilty of changing demographics -- income is never consistent since I never know what DH is going to make from week to week much less year to year so I am all over the board on what I checked on that one, and I've already spoken to duplicating occasional surveys and family members helping me get them.

I hope that we are all given another chance after our timeouts... if we have very clear guidelines they'll be easier to follow and we can all get back to our earnings!

A funny aside, I received two checks in the mail today from follow-up surveys DH and I did (spent over 3 hours between the two of us on them). I thought that was ironic that the checks came today.

[Blessing and Miracle]

Just a thought: If they think we are so bad then why are they sending us private surveys via our email to follow up on?! :confused: I've received several over the past few days. Don't they know that I'm one and the same person! Hhmm, makes you wonder!

[3dog2kidmom]

Just a thought: If they think we are so bad then why are they sending us private surveys via our email to follow up on?! :confused: I've received several over the past few days. Don't they know that I'm one and the same person! Hhmm, makes you wonder!

No kidding! And I have to add that it strikes me as odd that they can't track (or refuse to) when we have problems with a survey (like the yogurt one - grr), but they can track well enough to do this to us. And if they can track, then why not put proper systems in place (IP address based like every other survey company uses) to make sure people are not getting more than 1 survey a day.

Yes, this is one of those things that makes me go "hmmmmm."

[mmm611]

I am also guilty of changing my income demographic, for several reasons. 1. Our income changed when I went to work full time, 2. I used to put in our total household, now I have been putting my personal income. No real reason for the change, just dawned on me one day that they weren't asking for total household.

I'm guilty of the same things as everyone else. I've changed my email multiple times, so I know I'm on the list. I usually rotate between three or so and if none of them work, I pick whatever other one I happen to think of first. I admit, I also change my income, to sometimes being my own personal income and sometimes being household. I have found I do better with a certain one, but I've used both on occassion. And, I just changed jobs from PT to FT (and was able to legitimately claim I was unemployed for five days between the two), so that impacted the income as well.

All I can say is I'm sorry and I felt sick about this yesterday, but if the income thing is going to send up a red flag, I live with my parents. I'm hoping to move out in a few months, so I think that just *might* send up a red flag when my survey income takes a pretty drastic hit at that time.

For those of us who have used multiple emails, exactly which one are we supposed to use? I have not yet seen a clear answer on that one, but I'm banned, so I'm not in a hurry.

[StitchandPooh'smom]

I was just able to get a survey. Almost all of the surveys on my account come from my e-mail address (just one), but occasionally DH will do one with his e-mail. I only had 14 surveys in January, so I guess GF does not see me as much of a threat! :rotfl:

[faithhope]

For those of you who can still do surveys... if you haven't gotten one...try again...they must have just loaded some as I have more boxes to check.

For those of you who can't... I'm very sorry...:computer:

Just wanted to give those who can a heads up, so we can help Tricia (and ourselves) out at this difficult time.

[mollyeilis]

If they do not want more than one person at any given computer/home to take surveys, why even have the ability to click that you aren't whatever@email.com at all?

Finally cleared cookies, tried, denied. :)

[schachteles]

:( WOW is about all I can say!! :(

I personally haven't really done any surveys since November because it was just getting far too painful to qualify or whatever problem there is.

I would be interested to hear if I am on the list. Before I came to the forum, I attempted to take a survey, my DS qualified, took it and was asked to join a teen group, but it didn't take me back to the congrats page, so I tried another and qualified, but again got booted after answering 20 minutes of questions...then I found this thread and I see how it is bad to have a gmail address with dots, well of course I was using when we took those!! So I went in to change it to my hotmail account, I am sure now I will be flagged because I changed.

VERY FRUSTRATING!!

SR we all love you and what you stand for...we will get through it, just like we did before during the big shake up this summer!!

[sunshinemckenzie]

I guess I was one of the luckier one, I can still take surveys. I feel terrible for those who can't..it seems so unjust.

I'm going to try to do one each and evey day plus the SM and the other one...anything to help pull the wieght around here until everyone can start taking surveys again. I'm back on my dinosaur PC just to make sure I can get credit so tricia will get paid too.

With that being said...I'm working on a survey right now that has bounced to 4...4 mind you...totally different things....and each is a complete survey before It takes me to the next item up for grabs.

Now who is taking advantage of whom?:rotfl:

[sammielynn]

I just got a survey! It was one of the short one. I sure do like those.

[sunshinecindy]

I was just able to get a survey. Almost all of the surveys on my account come from my e-mail address (just one), but occasionally DH will do one with his e-mail. I only had 14 surveys in January, so I guess GF does not see me as much of a threat! :rotfl:

I haven't done that many in 3 months but they consider me a cheater, I accidentally misspelled my name by one letter and got banned. Sheesh.

[ligrumpygirl]

I just got a survey! It was one of the short one. I sure do like those.

Me too...and I never get them! I have only done 1 since September. I don't have a lot of time for them but tried to take one to help SR out.

[arob414]

Gosh, I have been out of the loop. Just finding this thread in the past hour. I am guilty, also. I use my main email address but if I can't get one I switch to one of my other addressess. I just try whichever one comes to mind. And, frequently, in the past, I have had new surveys available under a different address with the same identical demographics that didn't show up with my main address. The only thing that varies is my salary. I am on the cusp and it changes from month to month.

I have done several automobile surveys, but they have all been different and I have really enjoyed them because I am in the market for a new vehichle and have been learning alot thru these surveys. I have had the same car for 10 yrs and since becoming a mom, just haven't paid much attn to cars. These surveys have done alot of my ground work in researching what I would like. Opened my eyes to alot of newer vehicles and some I never would have considered.

[Sunni]

Wow! :hugs: Tricia :hugs:
I just finished a survey and thought wow.....I hardly get any each month. I never qualifiy. I haven't really been around. Then I find this thread. What crazy stuff. I hope all clears up soon. I feel bad for everyone.

[Anna]

I have just had it up to HERE with Greenfield and this whole situation. I'm not getting a survey today, so clearly I am also naughty. I have been guilty of using whatever e-mail address I felt like putting in, including g-mails with dots. I have also taken similar surveys, although, to me, they seemed different. Some people mentioned the car ones and I agree. The financial ones are another example. They all start out the same, but branch out into different banks/financial stuff/insurance companys. Some you have, some you don't.

Anyway, I don't think Greenfield got this new surveillance technology overnight. They have been fully aware of whats going on, but as long as they were making money off of us, they turned a blind eye. Now that they have gotten their hand slapped, suddenly it is an issue. I'm DONE with them!
I'll be happy to do the OTX surveys which I have very little problems with, the paid offers, and shopping (I love the shopping). But it will take a LOT of convincing to make me do another Greenfield survey.

I have a VERY stressful job, and I like to come to SR to relax and have fun. When it becomes stressful, then I might as well be at work. I just got off the phone with a patient who had a tumor excised yesterday at my surgical center and was scared out of his mind that it would turn up malignant. Interacting with people like this is what I do, so when I come to SR, I want to relax and enjoy myself.

