Petition Chain Letters
What if there is something that really gets to you and you feel there must be something you can do about it?
What if there is an injustice, for instance, that you really do believe can be stopped with a petition?
Then surely mobilizing people against that injustice would be a noble cause!
The answer: start a Petition Chain Letter
And as most obvious answers, this one is wrong!
But let us say that you really do want to start that petition over the internet...
First of all you should create a web page with full comprehensive information about the situation and with a subscription form visitors can sign if they happen to agree with the petition.
The next step would be to broadcast information about that web page, so that people will visit it and eventually sign the petition. This will have to be done supplying your personal signature or your organization signature, summary information about the issue, a cut off date and the address of the web page containing the petition and all the relevant background information.
The issue here is how to do the broadcasting without using a chain letter...
and it can be achieved: using non-random mailing lists, mobilizing everybody you know, reaching the media, etc.
If you really think your petition is worth the effort, then you surely will be willing to take the time to do it right.
This means collecting verifiable background data, supplying it to all the petitioners, getting enough information on the petitioners themselves so that it doesn't turn into an hoax with loads of fictitious signatures, making sure you don't have the same person signing in more than once, making sure that none of the signatures gets lost and, of course getting your petition delivered.
What? You lack the knowledge to create an appropriate web page to do this? Aren't you the one willing to mobilize a huge number of people? Then, start by mobilizing someone that can help you with that!
If you are interested in the subject OR if you think I am wrong about this please take a look at these sites:
www.breakthechain.org
michaelbluejay.com/main/petitions.html
efn.no/chainletter.html
www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/chain-letters.html
www.southwestecommerce.com/library/emailchains.htm
What if there is an injustice, for instance, that you really do believe can be stopped with a petition?
Then surely mobilizing people against that injustice would be a noble cause!
The answer: start a Petition Chain Letter
And as most obvious answers, this one is wrong!
But let us say that you really do want to start that petition over the internet...
First of all you should create a web page with full comprehensive information about the situation and with a subscription form visitors can sign if they happen to agree with the petition.
The next step would be to broadcast information about that web page, so that people will visit it and eventually sign the petition. This will have to be done supplying your personal signature or your organization signature, summary information about the issue, a cut off date and the address of the web page containing the petition and all the relevant background information.
The issue here is how to do the broadcasting without using a chain letter...
and it can be achieved: using non-random mailing lists, mobilizing everybody you know, reaching the media, etc.
If you really think your petition is worth the effort, then you surely will be willing to take the time to do it right.
This means collecting verifiable background data, supplying it to all the petitioners, getting enough information on the petitioners themselves so that it doesn't turn into an hoax with loads of fictitious signatures, making sure you don't have the same person signing in more than once, making sure that none of the signatures gets lost and, of course getting your petition delivered.
What? You lack the knowledge to create an appropriate web page to do this? Aren't you the one willing to mobilize a huge number of people? Then, start by mobilizing someone that can help you with that!
If you are interested in the subject OR if you think I am wrong about this please take a look at these sites:
www.breakthechain.org
michaelbluejay.com/main/petitions.html
efn.no/chainletter.html
www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/chain-letters.html
www.southwestecommerce.com/library/emailchains.htm
posted by DCveR at 7:01 AM
8 Comments:
Thanks for the info. Might need to stir up a lil funk one of these days. How's it going D?
tacit: No need to thank. But if you want to help me out on this one just spread the word, keep your friends from spreading chain letters. Break the chain!!!
penny lane: That's the spirit!
Icy!!! Nothing new around here. You should be the one full of news!!! How is NY treating you? By the few posts in your place you seem to be doing great.
maaan, dont mess w/ Dcver -
i wonder what brought this post about?
i never believe any petitions that circle around the internet-- i always feel like its a PLOY of large corporations to circle these around and collect data for their marketing research purposes....
but you did NOT hear that from me!
ale: This post is something that comes about whether in my webpage, my blogs or my e-mails from time to time when chain letters start rising again. Fortunately the number of people I've been targetting is reducing, I hope it means they are learning...
tall glass: I know what you mean. It is ironic too that I have bulk-mailed almost my entire address book with a message pretty similar to this post. The upside to it is that several people thanked, almost all of them stopped sending me chain letters, a few even started spreading the word against chain letters. There is still hope and the fight goes on!!! ;)
Petition emails usually lack info. and any way, how do I know it's true what they're saying? Suppose it's someone just collecting folks' email addresses?
Generally petition emails are annoying. Obviously it's hard to verify their authenticity.
Your suggestions are right on the money. I never would have thought of them.
GG: That can happen, but it would take some kind of worm to take the gathered addresses somewhere.
bent: Actually my credit here is very little, the guys on the sites I mentioned have done it all.
Every time I get a chain letter I always send back the hoax info. They drive me crazy.
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