Why Email Petitions Do More Harm Than Good
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Email petitions are the hardest emails not to forward, because they appeal to your conscience. In theory, there's nothing wrong with them, but in practice, they simply don't work. Why? Let's do the math.
Let's say that you sign a petition as number 1 on the list. Then you send it to 5 of your friends. Now let's assume that all of them sign their names as number 2. At this point, there are 5 different versions of the petition.
1 x 5 = 5
If each friend sends the petition to 5 of their friends, all of whom sign, there will be 25 different versions of the petition.
5 x 5 = 25
If each of those friends sends it on to 5 of their friends, all of whom sign, there will be 125 different versions of the petition.
25 x 5 = 125
If this trend continues, by the 10th set of forwards there will be almost 10 million different versions of the petition.
125 x 5 = 625
625 x 5 = 3,125
3,125 x 5 = 15,625
15,625 x 5 = 78,125
78,125 x 5 = 390,625
390,625 x 5 = 1,953,125
1,958,125 x 5 = 9,765,625
No-one, no matter how well meaning, will be able to make sense of the mess. And the email address that was supposed to collect the petitions will no longer work because it went over its mailbox quota.
If you want to make your voice heard, use your favorite search engine to find a respected organization working on the issues that are meaningful to you. Often, the organization's website will provide online petitions, pre-written emails or toll-free numbers to call.