All right, I'm off my soap box. Thank you Cindy for your realistic view about Greenfield. I'm not going to miss doing their surveys, that's for sure!

I totally agree with you. I do not need any more frustration in my life. I stopped doing the Greenfield survey a couple of months back because I could never qualify. Guess I am on the naughty list too. Oh well.:(

[belbook]

I'm sorry too - I'm sure I'm on the banned list and I didn't mean to do anything wrong. I used 3 e-mails, not counting any mispellings. The e-mails are mine, my dh's, and my dd's (who doesn't live with me but does visit). I'm sure I made other mistakes but if they look at the # of surveys I qualified for in January (5) it seems strange to qualify that as fraudulent.

[chipndale]

No kidding! And I have to add that it strikes me as odd that they can't track (or refuse to) when we have problems with a survey (like the yogurt one - grr), but they can track well enough to do this to us. And if they can track, then why not put proper systems in place (IP address based like every other survey company uses) to make sure people are not getting more than 1 survey a day.

Yes, this is one of those things that makes me go "hmmmmm."

I was just thinking the same thing as I was catching up on this thread. You would think that they would have a system in place that if the email address you enter is incorrect that it would let you into the survey. Also, if they can track that the same household has taken the same survey more than once than they should have a system in place so that it can be avoided. I talked with DH tonight and I think that in January DH and I took the same survey on Automobiles. Now, I know that his answers and mine would be totally different when it comes to cars. If they can track all of that you would think that they can track when you do a survey and then get redirected to some other site.

[lmroyea]

Gosh! I've been away from SR for like a day 1/2! I haven't been on the forum a lot ( I have a newly acquired addiction to ebay) All of of sudden I come back and find this! How sad. I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread, but I wanted to respond because I think it's so sad that Greenfield would look at us like this. I can't say I've tried multiple emails or anything (I only got like 6 surveys last month:rotfl: ) But I can't believe that people doing this could actually jeopardize SR! Good luck to the whole SR family, and if this has already been addressed, I'll probably read about it tomorrow so forgive me.

[sunshinemckenzie]

I'm going to add my two cents, and I don't throw money around lightly.:)

I've been thinking about this all day while at work and when reading tonight, it just confirms what I thought of today.

My dearest grandfather always said "It is easier to do something wrong and apologize later, than to do what is right and stand by your decision". And I think this is the case with GF.

In the past, Tricia was patted on the back from GF for the traffic she generated to GF. Sunshine Rewards is a powerful 10,000+ members and that can cover alot of demographics and revenue for GF. The very thing that they commend SR for can also be their scapegoat because they have to know just how dedicated we, the members are to SR, to generate the traffic we generated for them.

With that being said, this comes from the daily Survey page and from GF own admission:

Rules: Click on the banner above to fill out the "qualifying" information. If after you have filled out the qualifying information you are selected to take a survey, you will be rewarded .80 for filling out the survey completely. Please note that we are unable to trace the surveys beyond what Greenfield credits us for. If we do not receive credit for you for a particular survey automatically, Greenfield is unable to track your participation in any way. Do not request credit as we are unable to track beyond what we receive from them. You can only complete a survey once a day, but you may try as many times in a day as it takes to get accepted. Survey credits will appear in your accounts Monday through Friday except on holidays. Click Here if you cannot see the banner.

Plus how many of us have taken a survey completely to the end only to knocked out because of classification choices or not rerouted to the "congrats page" or just never recieved credit?

If they can't track if we completed a survey to pay us, then how can they email addys of the 34 or the 170 surveys of the one person?

IMO: I think GF wasn't following the policies set by one of their main clients. And instead of "doing what is right and standing by their decision" or admitting their fault, they passed the buck. Now I realize there is 100's of rewards sites, but SR does have some of the STRONGET DEDICATED member of any rewards site. So it would be "easier to do something wrong and apologize later" for GF. By passing the buck to Sunshine rewards, they get to save face with that client...like saying see we are trying to comply and make good with you. And by temporarily banning a % of SR members and allowing them to start taking surveys again after a cool down period, makes them look like they are trying to be fair.

Sorry but to me, it has to be more than a bunch of ladies who can't spell correctly while trying to complete a survey, tend to their children, answer the phone, cook supper, and whistle dixie at the same time.

A majority of those temporarily banned can be seen anytime on this forum and this forum is available to anyone to read-you don't have to be a member to read. Their dedication can be seen from helping each other, rallying whenever a glitch comes up or(and some of you wil remember this) the great cookie capper...how upset everyone was because someone tried to cheat the system(unintentionally or intentionally). Let's face it, those who were banned will always be with SR no matter what and I think GF knows this. Why else would they ban bad spellers, someone who has a large family, or someone who has 3 email addresses. I think they know, even through this, SR would remain strong and her members would stand behind her.

OK...hoppin' off the soapbox for now.

And Tricia, if you need to delete this, feel free to do so, but this has been eating at me and needed to be said.

[MdCaterer]

Here's a really good example of a single user who threw up a HUGE red flag that caused them to come down hard on SR. This is ONE userid and the email addresses he/she used in January. It's pretty easy to see how this made us a target.

bcdfgbw2@yahoo.com
bshadb245@aol.com
dfsmgk354@aol.com
dfsnfjk33@aol.com
dfsnl323@aol.com
dkfk2k52@aol.com
dsfk24242@aol.com
dsjfj24@aol.com
dskf241o@aol.com
dsmfkk11@aol.com
dsmfkl2543@oal.com
dsnfkjq242@aol.com
dsnfm242@aol.com
fdnjkgj3@aol.com
ksdffk33@aol.com
ksdfk1241@aol.com
ksdfk22@aol.com
ksdk3k3@aol.com
ldsfl22@aol.com
lsdgl3456@aol.com
lsfl3335@aol.com
saldl24@aol.com
sall252@aol.com
sdah1h31@aol.com
sdfkk353@aol.com
sdfnjk25jk@yahoo.com
sdfnjkl25@aol.com
sdjkr2l5@aol.com
sdkf23k532@aol.com
sdkfk3r2@aol.com
sjfk23k5l2@oal.com
skdfk363@aol.com
sldtfg3o53@aol.om
srdmkfglk345@aol.com

This is blatant cheating. However having 3 email addresses or mistyping your email address does not seem to be cheating. I have used three email addresses (and more if you count typos, because I can't type without messing up!) We have three adults in our home and they have answered the surveys. I would say that if my husband and I have done some of the same surveys then the answers would be either really similar or totally different depending on the subject! HOWEVER, it was opinions of two separate people so where is the beef??? The third email is my Mom who I have asked to take a few surveys when I have been trying to reach a goal of 20 - 30 surveys in a month. Her income, age etc is vastly different from ours as are her opinions.
Greenfield is creepy as they can have us jump through hoops and spend 25- 45 minutes on a survey only to deny credit (for whatever reason) when you send them an email detailing the problems or concerns they are "unable to help or track the problem" However now they know everything there is to know about us, we are all cheats and fraquds and stealing their precious .80 a day. I DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT do surveys on any other site my maximum ever has been 30 surveys and that was waaaaaayyyyyyyyy too much work.

