no pay?

I've submitted my work via the no payment option but that's b/c I had no choice. You did answer your own question, though. People want their stories/articles out there immediately due to a recent news story or warning.

You can do the free ones and the pay ones and jump around between the two all you want. I have only submitted one article for non-payment so far, I was hesitant to do so, but I didn't really lose anything by publishing it for free, I don't exactly have anywhere else that will pay me for it.

I did an article once for no payment; it was a special offer they had. You interview another content producer on Associated Content, and when you wrote up the interview and published it, you forwarded the link and got a free AC notebook from their shop. It was fun doing that, no pressure. As for news items, they were paying $5 for a limited time (not sure if that's still in effect), and they review those very quickly. I got one accepted and one turned down, so they don't accept everything. Normally I ask for payment, however, and just wait it out.

I think your article is published immediately if you submit it for no pay. I have never done this, but I know a lady who has. She felt like having more articles published would help her sell more easily in the future. Each article is a new transaction with Associated Content. You choose on each one you submit whether you are asking to be paid or not. There are some categories that Associated Content never pays for. I believe fiction and poetry do not receive any payment. There may be more than I am not aware of.