I don’t completely understand it, but you get paid $10 to talk to a stranger on the phone for 10 minutes. I have done one call and it was actually quite enjoyable. I talked about US foreign relations with a woman in New Jersey.
Even if it isn’t for the money, it’s sort of a bizarre yet cool situation. You are given a topic and a phone connection with a person, and your coversation is recorded for 10 minutes.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in it you can sign up here:
url removed - see below - UB
[I am not making any extra money by telling you guys about this]
A word of caution to anyone considering this: Page three of the application for this study requires (if you wish to be paid) that you submit your Social Security Number. It also appears that this particular form is not encrypted (nor are any of the others which ask for telephone numbers and such). Speaking just for myself, I would be extremely reluctant to do this.
Hhmmm, Opal, glad you’re having fun. I did this a bit ago, couldn’t tell if it was a scam or not (Went hopping all 'round the U Penn. pages looking for linkies.) I figured hell, at worst I’m wasting phone time, and half an hour tops. But guess who cashed a check 2 days ago??? (I somehow feel like the ssn page was encrypted when I did it…but ??)
I had fun doin’ it too, but one time I had to chat about sports, with another sport impaired person. I think we ended up swapping the finer points of water polo strategy (turns out ya don’t actually put horsies in the water…who knew?) I’m surprised they let me do it again after that.
Moderator’s Notes:
Opal, the staff has had a lengthy discussion of this thread and the propriety of the link you’ve posted. While we agree this is a legitimate study, the compensation for referral aspect bothers us. I call your attention to this clause in the user agreement:
Your post on its face doesn’t necessarily break our “no spam” rule. However, there are at least two simple ways for SDMB members to obtain your PIN and give you credit for the referral: e-mail and in the thread you’ve posted on your own board. This might be viewed by some as a deliberate attempt to circumvent the “no spam” rule, and might confuse posters as to why this seeming advertisement is allowed when others are not. Since we consider this a dubious case, I have deleted the URL.
You have received more than one warning for posting spam to the SDMB in the past. Your next posting of anything remotely resembling spam will likely result in revocation of your posting privileges without further warning. While the SDMB has no desire to terminate its long informal relationship with you, our patience on this issue is at an end. Please check with a moderator or administrator if you have any doubts about whether we would consider a proposed post spam.
Oh lord. GO ahead and delete it. Or shall I just delete my email address from my profile and remove any other mention of it from elsewhere? I can swear on a stack of bibles that no one has contacted me about this and promise to not give any info away should anyone try… You’ll note by the way that YOU not I brought up the fact that there are other places this has been mentioned.
I am so sick of these accusations. PLEASE DELETE THIS THREAD. Good holy mother fucking god.