5 ms·

Call Your Legislators, Don't Email

36 points by stonedge 10y ago

jjawssd 10y ago
I can see it already "And just like that, legislator offices invest in automatic voice transcription technology, eliminating all human interaction."
donretag 10y ago
I find it easier to start a change.org petition and then tweet about it. /sarcasm When it is easy to communicate via a medium, it is also easy to ignore it. Synchronous means of communication have always had more credibility, but as this article infers, it is going away. Too many armchair politicians doing the bare minimum.
yincrash 10y ago
Are there any specific guidelines to what does and doesn't get moderated with regards to politically oriented submissions?
- csours 10y ago
  Primary moderation on HN is your up/down vote. Anything that is too partisan or is pure propaganda is clear down vote material. This is not partisan, it applies to either party.
bbctol 10y ago
For people who doubt the effectiveness of calling: start small, and work your way up. Local politicians are far more easy to influence than people think. I've known a lot of people who've worked in the office's of state senators or state representatives, and it's not uncommon practice to just count the number of phone calls for and against when deciding an issue. EDIT: I should note I don't know much about the article's point on calling vs. emailing. Even emailing a local politician is probably effective. Just take any amount of time to contact your local representatives, and you'll put your issues ahead of 90% of the constituency.
throwaway2016a 10y ago
Email sometimes works. I emailed my Senator about SOPA and got a direct response. The response was that she was in support of it, which didn't make me thrilled but I got a response. It was sufficiently well thought out and long that I just assume she was inundated and had a canned reply her aids just pasted to everyone and changed the names. A call may have had more of an impact since fielding a call is, after all, more expensive than an email.
- lawless123 10y ago
  "had a canned reply her aids just pasted to everyone and changed the names." A lot of the emails she received for either side of the issue were probably canned too.
Overtonwindow 10y ago
This is an exceptional article. I was a lobbyist in Washington for 10 years, and I teach grassroots activism classes. Calling has proven to be vastly more effective than emails. When people sign up for newsletters, or receive "action alerts" and think by emailing and pressing a button they're doing something, really, you're not. Call the offices. Show up in person, on a weekday, during work hours. Be polite, and all that, but know it's just too easy to send and ignore emails. A larger commitment to delivering your message will gain more attention.

36 points by stonedge 10y ago

I can see it already "And just like that, legislator offices invest in automatic voice transcription technology, eliminating all human interaction."

donretag 10y ago

I find it easier to start a change.org petition and then tweet about it. /sarcasm When it is easy to communicate via a medium, it is also easy to ignore it. Synchronous means of communication have always had more credibility, but as this article infers, it is going away. Too many armchair politicians doing the bare minimum.

yincrash 10y ago

Are there any specific guidelines to what does and doesn't get moderated with regards to politically oriented submissions?

csours 10y ago
Primary moderation on HN is your up/down vote. Anything that is too partisan or is pure propaganda is clear down vote material. This is not partisan, it applies to either party.

bbctol 10y ago

For people who doubt the effectiveness of calling: start small, and work your way up. Local politicians are far more easy to influence than people think. I've known a lot of people who've worked in the office's of state senators or state representatives, and it's not uncommon practice to just count the number of phone calls for and against when deciding an issue. EDIT: I should note I don't know much about the article's point on calling vs. emailing. Even emailing a local politician is probably effective. Just take any amount of time to contact your local representatives, and you'll put your issues ahead of 90% of the constituency.

throwaway2016a 10y ago

Email sometimes works. I emailed my Senator about SOPA and got a direct response. The response was that she was in support of it, which didn't make me thrilled but I got a response. It was sufficiently well thought out and long that I just assume she was inundated and had a canned reply her aids just pasted to everyone and changed the names. A call may have had more of an impact since fielding a call is, after all, more expensive than an email.

lawless123 10y ago
"had a canned reply her aids just pasted to everyone and changed the names." A lot of the emails she received for either side of the issue were probably canned too.

Overtonwindow 10y ago

This is an exceptional article. I was a lobbyist in Washington for 10 years, and I teach grassroots activism classes. Calling has proven to be vastly more effective than emails. When people sign up for newsletters, or receive "action alerts" and think by emailing and pressing a button they're doing something, really, you're not. Call the offices. Show up in person, on a weekday, during work hours. Be polite, and all that, but know it's just too easy to send and ignore emails. A larger commitment to delivering your message will gain more attention.