Frequently Asked Questions at PetitionOnline - FAQ

Welcome  to PetitionOnline.com.  This is the new marketplace of free ideas!™

We hope the following Q & A will help you understand our free online petition system, and how to use it effectively.

What is PetitionOnline.com?

www.PetitionOnline.com provides free hosting of public petitions for responsible public advocacy.  We welcome petitions on almost any subject, for almost any audience.

The idea of PetitionOnline.com is to facilitate grassroots democracy, using our independent petition hosting system to give a high level of integrity to the process.  We believe that in a world with many powerful organizations, both private and governmental, responsible forms of collective grassroots expression are more important than ever.  And we believe the Internet can facilitate this kind of participatory democracy.

We do not accept petitions that advocate violence, extreme hostility, that use foul language, or are otherwise irresponsible or anti-social. We consider petitions which attack individuals for independent expression of their own legal and non-violent opinions, for example, to be irresponsible and anti-social.  We don't accept petitions from anonymous authors, which almost by definition constitute cheap shots.

Petition signature lines using false names and/or unacceptable language are voided promptly, whenever they are discovered.

Any size petition is welcome at PetitionOnline.com, whether covering small local concerns, or large international controversies.  Petitions we host regularly receive 100,000 or more signatures, when well-promoted and representing popular viewpoints.  Even so, we think the total number of signatures is not necessarily the most important thing, and it's not the only thing that makes for a successful petition.

This public forum is privately sponsored, so we reserve the right to refuse submissions arbitrarily, but we rarely do.  As an open forum, the petitions hosted here do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors.

What does PetitionOnline do?  And what do I do?

With PetitionOnline, you write the text of your petition and submit it, using a simple online form.  Then you promote your petition to get signers, and you deliver your petition when you feel it is ready.  What we provide is a free Internet petition system that makes the petitioning process easy.

Our free online petition system automatically formats your petition for the web, hosts the petition here on fast, secure web servers, and collects, displays, and maintains the all-important petition signatures.

Wherever your main web site is on the web - or in the world - you can link directly to your petition here at PetitionOnline.com.  It's just one click away.  Of course, you don't need to have a separate web site to use PetitionOnline.com.  Each petition here is self-contained and functionally complete.

PetitionOnline is like an automatic signature-collecting clipboard, that can be everywhere at once, never gets rained on, never runs out of signature forms, collects every signature instantly, and always has an accurate up-to-the minute count of your progress.

An excellent neutral overview of online petitioning and online petition sites used to be provided in the Consumer Information section of About.com — until About.com closed their whole Consumer Info section.  If you come across a similar resource, please let us know!

How are petitions delivered?

At PetitionOnline.com, our policy is that delivery of petitions is at the discretion and by the hand of the petition authors, rather than us, the hosting service.

Petitions can be delivered electronically, simply by emailing the petition URL with a note of explanation to the petition recipient.  Or the petition pages can be printed and delivered physically.  For maximum impact with a successful petition, we recommend doing both.

Again, at the discretion of the petition authors, petitions can be delivered repeatedly as they gather more signatures.  In general, we would recommend against this -- since the first delivery will have the most impact, it is probably better in most cases to wait until a maximum level of support has been recorded.  In the case of an urgent issue, there may be a stronger argument for delivering early, and then delivering again later when more support has been demonstrated.

Because of the power of the press in spreading the word, perhaps a very effective strategy would be to send the petition URL relatively early to various appropriate media, with a note of explanation that the petition is still very much in progress.  This could bring it more into the public eye, and begin to influence public officials (or other intended recipients), without diluting the impact of the actual petition delivery to them later on.  The final delivery to the petition target could then wait until an overwhelming response has been received.

Assistance in printing petitions for delivery may be provided to petition authors on a fee for services basis.  Please contact PetitionOnline Customer Service for more information.

How are petition signatures validated?

