I have been signing online petitions for many years. Some of them eventually report back on what they did and/or what the result was. Quite a few corporations have changed their policies in response to petitions protesting their practices, for example. And the alternative of not doing it also adds up. If something outrageous happens, and 100,000 people all sign a petition about it, that does tend to get attention – corporations, governments, and others do notice at some level, as do, to some degree, the other people who sign or hear about it. Some people also chip in some money, which can add up, and some people are encouraged to do so by large numbers. Particularly compared to if very few people sign it. I tend to think that petitions overall may sometimes give people more voice than they really have from their right to vote.
It can sometimes be quite hard to tell which is which, and some are a little of both. In general, the more annoying and illiterate/illogical the Facebook item or web site is, the less likely I think it is to be legitimate.
But there are some sites which have organized the process a bit and that are at least surely actual petitions, and that make it pretty easy to sign, because your identification can be stored so you don’t have to take much time to use them. The site the link goes to generally appears in the lower-left of the picture in the Facebook link. Examples of ones I tend to think are well done:
Change.org
Care2 petitions / thepetitionsite.com
Credo.com / credoaction.com
gopetition.com
convio.net
actionsprout.io
youcaring.com
communityrun.org
Others are legitimate organizations that I think are using the petitions productively, e.g.:
biologicaldiversity.org
democracyforamerica.com
petitions.whitehouse.gov
PETA / peta2.com
avaaz.org
Some though seem fairly silly even to me, even if from legitimate people, such as congresspeople’s staff asking you to petition other congresspeople to relent in their entrenched positions, or to do something immaterial.
But others from some congresspeople seem fairly worthwhile, even if they also seem to have an agenda to associate their candidate with a cause, and will tend to lead to them emailing you to send money to support the candidate’s reelection. Similar with some organizations that would like you to join them by donating money, and seem really more interested in that than their petitions, but the petitions may not be bad, and they may do good with the money they get, but I wish they’d stop physically mailing me petitions when it’s pretty clear they want money.
I’ve just spent maybe an hour browsing Facebook and haven’t actually found the bad ones yet. I wish I could find a cheese example but somehow I haven’t.
Composing members:
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Composing members:
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