Tricia you had a great idea offering the incentive to do a certain number of surveys a month. As with everything else you will have your Blatant fraud and then you will have the little guys who make honest mistakes. Or if you got a second survey in a day by some lucky chance you figure it was good karma for all the lousy ones you did only to be denied credit. Certainly not a crime punishable by greenfield.

That being said, since this is SR's livelihood may I suggest the first thought I had when this monster reared it's ugly head......aren't there other companies offeing surveys who might like and even welcome SR's members???? I don't mean to sound flip but I would think that there are other survey sites out there.

I think SR is basically a great group and will follow the rules as posted and would most likely welcome a fresh group of surveys if available. With 10,000 members however as with anything you wll have the ones who do not follow the rules and need to be weeded out. (Like the one with 29 email addresses or whatever) BUt again, that is blatant so I would try a new survey company spell out the rules and trust that your members will carry you through.

[speechteachri]

Kudos to sunshinemckenzie for a great, well thought out post! I have been thinking the same things myself.

While I'm sure there are always those who will try to cheat the system, the vast majority of us are here as I said before, for the cameraderie and to help earn a little extra toward Disney or what-have-you, and now we are banned for following what we thought were the rules, and for what have been the rules for a long time.

It seems like there is more to this situation than meets the eye to me too.

[StitchandPooh'smom]

I guess I was one of the luckier one, I can still take surveys. I feel terrible for those who can't..it seems so unjust.

I'm going to try to do one each and evey day plus the SM and the other one...anything to help pull the wieght around here until everyone can start taking surveys again. I'm back on my dinosaur PC just to make sure I can get credit so tricia will get paid too.



I'm right there with you. I have no sympathy for someone who has 34 e-mail addresses (all fake) and is trying to cheat the system, but those of you who tried to do the right thing and are banned from GF - that's not right.

I have not worked too hard on surveys lately, but I will try extra hard until the rest of you can come back! :sunshine:

[hope829]

Wow, I just came back from vacation to find I am blocked and to read this sad news. I'll be upfront - we used three different emails and three different demographics (meaning age and sex) but that was because there are three different adults living here. We never lied or tried to trick anyone.

I thought I was playing within the rules of the game, and I feel terrible that I may have caused problems.

[rygirlsmum]

I'm so sorry you have to go through all this, Tricia! know I hae mutiple addresses, but to be honest, I have a hard time remembering if I even do a survey, let alone what it was about!

I hope they get of your back soon! This is still, and will always be, my favorite reward site of all time! Even if I never do another survey here, I'll still do all my shopping here.

[piglet-for-me]

I got one last night. :)

I'm a bit skeptical if I'll get credit, though, as it ended abruptly, right in the middle of what I thought was going to be the next page. I did get the congratulations screen so I'll just be on the watch for the credit. It was very weird though that when I pressed next it ended.


Reading all this, it does seems as if there should be checks in place to prevent this type of thing from happening. I hope they add them, as it does seem as this should be their responsibility to monitor. Interesting that they can't help or track if there is a problem with a survey, yet they were able to provide a list of those banned.

[lucymews]

I'm still stunned at all that has happened. I was one of the ones that asked my DH and even my Mom to try doing a survey on the few days that she visited. They used their own addys. Barring any typos, that puts us at the "EVIL 3" addys. Now I wished I never bothered to ask them for help. Obviously, GF profited from the surveys we all finally qualified for. I can understand them punishing those that took blatant advantage, but to ban the rest of us is just soooo wrong. I would wish GF to go down in flames for not having better ways to monitor their own rules and taking care of problems as they presented themselves, but that might mean hurting the SR family. I really feel for Tricia and the other SR managers. What a HUGE headache this must all be for them. I hope we can all come out of this a better, more productive group - with or without GF (I won't be shedding any tears for them). To everyone else, all I can say is SO SORRY for all the trouble and HANG IN THERE! I refuse to give up on SR! They have brought me more sunshine in my day than I thought a website ever could! If I never earned a penny more, I would still be proud to be a member!! :hugs: :sunshine:

[susanowen27]

Well, as much as I hate surveys, I decided to try and help since so many can not take them now. I have taken two in Jan. and 0 in Feb. using only my address but I think I am locked out as well because once or twice when my DD could not get a survey and I was at her house, I took one for her on her SR account using my address- or I tried but I think I got kicked out as usual - thus the reason I hate surveys and do not do them - anyway, I tried to get one today but it just rerouted me back to the members page so I must be banned for helping out DD so I won't be taking surveys either.

[chipndale]

I know others have asked Tricia to post the banned lost. But maybe Tricia should post the list of those that are NOT banned. So those that can still take a survey can actually try to take a survey and help out SR. It seems the "good" :angel: list must be pretty short. :rotfl:

[TtownAnne]

Wow, I actually got a survey today! So that makes one for January and one for February. :) I must not be on the "naughty" list, since its taken this happening for me to even qualify!

[mrs.knip]

I have gotten a survey the past two days so I must not be on the banned list.

[DisneyMa]

Thank you sunshinemckenzie, well said :clap:

I still cannot get a survey! I'm banned!!:( Hopefully more details will come soon...

[Mandi]

I've apparently been banned. I'm not surprised at all though. I've definitely changed up my email addys and occasionally my demographics (income, household vs. mine vs. DH's depending on who took the survey). I've had a lot of company in lately and I've been having them do the surveys too.

The whole thing really ticks me off. I don't see how they can chose to ban us when we weren't even told that using more than one email addy/demographics, etc is against the rules. It's not right to change the rules half way through the game. :mad:

I'm sorry for my part in the whole deal, Tricia. Had I known that what I was doing would have been deemed as fraudulent (even though I used all honest info) I wouldn't have done them.

I hope you get it all figured out soon.

[VanniGirl]

I could not qualify for one yesterday - but I did today :)

Hope this gets cleared up soon!!

[Candi]

I got a survey today. It was very easy to get and was a pretty easy survey on politics.

[kimntrent]

Can you all not click into yours anymore?

[askomsky]

Well said sunshinemckenzie, I agree!!!

April

[Shadey55]

I guess I am confused. How does changing your email address help you qualify for a survey? Wouldn't the demographics be the same? :confused: Sorry guys...I'm relatively new here.

[mollyeilis]

I guess I am confused. How does changing your email address help you qualify for a survey? Wouldn't the demographics be the same? :confused: Sorry guys...I'm relatively new here.

Well that's the question, isn't it? WHY would a change in email address bring up new surveys, when everything else is the same?

And yet it can, and it does, quite often, bring up new surveys.


