Welcome  to MyPetitionOnline.com. 

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

What is MyPetitionOnline.com?

www.MyPetitionOnline.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 MyPetitionOnline.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 MyPetitionOnline.com, whether covering small local concerns, or large international controversies.  Petitions we host regularly receive 100,00 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 MyPetitionOnline do?  And what do I do?

With MyPetitionOnline, 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 MyPetitionOnline.com.  It's just one click away.  Of course, you don't need to have a separate web site to use MyPetitionOnline.com.  Each petition here is self-contained and functionally complete.

MyPetitionOnline 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.

How are petitions delivered?

At MyPetitionOnline.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.

How are petition signatures validated?

Unlike the various flaky email petitions that periodically wander around the Internet, with MyPetitionOnline 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 not include the email addresses of petition signers due to privacy issue. 

If deeper validation of a petition is really called for, MyPetitionOnline.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.

However, in certain cases, based on the requirement of the creator of petition, the whole validation process is skipped of. This is done as categories like entertainment may not hold serious petition and an actual validation may not be required. Validation of email is done only when the author/creator of petition wishes to do so. And in general case many people wish that the email id is verified.

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 MyPetitionOnline.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.

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 technical staff, for petition administration and validation purposes only.