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It seems like every person who has ever tried to make some easy money online has thought about (and probably researched) doing online surveys.

Chances are, you (or they, if you will) have signed up for a service offering you some money, but when you went to get your surveys, all you were offered were surveys that entered you "for a chance to win $10,000" or something like that.

Maybe if you get lucky, you'll find a legitimate market research firm that actually offers surveys (or maybe you go the focus group method, like my wife), in which case, good stuff.

But even though I fit many demographic profiles for "target audiences" — a male in my 20s, decent education and decent household income — I usually don't qualify. Why not?

As an employee of a publishing company — and a technology company at that — I get disqualified right off the bat.

It is a bit annoying, but I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing. Is filling out online surveys really the best use of my time?

With most paying surveys clocking in at least 10 minutes (and that's assuming I actually qualify) and for usually only $3, that's $18 an hour. Not bad if you have nothing else to do, but that time could easily be spent promoting my sites, writing great content or maximizing my product development.