There's also Apple's new Cards app. I'm going through my cat pictures now.
Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
41–50 of 98 posts
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#42[deleted]
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#43Here's the problem: after the 2001 anthrax scare, all mail sent to Congress has become incredibly delayed (on the order of weeks) while it gets tested and radiated. What some lobbying campaigns have done to get around this is send mass faxes to congressional offices overnight. It's like having access to someone else's office printer and that person has 1/538th of control over the federal government.
The takeaway is, unless these letters are hand delivered, I doubt theyll reach their intended recipients in time.
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Email works better, actually. All of Congress uses web forms that categorize and route the messages directly to their CRM systems. So it is easy for them to tally and respond. Mail, on the other hand, has to get irradiated for bioterror and takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. The letters are made brittle and staff dislike handling them, and they have to be typed or scanned into the office CRM.
Congress uses multipliers to figure out how predictive each piece of communication is (ie, how likely it is that a certain piece of communication will result in a change in voting behavior). I don't remember the exact numbers, but the hierarchy goes (in descending order): in-person visit to DC office, in-person visit to local office, physical handwritten letter, physical typed letter, phone call, email. The multiplie…
If this is real, it's a great example of why this kind of government is way overdue.
millions of people affected by some law, 0.01
one retired guy pissed of by something minor, but that happens to live close by, 700
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#45Thanks!
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Congress uses multipliers to figure out how predictive each piece of communication is (ie, how likely it is that a certain piece of communication will result in a change in voting behavior). I don't remember the exact numbers, but the hierarchy goes (in descending order): in-person visit to DC office, in-person visit to local office, physical handwritten letter, physical typed letter, phone call, email. The multiplie…
If this is real, it's a great example of why this kind of government is way overdue. millions of people affected by some law, 0.01 one retired guy pissed of by something minor, but that happens to live close by, 700
Not exactly. The person would have to be a constituent, so he would live no further than any other people in the district.
You could make a statement about wealth and lobbying, but to be honest, those are considered in a different category anyway.
It's actually rather accurate. If someone takes the time to write a handwritten letter and mail it, it means a lot more than just clicking a DemandProgress button that has all of your personal information pre-populated. The Internet lowers the cost (effort) of communication, but on the other hand, the non-material cost is a way of showing that the issue is important to you.
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#47I was briefly skeptical, but on reflection, I like this for three reasons: First, email just doesn't work for contacting Congress. They get entirely too much, and it's entirely too easy to get lost in the pile. It's the preferred means of communication for most of us on HN, but it's just not effective outside our industry. Phone is better, but there's nothing quite like flooding someone's office with paper to convey…
Email works better, actually. All of Congress uses web forms that categorize and route the messages directly to their CRM systems. So it is easy for them to tally and respond. Mail, on the other hand, has to get irradiated for bioterror and takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. The letters are made brittle and staff dislike handling them, and they have to be typed or scanned into the office CRM.
I've used faxes reasonably effectively. With my former representative in Congress, I always received a written response in a timely fashion. (Swing district, and they were taken out in the last "swing".) Faxes (well, letters sent as faxes) have some of the impact of a physical letter, but can be delivered on short notice and escape the scenario the parent describes -- if that is indeed what is happening.
I've put some considerable time and thought into a few letters that I've in turn faxed.
If you have a Windows machine with a modem, and a landline, you already have a fax. I presume *NIX boxes have or can acquire software that will do the same job.
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#48Thanks for this. I wrote my letter and probably wouldn't have done so without the help of this website. This is one of the first times that a bill has come up that I feel so strongly against. If this thing becomes law, we'll all refer to the internet "before" and "after" this moment. I certainly hope it never comes to be.
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#49Really nice of you to have made this free. I would have paid! I wouldn't have sent this if not for sendwrite, just because the cost for me to type, print, stamp, and mail an envelope is too high.
I would have paid! For those who have yet to do it, I should point out that there is a PayPal donate button to support this effort that you are shown after submission of your entry. Send cards to all your representatives, then send those nice folk a couple of bucks to cover the postage at least.
I actually signed up for SendWrite before, but didn't really want to spend money on sending letters from the internet.
However, I've now donated $5 because of the selfless thing they are doing. Thanks to everyone at SendWrite for doing this, hopefully it will help!
Re: Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter
#50This is awesome, but the bill will be on the House floor tomorrow.