Unlike the various flaky email petitions that periodically wander around the Internet, with PetitionOnline there is exactly one authoritative master copy of your petition.  Each signature and email address (always required, but optionally confidential) is logged for possible explicit or statistical validation.  Duplicate signatures are automatically rejected, and each person who signs is automatically sent a confirming email message.

Validation is a somewhat separate issue from delivery.  Delivery will only include the email addresses of petition signers who have made their address public ally available.  (A petition could be set up so that public email addresses are required, but it would be likely to get far fewer signers.)

If deeper validation of a petition is really called for, PetitionOnline.com has the technical ability to perform a statistical validation by contacting a sampling of signers directly via the email addresses we have privately archived.  This kind of more serious validation is not included in our free petition hosting offer, but can be arranged on a cost-contract basis (see below).

Ensuring identity without invading privacy is quite a challenge.  We don't see that a perfect solution is currently available, given that there is not yet any widespread foolproof system for establishing online identity.  An email address is not enough to establish identity by itself, but it is substantially more than just a name, and it provides a link back to a person for (the potential of) confirming identity.

How can people find my petition here?

The petition traffic is based on how the petition authors (you) link to the petition -- not on the cross-talk between petitions, or the link from the PetitionOnline.com directory pages.

Once your petition is actually live here on the web, we recommend you put some energy into spreading the word.  The concept is simple: the more people you can send to read your petition, the more people will sign it and thus contribute to your cause.

In addition to promoting your petition on your own web pages, ideas for encouraging visitors to your petition include e-mailing a petition announcement to your friends and sympathizers, submitting your petition page to major search engines, promoting the petition in appropriate news groups and online forums, and getting as many good incoming links connected to your petition as possible.  Consider contacting the traditional media press as well, locally or nationally, as appropriate.

To support your primary petition promotion efforts, each person who signs your petition will automatically receive an email message from us to confirm their signature, which also suggests that they take a moment to tell a few friends about your petition.

Note, however, that in helping to promote this petition you are expressly prohibited from sending unsolicited bulk mail messages ("junk mail" or "spam"), and from engaging in any form of online harassment.  This includes, but is not limited to, bulk-mailing of commercial advertising, information announcements, and political tracts. Such material may only be sent to those who have specifically requested it.  Actions to enforce these good citizenship policies may include petition cancellations.

If your petition is a good one, with support among visitors, lots of traffic will lead to lots of signatures.  And that's the whole point!

How safe are the petition signatures?

Signatures are treated with great care.  The whole site including signature databases is backed up daily and archived.  In addition, signatures are logged outside the database to facilitate recovery in case of some unusual system problem.

Of course, from a legal point of view, you must assume all risk for using our free service.

Can I get help writing a good petition?

It is important to take the time to get your petition statement just right before you submit and launch the petition online.  Hundreds or thousands or even more people will read your petition statement at this site, so all the spell-checking and grammatical editing you can is well worth it.  Also keep in mind that a petition cannot be changed after it has been submitted, because any changes would be unfair to people who have already signed the petition.

For experienced advice on writing persuasive letters and petitions, take a look at the book Shocked, Appalled, and Dismayed! How to Write Letters of Complaint That Get Results by author and communicator Ellen Phillips.

Can I just the system for running petitions, and put the petition at my own site?

We are not set up to give away our script and database petition system, but we really do give away petition hosting.

If you have a very large project, custom and private label services may be provided on a negotiated basis.  If you are interested in contracting for petition-related custom services, please contact Technical Support at "support@petitiononline.com".

Will my little petition be lost on PetitionOnline?

There should be no problem with your petition being located at PetitionOnline.com, wherever the rest of your related pages are set up.  This is the Internet, and "where" pages are is based on their links, not their continent.  PetitionOnline is just as nearby for people in Australia as it is for Americans.

Do petitions at PetitionOnlline.com get results?

Short answer:  When was the last time you heard of a sincere apology from Microsoft or CNN?   Yes, online petitions can get results.

Long answer:  The potential results of an online petition vary according to the petition request, who sponsors it, how well it is written and promoted, and the petition recipient. No one can fully control all these factors, so obviously, results will vary.

