For years, I’ve participated in a barely-legitimate, yet remarkably popular (and probably well-known) spam-for-pay “program” wherein advertisers pay some pittance to the organizing company, which in turn sends me spam that, oddly enough, I’m supposed to filter into a special folder so I can give each and every one enough attention to click the “redemption” button that gives me “tokens” (that’s not the word they actually use for them, by the way) that I can later redeem for gift cards and such.

In terms of “something for nothing,” now that (thanks largely to GMail) I’ve gotten this thing nearly completely automated, it’s paying in spades. I’ve probably been sent over $200 in gift cards from these people in the past 5 years or so I’ve been a member and I’ve never spent a fucking dime at any of the sponsors’ web sites.

You’ll note I’m not mentioning their name, linking to their web site, nor using terminology that could uniquely identify them. First I don’t want anyone thinking I’m trying to score “affiliate” brownie points with them by sending referrals, but second I don’t want them to sue me or cancel my account — I like getting ten bucks worth of free gas every few months even though that amounts to three gallons or less now).