Not to be taken as an attack on BC_mom, but as an attack at online/email petitions in general.


Regardless of how worthy the cause, I would NEVER, EVER, EVER sign a pettition from that website, or many others like it for the following reasons....

Taken from Break the Chain.org and Snopes.com

Those truly committed to righting the wrongs of the world are encouraged to take pen in hand and craft actual letters to their congressmen or to whomever they deem are the appropriate people to contact about particular issues. Real letters (the kind that are written in a person's own words and sent through the regular mail) are accorded far more respect than form letters (let alone petitions), and that should be kept in mind by those intent upon being heard. Yes, the effort it takes is far larger. But so is the potential for making an actual difference.


The Seven Tests of Armchair Activism for Petitions:

Expiration. Does it give a timeline for the collection of signatures or a target number of signatures? Unfortunately, e-petitions can linger aimlessly for months, even years. Petitions that are allowed to circulate indefinitely are seldom compelling and very often continue to circulate long after any usefulness they may have once had has passed.

*I did NOT see any information of a date the petition signing had to be completed by.


Focus. Does the message have a well defined target and mission statement? Does it clearly spell out what steps or results are desired? Does it solicit and allow signatures only from constituents of the party it's meant to influence? Most e-petitions get you worked up, but make no real statement or demand or target an individual who has no authority to make the desired change.

*All I see on this pettition is that it is to be sent to "U.S. Government, US Governmental Agencies and the AVMA" I find that to be very vauge.


Integrity. Is someone coordinating the petition to make sure it gets to the proper party in the proper format? Unfortunately, many ask you to send them directly to the party whose actions you're trying to influence. This amounts to an "e-mail attack," costs the recipient time and money and does more to hurt the cause than promote it.

*I did NOT see any information on the website or the website of the person that created the petition, that explained how the signatures were being collected and how they would be sent.

Privacy. Is there an alternative method for signing, such as a Web site, phone number, or snail-mail address? Does the message explain clearly what will be done with the information it collects and by whom? If you're directed to a Web site to sign, does the site include a privacy statement? Remember that there are absolutely no privacy protections for information sent via e-mail.

*I found no information on the privacy of the petition writers, however the petitiononline site does have a privacy policy that did state this..."Your IP address may be privately cross-referenced to an industry-standard geo-targetting database, without using personal identifying information, to deliver advertising or content correlated to your general geographic location such as country, state, city, or direct marketing area. "

Reliability. Does the message explain clearly who will collect and compile the signatures, and can you trust them? While some petitions actually give you an address to send "full" copies to, most of the creators fail to check with their e-mail provider first, and as a result, their account is usually shut down within a few days. Most e-mail providers prohibit chain letters and petitions in their terms of service.

*I found an email address for the writer of the petition however no other information relating to this petition.

Sponsorship. Does the petition's author/originator clearly identify himself or herself and give some way to contact him or her. A well-planned political or social cause will usually have a web site or phone number you can contact for more information on the issue and to volunteer to help. Unfortunately, most e-petition creators prefer to hide behind the anonymity of e-mail.

*I could find no real information about or contact information for the author of the petition.


Validity. Does the petition contain facts and statistics with a cited source? In other words, can the claims be easily backed up or do you have to take them at face value? In many cases, the thing you're trying to stop no longer exists or never existed to begin with.

*Best I could tell the author quoted only a few statistics from a task force which is a non profit organization made up of folks from vets to owners of cats with sarcomas. I cannot find reference to those statistics readily on their site, however it did contain a link to the Cornell Feline Health Center, which after reading an article with no statistics, found out it was written by the Task force with the help of several other groups including the AVMA and AAHA. The article itself says basically do not overvaccinate, and NOT giving vaccinations is a higher risk than vaccinating as sarcomas related to vaccines are uncommon.

If a petition fails two or more of the above, dismiss it as Armchair Activism.

This petition FAILS on so many levels of being a valid, legitimate petition. I had to play follow the links to find any real information, and still the most relevent information is missing.