I come to Treehugger to find gift ideas. I figure that if I have to get something material for the people I love, it should be environmentally concious. I got my wife a set of Urban Fruits chopsticks that she absolutely loves.

How about all the products I've purchased thru Treehugger posts! How about the shoes I'm wearing today? That my be a better gage of your value.

you know it would be nice if the surveys didnt always feel like a marketing experiment for you to hone in better on us. you know? like surveys can be educational and inspiring.. they dont always have to feel like they are serving you. personally i refuse to fill out another one unless you start doing test groups and marketing strategies openly

I have to admit I agree with anonymous, that these surveys could be used for more than just marketing research for your advertisers. That said: I'm certainly willing to answer them, if it helps you get ads to stay afloat. Meanwhile, why not throw in a survey now and then about philosophy, priorities, habits, Big Ideas, etc, that are less related to raw capitalism? We all know that Buying Stuff is not the only important facet of a modern green existence.

I must admit, I'm pretty surprised by the response. When I look back over the surveys I see few that ask market related questions, at least that was not the intention. Topics like: volunteerism, what you eat for dinner, how much trash you have, being politically active - they are all designed to help ALL of us get a sense of the diversity of readers. We don't write them for ad purposes at all. We launched a separate ad-related survey last year, but were completely transparent about that. By all means, send in your polling ideas it will be great to get your input and to see more of what you would all be interested in learning about.

Anonymous, ProGrrl, if you look at our "survey" category:

Link here.

You'll see that they are quite varied, touch on volunteering, favorite eco-writers, food, political involvement, family matters, urban planning, animals, funny and serious topics, etc.

So they are quite varied.

We're always open to suggestions, though.

See this is very funny, it's all a matter of interpretation. When I see surveys asking about my eating habits, my office recylcling habits, the perfect tee-shirt, etc - I automatically assume this is for marketers gathering data for product R&D and/or marketing. Even if you THers didn't intend that at all. It's probably because of the business I am in (marketing!). Sigh. I was not trying to cause trouble. I swear.

Give me a break people! Whats the problem with the surveys? Some are a little dumb but most are a little amusing and its neat to see how your answer compares to the others. If you dont want to take them, then dont. I would have to say the only annoying thing is the ads that are in the middle of the page. keep them on the top or side... just my 2 cents...

There's an option missing. How about "Treehugger has generally improved my awareness, so I shop smarter now."

And I for one don't care if the surveys are an attempt to better zero in on me as a consumer of Treehugger content. I'm not paying for this site directly, but if the advertising does it, or referral purchases does it, I'm happy to help.

I have yet to come to TH when I need to make a purchase decision, but I do bookmark the sites that have stuff I like, and/or put the items I like on my wishlist at thethingsthatiwant.com

For better or worse, though, shopping for green stuff usually reminds me that I can make do with something I already have, so I don't buy a lot of green stuff.

Right now it's not really that practical. The products on TH have to categorized and organized into pull down menus to make it easier to look things up. TH is a good place to come and catch up on some of the lasted green tech though. I use it more for investment research.