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Should you sign email petitions?

I received this email from someone recently. My response is below:

So, Dan, do you think signing an email petition does any good at all? I really don't know, but I'd like to do SOMETHING!

Subject:: NPR Threatened

The current Administration is looking to get rid of NPR, the National Endowments and PBS. Is censorship next?

Please read and forward to your e-mail rolodex. Even if you disagree with the politics - a voice for both sides must exist and the arts survive. On NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Totenberg said if the Supreme Court supports Congress, it is in effect the end of the National Public Radio (NPR), NEA & the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). PBS, NPR and the arts are facing major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts to reduce costs and streamline services, government officials believe that the funding urrently going to these programs is too large for something which is seen as not worthwhile.

The only way that our representatives can be aware of the base of support for PBS and funding for such programs is by making our voices heard.

Please add your name to this petition and forward it to friends who believe in what this stands for. This is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile expenditure of $1.12/year of their taxes. This petition is being passed around the Internet and will be forwarded to the President and the Vice President of the United States. Please add your name to it so funding can be maintained for NPR, PBS, & the NEA. If you prefer not to sign, please don't kill it. Send it to the Email address listed here: xxx@xxx.xxx

NOTE: It is preferable that you SELECT (highlight) the entirety of this letter and then COPY it int o a new outgoing message, rather than simply forwarding it. In your new outgoing message, add your name to the bottom of the list, then send it on. (Or do a SEND AGAIN.) If you happen to be the 150th, 200th, 250th, etc., signer of this petition, please forward a copy to: xxx@xxx.xxx. This way we can keep track of the lists and organize them.

My response:

In this case, the email petition is a hoax. Details can be found here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/arts/nea.php

This particular hoax has been circulating on the internet since 1995. You should consider passing on the link above to the person who sent you the "petition".

In general, sadly, email petitions don't do a whole lot. Their effects depends on what kind of entity you're petitioning.

If you're wanting to register your displeasure with a law, proposed law, or anything else relating to the government, a phone call or letter to your representative's office works much better. (Actually, a *personal* email to your rep will do just fine, also.) For a petition to be effective, it needs to be on paper with actual signatures in ink.

If you're wanting to register your displeasure with a corporation or business, or someone who might be concerned with public relations, then an email petition might actually help. (As always, a PAPER petition, letter, phone call, or personal email will be MUCH more effective.) Just make sure to do it right! I can't tell you how many email petitions have backfired because people didn't do it the right way. Here's the right way to do it (and look for these things in any email petition you pass along):

• Create a dedicated email address for that particular petition. If the petition is sent to someone's personal email address, it unfailingly causes the poor recepient's email address to be shut down due to overwhelming traffic!
• Put a time limit on the petition. There is ALWAYS a time limit if it's a proposed law, because the lawmakers have already decided when to vote on the law. If it's a law that you're protesting, how would you know if the petition was successful and the law had been repealed? I've seen petitions circulating for which the law in question was repealed several years ago, but the petition still asks for people to protest the non-existent law! It's email petitions like these that have caused them not to be taken seriously by lawmakers.
• Cite a source to contact for more info. A website, 1-800 number, mailing address. If none of these things appear on a petition, it's not legit. It has the legitimacy of scrawls on bathroom walls. Even if the petition has one or more of these things on it, do your research! Look up the website, it only takes a minute.
• Think. Is this really a legitimate petition? Nothing hurts the cause of the "public voice" more than ill-informed people clamoring for change on a non-existent issue, or having the facts wrong about an issue.

Hope this helps!

Dan