So I haven't started a new topic before, and I've been inspired to visit a pet peeve of mine, and searched every way I can think of to make sure this isn't a duplicate topic, but if it is, I apologize.
I thought e-mail petitions were dead, but maybe I was just fortunate enough to avoid them for a few years.
They read something like: "Someone is trying to pass a law to stop (this thing you like). We're starting a petition to get (arbitrary large number here) signatrues to keep it from happening. Put your name at the end of this list and forward it to all your friends."
Apparently people still fall for these. The "horrible thing" is usually something about banning Christianity somewhere, but I've seen quite a few about video games or favorite secular television shows/movies.
Anyway, to combat them a few years back, I started sending the following back to the original sender and the other recipients.
I first direct them to a link on http://www.snopes.com where I have already searched and validated that the letter is false.
I then explain how even if it was a valid issue, the e-mail petition wouldn't work.
One, there is no way to validate any name that is "signed". There is no way for a government body to determine whether or not someone filled out the list with just a random name generator.
Even if all the names are valid, it would take a very long process to determine whether or not all signers are active registered voters.
And here's the mathematically dumbfounding complication; there will be an infinite number of lists, all with different names at some point or another, many with duplicates.
It's the "and they tell two friends" principle, of which I can't find a specific theory, but it is essentially exponential growth.
Sally e-mails Joe and John, Joe and John e-mail Greg, Tom, Dick, and Harry, and then they e-mail Bob, Fred, Jessica, Mary, Niki, Tim, Mike, Bill.
With just four tiers, you have eight separate lists.
Sally, Joe, Greg, Bob
Sally, Joe, Greg, Fred
Sally, Joe, Tom, Jessica
Sally, Joe, Tom, Mary
Sally, John, Dick, Niki
Sally, John, Dick, Tim
Sally, John, Harry, Mike
Sally, John, Harry, Bill
While technically eight lists of four would be thirty two signatures, seventeen are duplicates, fifteen are unique. There are more duplicates than unique names. This does create a "plus" while each list has only four names, there are actually already fifteen.
Add another tier and now you have five tiers per list and sixteen lists. Six tiers would be thirty-two lists, etc? By the time you had a 100 names on a list, there would be... 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376 (ish) lists. You don't want me to work out the million names that some require, more importantly, I don't. More than half of the names in any number of lists would be duplicates.
Imagine the originator sifting through all of those trying to find valid non-duplicates, especially since some start using tables in some sections and have various formatting and such. This is also assuming that each recipient only forwards to two others.
The best way to go about a legitimate petition online is for a lobbyist to create a website that allows for validated login with contact information. One list, verifiable.
If you are so inclined, feel free to use this when someone tries to send you an e-mail petition. Maybe they will stop. Probably not, but I like to pretend that I can make a small difference at least.
I thought e-mail petitions were dead, but maybe I was just fortunate enough to avoid them for a few years.
They read something like: "Someone is trying to pass a law to stop (this thing you like). We're starting a petition to get (arbitrary large number here) signatrues to keep it from happening. Put your name at the end of this list and forward it to all your friends."
Apparently people still fall for these. The "horrible thing" is usually something about banning Christianity somewhere, but I've seen quite a few about video games or favorite secular television shows/movies.
Anyway, to combat them a few years back, I started sending the following back to the original sender and the other recipients.
I first direct them to a link on http://www.snopes.com where I have already searched and validated that the letter is false.
I then explain how even if it was a valid issue, the e-mail petition wouldn't work.
One, there is no way to validate any name that is "signed". There is no way for a government body to determine whether or not someone filled out the list with just a random name generator.
Even if all the names are valid, it would take a very long process to determine whether or not all signers are active registered voters.
And here's the mathematically dumbfounding complication; there will be an infinite number of lists, all with different names at some point or another, many with duplicates.
It's the "and they tell two friends" principle, of which I can't find a specific theory, but it is essentially exponential growth.
Sally e-mails Joe and John, Joe and John e-mail Greg, Tom, Dick, and Harry, and then they e-mail Bob, Fred, Jessica, Mary, Niki, Tim, Mike, Bill.
With just four tiers, you have eight separate lists.
Sally, Joe, Greg, Bob
Sally, Joe, Greg, Fred
Sally, Joe, Tom, Jessica
Sally, Joe, Tom, Mary
Sally, John, Dick, Niki
Sally, John, Dick, Tim
Sally, John, Harry, Mike
Sally, John, Harry, Bill
While technically eight lists of four would be thirty two signatures, seventeen are duplicates, fifteen are unique. There are more duplicates than unique names. This does create a "plus" while each list has only four names, there are actually already fifteen.
Add another tier and now you have five tiers per list and sixteen lists. Six tiers would be thirty-two lists, etc? By the time you had a 100 names on a list, there would be... 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376 (ish) lists. You don't want me to work out the million names that some require, more importantly, I don't. More than half of the names in any number of lists would be duplicates.
Imagine the originator sifting through all of those trying to find valid non-duplicates, especially since some start using tables in some sections and have various formatting and such. This is also assuming that each recipient only forwards to two others.
The best way to go about a legitimate petition online is for a lobbyist to create a website that allows for validated login with contact information. One list, verifiable.
If you are so inclined, feel free to use this when someone tries to send you an e-mail petition. Maybe they will stop. Probably not, but I like to pretend that I can make a small difference at least.