But I think in their mind, email address IS part of our demographic, so a change in email is a change in demo, which they seem to have a problem with.

sunshinemackenzie, bravo for you grabbing their own words and trying to figure out how they can't have info if we need help, but suddenly they have tons of info when it helps them! Not only do their words paint a different picture, but just the page where you can say that yo're not xyz, and change to different demographics shows that they anticipated that others would want to participate, and they created their site so it could be changed. :confused:

[fourfoxesinpa]

I know others have asked Tricia to post the banned lost. But maybe Tricia should post the list of those that are NOT banned. So those that can still take a survey can actually try to take a survey and help out SR. It seems the "good" :angel: list must be pretty short. :rotfl:


I would, respectfully, have to take the other side and request that she not publish any list for privacy reasons. Anyone that has read this thread knows that if they can't get a survey, they've been tagged. If you can get a survey, you haven't. Many, including myself, have volunteered that information but I see no need for SR to publicly disclose that information.

Anyone could take a look at that list and come to conclusions that may be inaccurate or unfair, not knowing the circumstances why each name has been placed in "time-out." Plus, I think there are ways for those who are a lot more computer savvy that I am to trace email addresses and that would be a major privacy breach. This is a public forum, visible to anyone who wants to look at it and sometimes we get a very false sense of security here and post way too much personal information. Now, if she would decide to send individualized emails to members advising if they're on the list, that's a totally different scenario.

I am certainly against the cheating tactics of the person who used all of those emails that have been previously listed on the board but, I must be honest, I was surprised to see a list of email addresses posted on the forum. I'm just thinking there's a possibility that one or two of them could be "real" and not fake. Even though what they did was very wrong, I don't feel it's the right of members in this public forum to have access to that information - It is for SR and possibly GF to deal with that person on a one-on-one basis.

[SunshineGirl]

I am certainly against the cheating tactics of the person who used all of those emails that have been previously listed on the board but, I must be honest, I was surprised to see a list of email addresses posted on the forum. I'm just thinking there's a possibility that one or two of them could be "real" and not fake. Even though what they did was very wrong, I don't feel it's the right of members in this public forum to have access to that information - It is for SR and possibly GF to deal with that person on a one-on-one basis.

Just to clarify, I am 99% sure that the email addresses I posted were fake. None of them are the addresses that the member uses to cash out to paypal, to get emails from us, etc. There were some similar lists that used real words (like kitty@hotmail, dog@hotmail, thedog@yahoo), that I think were all made up as well. But I didn't want to take the chance that they might actually belong to someone. I would definitely not post any real addresses anywhere and even edit people's posts when they post their own because any email address posted ANYWHERE is going to be a big 'old spam target.

If someone really wants to know if they are on the list, they can file a trouble ticket and I will tell you what email addresses that they listed for you. But suffice to say that about 2/3 of our regular survey takers were on the list.

[Blessing and Miracle]

Just to clarify, I am 99% sure that the email addresses I posted were fake. None of them are the addresses that the member uses to cash out to paypal, to get emails from us, etc. There were some similar lists that used real words (like kitty@hotmail, dog@hotmail, thedog@yahoo), that I think were all made up as well. But I didn't want to take the chance that they might actually belong to someone. I would definitely not post any real addresses anywhere and even edit people's posts when they post their own because any email address posted ANYWHERE is going to be a big 'old spam target.

If someone really wants to know if they are on the list, they can file a trouble ticket and I will tell you what email addresses that they listed for you. But suffice to say that about 2/3 of our regular survey takers were on the list.


That's not needed as I know I'm in the 2/3. As many people as I have in my household with different emails there is no telling how many they have for me, but one thing is for sure, I took every survey honestly regardless of what demographical information I submitted!

[Debbie Jean]

That's not needed as I know I'm in the 2/3. As many people as I have in my household with different emails there is no telling how many they have for me, but one thing is for sure, I took every survey honestly regardless of what demographical information I submitted!

Same here. :(

I don't see what could possibly be gained by publishing lists of any description. Any information you need about your own account you can certainly get from Tirica.

[mollyeilis]

Ms Tricia....with the clarification in the email you sent out today, I have a question (assuming they ever un-ban me, LOL). It states that only one person in the household is allowed to take surveys. Who gets to determine which person? If they un-ban me, can I pick my hubby to take 'em and just stick with that, or would it have to be boring-demographic me?

[lanny76]

Well, I don't really need to file a TT either - as I am very sure I have a bunch of emails on their list too! The only reason I might would be to see how many they thought I had - including any typos, mixups, and dot changes. But maybe I don't really need/want to know.:rotfl:
What I really want to know now is how long we are going to be banned - are they working on some system to make sure all of us naughty ones will not be able to circumvent the survey system?
And not that I have at all considered doing it - far from it! - but the question did come to me, is if a banned person had a new email that they had not used for Greenfield yet and tried it, this would constitute fraudulent behaviour, would it not and probably wouldn't work either? As I say, I would not do that - I'm banned so I'm banned until further notice. But I just wondered.

[bajam]

I just want to go on record as saying I use real words and phrases for my gmail accts. so I can remember them. Now it's not dog or kitty or anything one word but they are real. At one time when I wasn't getting any credits I created a gmail acct. about the email address being real. I took out some frustration when I typed that in and waited for my credits:rotfl:

[sassyjk]

Wow I tried reading all these from start to finish and it would take me at least three hours...guess I need to keep up on a daily basis!

I'm really sorry all this has happened...being fairly new (a couple weeks old to the forum and SR) I was very pleased to see the honesty in the group of people on this forum! What a great bunch, to bad there was so much confusion in the rules.

Now I'm actually afraid to take the survey's (I've only qualified for one since I started anyway) and I wonder if others are afraid like me and will not even try to take the survey's thinking I will do something wrong and get thrown off the SR site altogether.

[Tiggerific711]

Ms Tricia....with the clarification in the email you sent out today, I have a question (assuming they ever un-ban me, LOL). It states that only one person in the household is allowed to take surveys. Who gets to determine which person? If they un-ban me, can I pick my hubby to take 'em and just stick with that, or would it have to be boring-demographic me?

I'm wondering the same thing!

[lanny76]

And I'm wondering where the email is??!! I have gotten lots of emails from SR, so I don't know where this one went! But I sure would like to see it and not be in the dark about what is going on.

[Blessing and Miracle]

Ms Tricia....with the clarification in the email you sent out today, I have a question (assuming they ever un-ban me, LOL). It states that only one person in the household is allowed to take surveys. Who gets to determine which person? If they un-ban me, can I pick my hubby to take 'em and just stick with that, or would it have to be boring-demographic me?

You know thats a good question. If GF is running surveys with all of the Reward Programs then how would that work if other members of your family are members of other RP. When I joined SR I also joined a couple of other RP. I cancel one and allowed DD to take over the other one since both only allow one member per household. Although she's gone off to school now our emails haven't changed! This is all still a bit confusing and I blame it on GF.:confused:

[askomsky]

I agree would like to know about what email and what person.

