Read more here, you'll probably find that its not worth your time or money!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/bu...ey/26free.html

This is a NY Times article, sorry but it does require you to register to read their articles.

I would like to read that article. Unfortunately NY times requires people to register to read their content. I hate having to register (especially giving away personal info) just to have to read stuff.

Is there a link to a similar article (probably Yahoo! or some other news channel)?

Theres a mention on /.

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...&tid=111&tid=1

That's where I got it from which also links to the NY Times article. I hate registering to read news on sites as well but felt it was worthwhile to see what the article said.

Slashdot gave a summary of the artcicle that was enough to prevent me from reading further, because of the registration (which I , as many of us, don't like.)

Everything was said : These offers are just another way of getting info on people...

Yup, spammers, marketers, etc. And yeah, you have to buy services and get 5 or more friends to sign up before you get your free whatever.. its not worth it, just save up for a month or two and buy the damn things outright.. your only making these companies more profit to spam you more..

As a matter of fact, I saw people on several forums who've tried to peddle the free iPod. On 99% of them, the mods got on to the thread and removed the links.

At that time I thought it was because of a virus or a security threat that you got because you clicked that link ...

Stupid pyramid schemes. I've seen so many adverts for those on forums. I keep getting emailed something about getting free laptops and stuff to become a product tester for some company who thinks my name is richardjames85

Well so far, we've had some post links here. If it comes off as blatant advertising or spamming, we'll close the threads, or if its a person who's signed up and links with their member id so they get credit, we close. Other than that, if people have real questions regarding or wanted others opinions, we leave those open.

I figured I'd share this article for those who think its an actual deal so they can think twice before signing up for the pyramid scheme and spam lists they put you on for those "too good to be true" type deals/giveaways..

Yeah, I was going to try one of those deals one time, but I think if I tried to get five friends to sign up for something, then I would have five less friends. Which would put me at about -2 or -3 friend count.

I think, as a rule of thumb, you should realise this: if you need to sign up other people in order to get the "gift", it's a pyramid scheme. No matter what they call it, it's a pyramid.

Frankly, if I wanted to do this I'd become an Avon or Betterware/Amway seller. At least you'd get to chat to people

You don't have to register to read this. Go to www.bugmenot.com

Is that legal?

Anyway, although I prefer not registering, I have nothing against sites that protect their content by making registration compulsory. It's just their loss that I (and a lot others I'm sure) don't read their stuff due to their restrictive nature. Having said that I wouldn't want to bypass their security features.

EDIT: I find it ironic that sites like NY times collect private information for so-called "demographic" purposes just for people to read their articles and they have articles that talk about the iPod scam and online privacy. They are yet another example of the supreme hypocrisy that surrounds us all today.

Yes. It's nothing more than people creating an account and voluntarily giving the username and password to the public.

If you want to read the article, without registering, and use firefox, checkout this site and d-load the bugmenot extension.