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Congress Filtering Emails
from the they-don't-want-to-hear-from-you dept
Congress has been overwhelmed by spam, so now they're using filtering systems to cut down on the amount of unwanted email. This, of course, sounds good at first - but it does make you wonder if real messages from constituents aren't getting through. They say the best method they've been using is to use a form instead of a straight email address. First of all, spammers are unlikely to fill out a form, but also the form requires a zip code - which eliminates mail from people outside of the politicians district.
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I remember writing a letter to my Congressman in junior high civics class. I thought it was really cool that somebody "that" important bothered to write back. I doubt an email reply will have quite the same "panache" for the current generation.
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Maybe they will start getting the idea and start passing some heafty SPAM legislation.
I cant even imagine who clicks on that crap and/or orders stuff via a Spam to keep these people up and running.
But I guess when you send trillions of messages a day, there's a good chance a couple will work.
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What about people from outside their districts?
What I hate are when they form a 'special committee' to look at an issue, and if there is no politician from your area on the committe, then your opinion doesn't count.
I've sent e-mails and snail mails to numerous senators and congress-critters that were on these types of committees and on the few occassions when they did bother to reply (usually via e-mail) it was to ask why my address wasn't in their district, and why was I bothering them?
Now with their new form, they can just automatically ignore my e-mails... great...
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Re: What about people from outside their districts
I ran into this when I tried to email Barbara Lee (Berkeley, CA)... so I used the zip code of her office. She did email me back (quite a while later) and thanked me for the note.
So, sometimes it sorta works...
On the flip side, you can now use sites like moveon.org to have your letter faxed to a bunch of reps... isn't tech great?
Brandon
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Have any of you every tried to e-mail your congres
Well, if you had, you know that autoresponders are de-rigure.
You know, at least when you write a letter, the intern takes the time to put your name and address in a campaign funds solicitation data base, before reading your letter, laughing at it, printing out the "thank you" letter and then filing your letter in the old lighthouse for the blind circular filing cabinet.
With an e-mail, it gets scanned for dangerous keywords and then sent to /dev/null. There's not even a BOFH that gets a good laugh out of your plight before deleting it.
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