I originally started using 2 bc of getting stuck on the 24 hr rotation. I was once able to take survey's once a day then got stuck on the 24 hr rotation like OTX is, so i would alternate between the two. Appearently I'm stuck like that now on the SM survey too!

[sunshinecindy]

I'm wondering the same thing!

If you want your DH to take the daily surveys, then put in his email and demographics and it will have to stay that way. When I spoke with Greenfield the other day, she said they allowed more then one IP , but I explained to her that we don't, its one per family, so other members with the same IP cannot get an account with us. I just don't think they know what they are doing. Hopefully they will change their system so that whoever is taking the survey can put in their demographics and email. Who knows. I'm heard too much double talk up till now.

[bellanlivismom]

So for now are we all still banned? I would love to be able to put some more $$ in SRs pocket. :) Especially on a beautiful snow day like today! And if we are banned will there be a notification of some kind that will let us know when that is no longer the case? Thanks!!

:sunshine:

[DisneyMa]

Any idea when and if us "blocked" users will be able to take surveys again?

[lanny76]

I think it would be perfectly fair to allow TWO email addys. I only used 2 all of December and was able to get 28 that month (actually don't think I figured out for a while into that month I could try 2) - but I am not sure how just one is going to help any of us get very many. And if we're NOT getting surveys, then we're not making money, and neither is SR or Gf - nor are companies getting their research info.
If they are willing to allow more than one IP, why not more than one email address, good grief!!! To me, that does not compute. They could get cheated just as much allowing multiple IPs - so why is that OK with them?

[Iteach]

Okay, I'm going to sound really dumb here, but what is an IP, what does it stand for? Does the IP come from the computer that you're using, so if you use 2 different computers you have 2 different IP's? I only have 1 computer that I take back and forth to work so use the same one at work and home.

[m 'n c]

Okay, I'm going to sound really dumb here, but what is an IP, what does it stand for? Does the IP come from the computer that you're using, so if you use 2 different computers you have 2 different IP's? I only have 1 computer that I take back and forth to work so use the same one at work and home.

IP = internet protocal address. Basically there is 1 IP per internet connection. If you have 2 computers on 1 internet connection each computer will have the same IP.

[lanny76]

Okay, I'm going to sound really dumb here, but what is an IP, what does it stand for? Does the IP come from the computer that you're using, so if you use 2 different computers you have 2 different IP's? I only have 1 computer that I take back and forth to work so use the same one at work and home.

The IP is actually your internet address - from the computer that you are using.
I don't know about everyone - but we have several computers in our home, and all have the same address. My DH set it up that way. He's a computer geek and has a server set up and a router and all that stuff that I couldn't really explain! - so he said it would work best if our IP address was all the same so it wasn't confusing to the server! That is, a set one that doesn't change.
He said a lot of people have what is called a dynamic IP, which means that it changes from day to day or whatever, but we have a static one, which means it will not change - it is set. Actually we pay a little extra to our internet service provider for that service.
Like I say, I don't know how it works for others with their service providers, or for yours, certainly!
So anyway, even if GF allows different IPs I couldn't do that.

[Riyaa]

Wow. I took some time off for my birthday and come back and see this. It's very upsetting. I, for one, can attest that all the information given from my computer was acurate. I was lucky enough to have family here in December that were willing to help me out. Since then, it's just been me and my husband. I'm really sorry this was put on you Tricia, and SR as a whole.

[sammielynn]

I use my work computer sometimes to take surveys during lunch, so I use two IP addresses. But I always use the same e-mail address. It seem sot me that many folks would use different computers, at different locations to Sunshine. I'm the only SR member where I work.

[Tiggerific711]

If you want your DH to take the daily surveys, then put in his email and demographics and it will have to stay that way. When I spoke with Greenfield the other day, she said they allowed more then one IP , but I explained to her that we don't, its one per family, so other members with the same IP cannot get an account with us. I just don't think they know what they are doing. Hopefully they will change their system so that whoever is taking the survey can put in their demographics and email. Who knows. I'm heard too much double talk up till now.

Thanks! Now I have to decide who has a better chance of getting a survey.

[Ellen aka Snow White]

If you want your DH to take the daily surveys, then put in his email and demographics and it will have to stay that way. When I spoke with Greenfield the other day, she said they allowed more then one IP , but I explained to her that we don't, its one per family, so other members with the same IP cannot get an account with us. I just don't think they know what they are doing. Hopefully they will change their system so that whoever is taking the survey can put in their demographics and email. Who knows. I'm heard too much double talk up till now.

So my question is - does it have to be the email that we are registered with sunshine? or can it be different?

[JOLAROCHE]

Does anyone know when the people that are blocked can take surveys or are my demographics just not what they are looking for. there seems to be a lot of times there are no surveys for me.

Thanks

[marcymajor]

what happened to the post by sunshinemckenzie regarding email addresses for regular daily surveys and sm surveys?:confused:

[Kycha]

Oh man. I can't get on the internet for a few days and come back to this. I am so sorry to Tricia and the Sunshine family if my actions have caused any of this mess. I too am guilty of using more than one e-mail address and having other family members take surveys for me. I really appreciate you and Cindy going to bat for us.

[m 'n c]

what happened to the post by sunshinemckenzie regarding email addresses for regular daily surveys and sm surveys?:confused:

it was moved to a more applicable thread.

[m 'n c]

Does anyone know when the people that are blocked can take surveys or are my demographics just not what they are looking for. there seems to be a lot of times there are no surveys for me.

Thanks

To find out if you are blocked or not you can open up a TT and ask. Most likely you are blocked because Tricia mentioned earlier that about 2/3 of the regular daily survey takers/triers are blocked right now.

We are hoping to all be let back in within 14 days or so. Until then SM surveys are open as well as OTX and the new SR surprise is coming if you aren't a SM :)

[bajam]

So it's still okay to do the SM survey even if we are banned from the daily ones?

[m 'n c]

So it's still okay to do the SM survey even if we are banned from the daily ones?

Check the thread in the SM section :)

[bajam]

Sorry, I always forget it's there for some reason.

[Weluvdisny]

:blush: guilty :blush: of using more than one e-mail address and having family members take surveys. I didn't realize that was the wrong thing to do.

I hope it all gets worked out and SR is one big happy place again!:hugs:

[luvhockey]

I'm late to this---ummm---party?
Just reading about all this tonight. I'm also one of those that used different emails for the members of my family who do surveys. Sept & Oct I got quite a few, about 20 each month. Nov Dec & Jan only a few. Maybe that's why I'm not blocked because I got burnt out trying?

So, I tried to do a survey just now. It let me in and after about 20 pages I didn't qualify (that bites big time as always). It went back to the 'there are no surveys you qualify for' page. Or am I blocked?

And I'm really annoyed that they think we don't take time to give honest thoughtful answers on surveys. Everyone, including GF knows they average about 20 minutes apiece. What is their idea of 'taking your time'?

