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The "Deport Justin Bieber" petition blew past 100K signatures a couple of days ago; I don't see him being told to leave the country yet. Could it be that these

• crazy1van 13y ago
  I think they only promise to respond to petitions that reach the 100K+ signature threshold, not adopt that policy. Pretty much makes sense because 100K isn't all that much in a nation of 300+ million.
• SkyMarshal 13y ago
  It costs little to nothing to participate, and the E(X) is somewhere between 0 and saving Net Neutrality - aka non-negative, no downside - it's not like you lose your firstborn if the petition fails. And yet the majority of these petitions fail anyway, so the few that do provide some useful signal, even if we can't know the extent to which it influences the decision-making process.
  • GeneralMayhem 13y ago
    The obvious downside would be the typical slacktivism worry that by allowing an easy, ineffectual way for people to voice their opinions you're reducing the likelihood that they'll bother to go for more difficult but more effective ways; sort of a crowding-out effect for effort.