Often it may be most productive for you to define success in terms of the factors you can control. A petition can be an organizing tool, a tool for collective expression, and/or a way to raise the visibility of a legitimate viewpoint — as well as a results-oriented tool for advocacy.

Petitions here have gotten more than 100,000 signatures in a week. When people join together online to express their views, it can make a difference.

Does signing a petition threaten my personal privacy?

We believe that the integrity of this petition information system is a fundamental part of what we have to offer.

Any information you provide for public viewing on a petition signatures page is accessible by anyone on the Internet.  Please exercise normal caution in making your personal information public, as you would with public information on your own web page, or any other.

Information you provide confidentially, such as a hidden email address, is automatically stored in a secure area, accessible only by Artifice technical staff, for petition administration and validation purposes only.

For additional details, including the use of cookies by our advertising management system, please see our official Privacy Policy.

Who runs PetitionOnline, and why?

PetitionOnline is a spin-off of the DesignCommunity.com discussion and information site.  These web sites are owned and operated by Artifice, Inc., a closely held Oregon corporation, led by President and CEO Kevin Matthews and the talented Artifice technical staff.  Artifice, Inc. develops and publishes creative tools and media for architecture and spatial design.

The Artifice family of web sites, led by our flagship site, the Great Buildings Online, provide many millions of page views per month to a couple of million monthly visitors.  The PetitionOnline.com site is something a little different that we do on the side.  This site is supported primarily by visitor contributions, and it has a long way to go to ever break even.  PetitionOnline.com is a combination of a kooky political hobby, and a forward-looking experiment in diffuse Internet democracy.  Thank you for visiting PetitionOnline.com!

How is PetitionOnline.com paid for?

PetitionOnline.com is supported primarily by visitor contributions. It has a long way to go to ever break even, but the generosity of our visitors makes it possible for us to maintain the experiment!

Freedom of speech is about having a safe and fair way to say what you believe, with a minimum of necessary limits. It's not about getting a "free lunch", and violating the basic laws of physics. To run a web site - of any kind - with more than a million monthly visitors, someone is going to have to cover some fairly substantial real costs.

We think it is important for PetitionOnline.com to remain independent of government or political party or major corporate sponsorship. Your generous contributions and support make this possible, and are very much appreciated at any level.

I submitted my petition yesterday.  Why isn't it listed yet in the category page?

To be listed in any of the category pages, a petition must first meet certain minimum criteria. These threshold criteria are adjusted periodically based on recent petition trends. A petition will be listed in a category on the following day after it meets the threshold criteria.

I have emailed to PetitionOnline.com about my petition.  When will I get an answer?

When writing to PetitionOnline.com about a petition, it is essential that you clearly identify the petition by including the complete petition URL in the email. A general description of the petition, or the approximate petition title, is not enough. The petition URL looks like:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/abcd/petition.html

When your web browser is displaying the main statement page of the petition, you can copy this URL from the location bar, and then paste it into any email message you send to PetitionOnline.com. If you write to PetitionOnline.com about specific signatures, please be sure to list the signature line number for each, as well as the petition URL. With several thousand active petitions and millions of signatures live here at any one time, as much as we want to help, our support staff often just doesn't have enough time to do detective work to answer under-identified questions.

Where can I ask additional questions about PetitionOnline?

Just click here to send us your questions, comments, and suggestions! Please be sure to be specific, and to clearly identify any petitions and signatures you are referring to.

My petition is all ready.  How do I submit my petition to PetitionOnline?

Once your petition is written, and checked and double-checked, you can go from here directly to our one page  Petition Submission Form.

www.PetitionOnline.com provides free hosting of public petitions for responsible public advocacy. This public forum is privately sponsored, so we reserve the right to refuse submissions arbitrarily. Petitions do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. Please send us your questions, comments, and suggestions! In case of technical difficulties, please contact PetitionOnline Support using our simple Petition Help form.   PetitionOnline™ is a trademark of Artifice, Inc.