To ‘check box’ or ‘not to check box’, that is the question…

As a fan of frugality and free stuff, I often spend my spare moments online entering competitions and free draws to win holidays or gizmos & gadgets. First I type in my name, email address and mobile number and then it is time to answer the question which will determine if I stand a chance at winning. Usually the question is a patronising simple one such as "Who lives at 10 Downing Street?" or “Which is the correct spelling for diarrhea? Is it a) diarrhea b) chrisrea or c) platypus“. Once the correct answer is checked you would have thought that it was plain sailing from there. Wrong! What follows next is the most indecipherable, mind-boggling and potentially booby-trapped test of all…


“Please do not uncheck this box if you wouldn’t like us not to pass your contact details to a third party or not."

I can confidently say that every single one of you would have come a cropper with this intentionally perplexing riddle at some stage of your internet life and tentatively uncheck the box assuming your inbox will be safe from emails offering dating services and free online bets. To make it even more perilous you often find two of these Mensa challenges clumped together, the second one deviating from the first ever so slightly:

“Please do not check this box if you would like us not to contact you with offers or promotions via email.“

You are now faced with the uncomfortable dilemma of submitting your entry with one of the two boxes unchecked, the unsymmetrical submission bringing out the OCD in you. Doubt will be gnawing away at you as you consider your entry…you click SUBMIT.

Nervously you refresh your inbox, expecting a flurry of penis-enhancing pills and promotional codes for low market restaurants to be emailed to you, confirming your dumb failure to crack the test.
After waiting and waiting an email pops into your inbox… You breathe a sigh of relief as you glance at it. Fortunately, it is not of the spam variety. Unfortunately, your sigh quickly turns into one of crushing disappointment. You have won blue suede shoes for life! Oh well, something ventured…