A Word in Service to the Public

I recently received an email from a friend—you know the kind—asking me to “sign” by attaching my name and location, then to send the email on to all my friends. The email represents a situation which I would deem a legitimate cause for reflection, and possibly for action. The email exhorts the 100th person to send the list compiled thus far on to someone who presumably will be impressed by the long enumeration of support. It seems to be a good idea; a way to use the technology of email for good ends. However, as I perused the list of names I happened upon a few questions.

Were this petition with its 100 (or 200 or 300) names to reach someone in a position of power or responsibility for the aforementioned cause, how would she check to ensure that the names were real?

How would she know that I hadn’t fabricated 99 names and places, tacked them on to an email with a row of “>” symbols in the left margin, and sent it to her?

How do we, as petitioners, know that this petition will be taken seriously after we click “Send”?

It is our responsibility to ponder these questions, because they bear directly on whether all this petition-signing is worth our effort!

I decided to do a little research. According to an article published on Salon Technology’s website (http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/05/10/petitions/index.html), email petitions have very little effect. Another site not only recommends against signing email petitions (for practical reasons), but offers suggestions for how to find effective e-petitions (http://michaelbluejay.com/main/petitions.html). I’ve only read it briefly, but it seems to make sense to me.

I particularly appreciated the latter article’s admonition to 1) contact the originator of the petition to see if it’s genuine (or still an issue) and 2) find the website of the cause in question and sign the petition there. Not only do these suggestions make it more likely that your signature will matter; they also increase the chances, by asking for some active involvement on the part of the signers, that signers will sign after some critical thinking (rather than following a electronic mob with its torches and pitchforks).

Thus, while I agree with the negative admonition so often heard, “Don’t send email petitions on!” I also want to add a positive admonition: “Check the source, consider the cause, and sign responsibly.” Then this wonderful technology or ours will have a chance to work for the democratic process rather than gumming it up.

If you must send emails for petitions, send them with a single link to a site with a verifiable petition. Then we’ll thank you for helping to make the world a better place.

~emrys