Why are internet petitions a bad idea?

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THANK YOU LEO!!!!

Thank you for posting this. I try and try to explain to people why these petitions are stupid (especially the e-mail ones that say "add your name and forward this"). Now I'll just send them this link.

You are truly a wonderful person and a savior to all mankind.

In all the writeups on internet petitions, no one mentions what I call the "geometric duplication of signatures". If Joe Smith starts a petition and sends it out to 100 people, his name will appear on all 100 petitions. If those 100 people send the petition out to 100 people each, Joe Smith's name will appear on 10,000 petitions and so on. And, a similar multiplier effect will occur for everyone who signs, albeit to lesser degrees depending on where their names appear in the list.

To me, this is the biggest reason for NOT participating in internet petitions.

Comments?

There is another factor in signing internet petitions if you are from outside the US. If you sign an internet or email petition that makes a criticism of the US in any way, it can come up if you have to apply for a working visa. This actually happened a friend of mine.

Leo, I always reply to my Dying with Dignity petitions & was really amused when they told us how to do multiple entries to a news paper petition ! [there is life in us old dogs yet ]
Don't YOU dare retire, or we will have to follow you to US, & I havn't won the lottery yet.
Lilian. O

Leo,
Do you think Facebook petitions and Care2 petitions are any better? I would be interested in your comments on how they solve or do not solve the problems you mentioned.
Thank,
ND

If mine is the first name on the list, on how many lists will my name have appeared if they all get 100 entries? Some mathematical genius might care to work it out. But I can only legitimately sign a petition once, so the lists are invalid anyway.
My wife is a British citizen and she was asked to sign a perition. You were sent a specific form on which to record your vote and given the e-mail address of the government department that was being petitioned. That makes sense.

Maybe those Internet petitions won't get enough signatures. We want the gas prices lowered and there were petitions for that. Also I want to make my public transportation better and also have unfair rules repealed like portable DVD players allowed on the buses as long as those people with them use headphones and don't distract others with it. I also think that high gas prices cost me driving lessons.

Even if they do get "enough" signatures, internet petitions are ineffective and a waste of time.

05-Jun-2010

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