Angela

[chipndale]

I would, respectfully, have to take the other side and request that she not publish any list for privacy reasons. Anyone that has read this thread knows that if they can't get a survey, they've been tagged. If you can get a survey, you haven't. Many, including myself, have volunteered that information but I see no need for SR to publicly disclose that information.

Anyone could take a look at that list and come to conclusions that may be inaccurate or unfair, not knowing the circumstances why each name has been placed in "time-out." Plus, I think there are ways for those who are a lot more computer savvy that I am to trace email addresses and that would be a major privacy breach. This is a public forum, visible to anyone who wants to look at it and sometimes we get a very false sense of security here and post way too much personal information. Now, if she would decide to send individualized emails to members advising if they're on the list, that's a totally different scenario.

I am certainly against the cheating tactics of the person who used all of those emails that have been previously listed on the board but, I must be honest, I was surprised to see a list of email addresses posted on the forum. I'm just thinking there's a possibility that one or two of them could be "real" and not fake. Even though what they did was very wrong, I don't feel it's the right of members in this public forum to have access to that information - It is for SR and possibly GF to deal with that person on a one-on-one basis.

I was just joking. Everyone has been talking about being on the "naughty" list, "good" list or not knowing where they really are. I never expected Tricia to list us by our email addresses. Sorry if you misunderstood what I was saying. Tricia has said that about 2/3 of the SR users are on the list - heck even her own mother is on the "list" All I was joking about was for Tricia to list by the user names that we use for Sunshine those not on that "naughty" list. The "acceptable" list would be really really short. Sorry for the confusion, I was just joking.

[Debbie Jean]

I hope it all gets worked out and SR is one big happy place again!:hugs:


Well, Tricia & the SR family definitely has the knack for taking lemons and making lemonade so I'm sure that things will work out. :)

After getting over the initial shock of essentially being called "a cheater", I'm through feeling guilty. We played by the guidelines we were given and are being penalized for GF's poor management of their system. Maybe this had to happen so they'd get their act together. Once the new arrangement is in place, I hope they will see the wisdom in "un-banning" us so we can show them we do indeed know how to "play by the rules" when we know what they are.

What's most important to me is that Tricia understands this and believes in her members.

[askomsky]

Well, Tricia & the SR family definitely has the knack for taking lemons and making lemonade so I'm sure that things will work out. :)

After getting over the initial shock of essentially being called "a cheater", I'm through feeling guilty. We played by the guidelines we were given and are being penalized for GF's poor management of their system. Maybe this had to happen so they'd get their act together. Once the new arrangement is in place, I hope they will see the wisdom in "un-banning" us so we can show them we do indeed know how to "play by the rules" when we know what they are.

What's most important to me is that Tricia understands this and believes in her members.

Same here, as more info was released I stopped feel guilty and more mad/upset that they're acting like we're all the bad guys.

[spring]

This is how I see it: I've never gotten a speeding ticket, never got a parking ticket, I've never been in jail, I guess it was time I got "nailed" for something! It took good old Greenfield to end my streak of "goodness!":rotfl:

[SunshineGirl]

Just an FYI from Greenfield....they have given us some updated "guidelines" to post and are saying that the ban will be lifted "in a week or so."

[bellanlivismom]

Thanks Tricia for keeping us in the loop!!

[jl8595]

Thanks for the update Tricia!

[Alice28]

Just an FYI from Greenfield....they have given us some updated "guidelines" to post and are saying that the ban will be lifted "in a week or so."

Thanks for letting us know.

I have to say that I bet it's because Greenfield saw their earnings go WAY WAY down once all of us dutiful survey takers were unable to do any.

:sunshine: I so wish I could do some shopping right now- I'm dying to both throw some $$ SR's way, and build my account back up. it's the lowest it's been in months and months.

[PSL1013]

Another whole week of withdrawals? :rotfl:

[faithhope]

your not missing much... I'm not banned... and I still can't qualify for a survey... not many choices... don't think they have many surveys to offer...

[marcymajor]

Thanks Tricia for the newsflash from GR. i hate to say this but i kinda miss doing their surveys except for not qualifying, getting error messages or not getting any surveys at all. maybe one day GR will get their act together and send us surveys that everyone can qualify for and we can again generate a lot of money for SR.:)

[breyandra]

When Tricia called and told me this at first I didn't understand. How can someone be using different emails to take a survey. I change mine every so often, or quit using a certain email, but then she explained. Some people, and unfortunately a good majority, find they can qualify for a survey, so, when it comes up again, they put in all the exact info, except, they will use a different email addy. That means they are taking the same survey. Some members use an email here and others at a different site, so when that same survey appears on the other site, they know what to put in. Some members have done up to 170 surveys a month, or attempted to, with multiple sites, changing their demographics and not being honest. In todays day of computers, EVERYTHING can be tracked. Some members have not qualified for a survey, so when it came back up again, they put in different, and false demographics, just to make it work so they could take it. I'm not sure why SR has been singled out for this because obviously other sites have members doing the same thing, but, we were, and now we have to deal with it. I hate that this has put SR in jeopardy and now its time to brainstorm how we can fix this problem.

Normally I wouldn't mention in here that I belong to another reward site, but I just want to let you know Tricia that you are not the only site this has been done to. There is another site who is no longer allowed to offer GF surveys. I haven't belonged the the "other" one very long but I never did the GF surveys on that site although I knew they were there. I've had enough bad luck trying to take them from here! lol As far as email addresses go, I've only followed advice from the forums and tried to get a survey now and then with a different email address when I was having trouble getting one but I've never done the same survey twice and I'm shocked to hear that some people have done so many! It's a shame that these people have ruined things for others. Anyways, I just decided to post this so you don't feel so bad. Just for the record, this site is my favorite and I think it's the best! You are doing an awesome job here with SR.:sunshine:

[MdCaterer]

I am sorry that SR is having this trouble. I believe that the vast majority of us were not trying to break the GF rules or get SR in trouble. That being said, the question that begs to be answered is, aren't there other survey companys that might supply us with some rules & enjoy our business?

[schachteles]

Weird, I was able to get a survey yesterday and now today I go in and there are supposedly no surveys for me, wonder if I am banned? :computer:

[breyandra]

I just went in to try to take a survey, haven't done one in a while, and there weren't even any qualifying questions. It went right to the page that says there are no surveys available. I only did 5 of their surveys in January and got discouraged because of never seeming to qualify. This was wierd to not even have any qualifying questions though. hmmmmm

[goofy08]

One of the things that bugs me about this whole mess (among many, many things that bug me!) concerns privacy. We're always told when we take a survey that our participation can't be tied back to us in any way, that our responses are only collected in aggregate, and everything is kept confidential. Well, we now know that GF can tell which surveys you took, apparently the answers you gave and, since they can tie it back to your SR account to ban you, presumably they can know who you are. This bugs me. Someone with more knowledge than me may know something I don't, but from what I've seen it looks like our privacy is not as protected as I thought. I will definitely think twice before providing information on medical conditions or other sensitive topics if I'm ever unbanned and allowed to take surveys again.

