On 6 November 2012 07:48, Mark Goodge <[email protected]> wrote: > On 06/11/2012 04:25, Pete and Carol Gregson wrote: > > What we want to do is to make it much easier for folk to use the >> response, add their own comments- and e-mail the letter to the Council >> protesting the closure. I know there is software about that can do >> this- Write-to-them use it on their site. It's not a petition we need, >> it's a system to help lots of folk (who aren't very used to computing) >> send the same letter, with a few wee bits they add themselves >> > > Just a point, but if you want the responses to be heard then you need to > encourage people to write them entirely in their own words without any > pre-filled content. Otherwise, it will be nothing more than a petition, and > you've already said you don't want one of those. > > Mass email campaigns with identikit content are routinely ignored by > politicians, on the basis that if someone doesn't care enough about > something to say so in their own words then they probably don't really care > much about it at all (or they're just jumping on a bandwagon set rolling by > someone else). They only tend to get noticed at all if there is a really > large number of them, but in that case they then tend to piss people off as > it floods their mailboxes. If you're going for quantity over quality, then > a normal petition is far more effective. > > When sending direct mail to politicians and governing organisations, a > single message in a person's own words - no matter how badly written - is > worth a thousand copy-and-paste missives. Paradoxically, providing a > pre-set text can be discouraging because most people don't think their own > writing will match up to it. You're better off just telling them to use > their own words and not to worry about appearing professional and polished. > > Incidentally, the letter on your own page is far, far too long. It's fine > as a single response from one person who really has considered all the > factors mentioned in it, but there's absolutely no point whatsoever sending > the same text more than once - each copy received will just be considered a > duplicate of the one they already have. > > Mark >
What we always said with FaxYourMP.com (when people wanted the ability to send form responses) was that the best way to encourage people to compose their own message was to provide a bullet list of points to make. Amnesty International used to do this quite well with their campaign pages, but it seems they now provide form responses, which is disappointing... -- Owen Blacker, London GB @owenblacker <http://twitter.com/owenblacker> www.mysociety.org
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