Thread

PledgeBank: a better alternative to a petition

Lothario, 07 Sep 2005 15:35:48

Check this out:

http://www.pledgebank.com/

The idea is that someone starts a pledge, where people sign up and
agree to take some positive action if a specified number of other
people also agree to do so. If the pledge meets its target, everyone
must act. If not, no-one is obliged to.

This is much better than a petition. If the Internet tells us
anything, it's that people's opinions, in themselves, don't add up to
a hill of beans. They're two a penny. But people taking action beyond
just stating nominal support for an idea can be much more powerful,
even in relatively small numbers.

Suggestions for the pledge might be:

- write to your own MP
- donate some money
- attend an event

I'd recommend keeping it simple, with only one obligation.

Of course, there's no way to enforce the pledge if it meets its target
of signatories. But there is a moral pressure on people to act, and
the list manager can email those people to keep them up to date with
the campaign. I think this is on a protected basis, ie. the list
manager can't actually view the addresses on the list.

This avoids the problem of having a competition of numbers against the
Jane Longhurst petition. The two wouldn't in any way be directly
comparable, and a target of, say, 500 people would be quite
respectable.

It also avoids the problem of people having to give their real names
and addresses to the government - depending on what the required
action of the pledge would be, of course.

backdooruk, 07 Sep 2005 15:52:13

Lothario wrote:
> This avoids the problem of having a competition of numbers against the
> Jane Longhurst petition.

PledgeBank sounds like a good idea but it isn't in anyway an alternative to a petition. The point of a petition at this stage is *not( to compare numbers with those in favoure of the legislation, but to demonstrate to the government that large numbers of people are against the idea, not just marginalized perverts. Enough people to make it politically difficult for them.

- Chris