If anyone knows differently, please correct me. I'd like to be wrong. :(

[DisneyMa]

One of the things that bugs me about this whole mess (among many, many things that bug me!) concerns privacy. We're always told when we take a survey that our participation can't be tied back to us in any way, that our responses are only collected in aggregate, and everything is kept confidential. Well, we now know that GF can tell which surveys you took, apparently the answers you gave and, since they can tie it back to your SR account to ban you, presumably they can know who you are. This bugs me. Someone with more knowledge than me may know something I don't, but from what I've seen it looks like our privacy is not as protected as I thought. I will definitely think twice before providing information on medical conditions or other sensitive topics if I'm ever unbanned and allowed to take surveys again.

If anyone knows differently, please correct me. I'd like to be wrong. :(

I got to say, I feel the same. I thought I was providing honest (yet private) answers to those surveys. I don't like the fact that I am computer dumb and someone who is computer savy may know a lot about me and my home.:(

[SunshineGirl]

As far as I can tell, a lot of information is NOT linked together. For example, only your survey RESULTS are tied to your demographic information. Your demographic information is not tied to your SR account. So you take a survey and if they are trying to track you down, they don't actually have the results to show me to figure out who you are. All that they have is 1) the email address that you used to take the survey and 2) the userid that they gave credit through in SR. So whoever has the RESULTS of the survey does not have your name, address, etc. And although I do have your name and real address, I don't have the results.

Does that make sense? So I have one part of your information and the survey company has the other part. But there is nothing to link them together. And under the SR privacy policy, I cannot give them any of your home information.

[faithhope]

I thought I'd have a better chance of getting a survey with less people taking them...I thought maybe if one person wasn't hogging 170+ surveys that maybe there would be a few left for me... but I'm still having no luck... I guess I'm too healthy, too frugal, and my kids are in the middle ages... not the teen or baby they want for a survey...

so don't feel bad if you are blocked... there isn't much choice of surveys right now.

[askomsky]

I just went in to try to take a survey, haven't done one in a while, and there weren't even any qualifying questions. It went right to the page that says there are no surveys available. I only did 5 of their surveys in January and got discouraged because of never seeming to qualify. This was wierd to not even have any qualifying questions though. hmmmmm

Did you have more then one email addy taking survey's? That's what is happening to the majority of us who were temporialy "banned" from GF until they can figure out a way to track it. If you used 3 or more addy's your temp banned. When we log in we get the if your not XXXXXXXX click here and then it says no more surveys available and no options are availble to click on.

[m 'n c]

I don't think there are really any privacy concerns here. GF assigns numbers to each survey such as shopping at XYZ Department store is survey #1, movie about ABC is survey #2, etc. So they know that your email took survey #1 and not #2 but they don't know who you are or what you put in the survey. Then SR just gets like tricia says a list of emails and id numbers which she already has but nothing else.

[abcboys]

No surveys for me either. This is the first time I've even tried this month. I only use one email address. Very rarely I may have used 1 other addy but never more than that. That is weird!!

[Debbie Jean]

I think Tricia mentioned they were going to be putting new security measures in place to avoid the problems which the system was creating... maybe they are working on that??????

[breyandra]

Did you have more then one email addy taking survey's? That's what is happening to the majority of us who were temporialy "banned" from GF until they can figure out a way to track it. If you used 3 or more addy's your temp banned. When we log in we get the if your not XXXXXXXX click here and then it says no more surveys available and no options are availble to click on.

Yes I used more than one email address as I read in the forums to try a different email address when I was having trouble qualifying for a survey. I didn't use more than 3 though and most of the time still didn't qualify for a survey anyways. I pretty much gave up taking them. I didn't take the same survey twice though. If I didn't qualify for a survey using one email address, I didn't go in and change the information so I would qualify for it using a different email address. It's a shame there wasn't a way to bypass the surveys that we knew we didn't qualify for to get to ones we might have. If we're talking about honesty, it would have been nice if GF paid us all for the surveys we took that didn't work right and we didn't get credit for. I'm not sure I should have said that in here or not. It was frustrating to get almost done with a survey, or be done with it, and have it not credit after spending 30 minutes on it. As I said on a previous post, another rewards site did away with GF surveys, probably for the same thing that is going on here. GF should have had measures in place that would indicate that a particular Ip address had already tried a survey and had either taken it or not qualified for it. Most of us were just trying to qualify for "one" survey, not trying to take several.

[fourfoxesinpa]

I just recognized another sad fact about this....think of all the cruise contest entries that we are missing out on now. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[askomsky]

I just recognized another sad fact about this....think of all the cruise contest entries that we are missing out on now. :cry:

Yikes! I didn't even think of that! I'm sitting at 167.... I've missed out on at least 4 entries... WAH!:cry:

[Kittykat]

In the past few days I've managed to complete two surveys. Maybe that'll help Tricia a little bit.

[tinad171972]

I still can't get any, I don't know if it is still because I have been banned or that there just ins't any for me.

[Kycha]

Yikes! I didn't even think of that! I'm sitting at 167.... I've missed out on at least 4 entries... WAH!:cry:

That's true. But, really, it only takes one to win. :minnie:

[3dog2kidmom]

That's true. But, really, it only takes one to win. :minnie:

or 200 for the $50 onboard credit. I was ontrack for that. If the ban is lifted soon I think I can still make it!

[Kycha]

or 200 for the $50 onboard credit. I was ontrack for that. If the ban is lifted soon I think I can still make it!

Oh yeah. I forgot about the onboard credit.

[jollytammy]

I used my work email one day and ever since I've been getting spam. They had no problem "selling" my email address:p

[kxmeeh]

i'm still able to get in some surveys. I hope all this is over with soon. It is depressing to think of the money that is being lost. I am stuck in the house on this snowy, windy day and was grateful for the time I was able to spend on here. I do feel like a twit today, I referred my sister to SR, she gets in maybe 3 surveys a month and she was banned. I keep telling her that she should be able to take them again soon. we are going to a girls only trip this July, and the extra spending money will be great!!!

[RDGCJK]

WOW! You go away on vacation, and come back to this mess. I'm so sorry for SR to have to go through all this. I'm sure I'm one of the guilty ones, though I really didn't mean to be. I haven't tried taking a survey since coming home, but I'm not expecting to be able to successfully. Good luck to everyone. It's nice having these SR boards so we can all stick together!

[OhMari]

I'm still locked out.

[3dog2kidmom]

I'm still locked out.

Me too :( ..........

[Weluvdisny]

Me too. I thought because I could enter my info again I would be able to get through but no such luck.

[kmmccart75]

After several days of no surveys, I decided yesterday to come check the forum and found this thread. I too seem to be banned, and I'm pretty sure my husband and I have only used two addresses. The weird thing is, I checked my account history, and I got credit for a survey on 2/5 and then on 2/7. From reading through this thread, isn't that after they banned everyone? So I don't know what to think. I did open a ticket like Tricia suggested, so hopefully she can figure that one out.

