(1) I don't think I'd ever do a "pure" mileage run. Flying to Alaska and back without leaving the airport, that kind of thing. I have certainly taken a few trips over the years motivated by reaching the next elite tier... It's often been an excuse to do an early December vacation (an excellent time to travel), but always to a destination I had some interest in.

(2) I use iDine to nudge dormant accounts. That one is not a problem for me. If the restaurant is mediocre (as many of them are), my spending is 10 bucks or less. As long as 1 mile posts, it's okay. I find that the miles *do* post reliably, which is why I'm more willing to do this than buy some cheap online widget from a retail partner.

(3) I have never done VR/Bluebird or similar. Doesn't seem worth the time to me. The only high giftcard usage pattern I've personally employed has been buying loads of Marriott GC's when they are running a 10-20% off sale and I'm in a heavy period of Marriott stays. In that case, the act of receiving and handling $1,000 gift cards for a short period to put an instant $100-200 in my pocket is worthwhile.

(4) Never done a Twitter promotion and I'd probably never do one that required me to tweet. I use Twitter to follow companies and news organizations, so if somebody was throwing me 100 miles for a follow, I'd probably do that. I have done a couple Foursquare promotions with Starwood, but I have no friends on Foursquare and don't use it for much of anything at all, so I figure I wasn't giving away much valuable information for those 250 points per checkin.