I have been guilty of a lot of the things people mentioned here, though: taking two surveys that seemed very similar, but had slightly different products or commercials, so I thought they were different (I would think if I was using the same e-mail address they wouldn't give me the same survey twice). Or, sometimes I think maybe when I took it before I was kicked out, but due to changes in what I had bought in the past month, or different answers in grey areas, the second time I qualified. Also, my husband and I are fairly certain we've had the same survey, but like others have said, I thought they wanted both of our opinions - after all they obviously can tell we're from the same household; we're using the same computer. I was NOT getting credit for more than 1 per day, though (with maybe one exception last year I think) - I was lucky to get 15-20 per month! And our two emails were absolutely valid.

Does anyone know when the new rule about using two emails was started and posted? I remember getting an email about surveys, but I obviously didn't read it closely because I thought it was just saying use only one valid email per person, consistently. And I don't remember when I read the restrictions on the survey page and realized it was one per household. So, maybe that's what happened is 2/5 was me, 2/7 was my husband, so now I am banned for the new rules violation. I hope not! :( I truly didn't mean to commit fraud! Hopefully Greenfield will fix the system and we will all be given a second chance to comply with the clarified rules. I don't know why it allows you to say "this is not me" if they only allow one person. This is where my confusion started.

If you are still reading, SORRY this is so long!!!

[lanny76]

Pardon me for beating a dead horse or whatever - but I thought the ban was lifted a few days ago? I have made an effort to check each day to see if I can take a survey, and still no surveys available for me each time. I am using one of the email addresses that was on the banned list - but that is my main email. So is this why I cannot get in? I mean, do I really need an address that they have not seen before to get back in? I have a new gmail one, but I am leary of trying of it for fear they will say I have tried 2 email addresses again - or not like the long gmail address!
I really would like to be able try for surveys again - so please help me out!

[lanny76]

Pardon me for beating a dead horse or whatever - but I thought the ban was lifted a few days ago? I have made an effort to check each day to see if I can take a survey, and still no surveys available for me each time. I am using one of the email addresses that was on the banned list - but that is my main email. So is this why I cannot get in? I mean, do I really need an address that they have not seen before to get back in? I have a new gmail one, but I am leary of trying of it for fear they will say I have tried 2 email addresses again - or not like the long gmail address!
I really would like to be able try for surveys again - so please help me out!

[Tiggerific711]

I'm still banned too! :confused:

[spring]

Honestly, although I heard a "rumor" that the surveys are up and running again, I haven't actually heard anything official. I tried yesterday, and I'm still banned also. I haven't noticed any posts (but I may have missed some) where a banned person has suddenly been able to do a daily survey. Until they come back up, I'm happy trying for the OTX and SM surveys.

[luvdisney00]

I have the same issue. The address I did most of my surveys with is my main address and the same one I use for SR. I don't really want to use my gmail for GF surveys because it may change and then I would be accused of using more than 1 address. What are we supposed to do about that?

[Tiggerific711]

I just tried and was able to get a daily survey! Hurray!

[zummi525]

:confused: well i just tried and i must still be banned i mean come on shouldnt they have forgiven us by now

[Mom2aPrincess]

I think I'm still banned too so you're not alone...I'm just focusing on trying for an OTX and SM survey everyday...

[speechteachri]

Just tried....still banned.

[kayjo]

Just tried and I'm still locked out.

[nurseminnie76]

I was able to get a survey today. I tried several times earlier in the week and could not.

[JOLAROCHE]

I still cannot get a survey tried earlier today. Not sure if I just do not qualify or if I am locked out. Should I try a new email and stick with that one or is that breaking the rules. I can't seem to get into a survey with this one may it is the email that is blocked

[memanana]

I still can't get a survey

[belbook]

Neither can I.

[mjg74]

I cant get it to open at all. I click the banner and nothing happens, thats on both IE and Firefox.

[MdCaterer]

Aren't there other survey sites??

[AdventurerKat]

Wow. I haven't been participating too much since the beginning of the year but I had tried to take surveys in the past couple of days, couldn't get in one, and saw this. I'm surely on the banned list as well because I can't get one. I am guilty of using more than one email address, maybe three or four but all were valid, real emails. I've also had my husband take a couple under his and we have had a change in our salaries which changed our demographics. Funny thing is I have gotten multiple emails from Greenfield for a follow up survey on pets. I guess its o.k. to let me take that one. :confused:

[Tiggerific711]

I got a survey Friday night but it must have been a fluke. I'm locked out again.

[OhMari]

I know Tricia is going to be gone for the week, but has she heard anything recently?

[sunshinecindy]

I just heard back from our affiliate manager, again, and she is completely stumped as to why we can't get in. She said the ban has been lifted and shes been trying to get in touch with the IT people to see what the heck is going on. Hopefully she will have some answers for us in the morning.

[bellanlivismom]

Thanks for the quick response Cindy. Any word on how we are supposed to go about doing this??? I guess what I am wondering is if we have to use the same person for both the SM survey and the Daily. I am doing the SM survey but DH qualifies for more than I do so it would be ideal if he could do the daily ones. :)

[katjo8]

Aren't there other survey sites??

I hate to say this because I really am partial to Sunshine, but yes, there are.

I've been banned for doing things I never would have thought of doing, but learned about here, so I thought these things were permissable.

Hope this gets sorted out soon.

[sunshinecindy]

Thanks for the quick response Cindy. Any word on how we are supposed to go about doing this??? I guess what I am wondering is if we have to use the same person for both the SM survey and the Daily. I am doing the SM survey but DH qualifies for more than I do so it would be ideal if he could do the daily ones. :)

You can each do one, just make sure you never change up. For me, I will do the daily, and I will save the SM for DH.

[bellanlivismom]

You can each do one, just make sure you never change up. For me, I will do the daily, and I will save the SM for DH.

whoo hoo!!! Hopefully we can get back in soon. Thank you!!

[OhMari]

I just heard back from our affiliate manager, again, and she is completely stumped as to why we can't get in. She said the ban has been lifted and shes been trying to get in touch with the IT people to see what the heck is going on. Hopefully she will have some answers for us in the morning.


Thanks Cindy.

[PSL1013]

I just heard back from our affiliate manager, again, and she is completely stumped as to why we can't get in. She said the ban has been lifted and shes been trying to get in touch with the IT people to see what the heck is going on. Hopefully she will have some answers for us in the morning.

I finally hope this can be resolved...I miss those daily surveys! :angel:

[speechteachri]

Still banned.:computer:

[athoods]

Still can't get a daily survey and about 1-2 i don't qualify for jsut your thoughts one either. This is really bad for my SM status because I am taking care of my mom everyday due to an accident. So I stay on long and the surveys help.

[sunshinecindy]

Yep, sucks for all of us.

[m 'n c]

We will be closing all Survey threads until an official annoucement is made by SR that surveys issues have been resolved. I think we have beaten this dead horse rather well in the past two weeks and its not improving our positive vibes around here.