But what about petitions?
Not forwarding PowerPoint presentations is one thing, but isn't using e-mail to
reach vast numbers of people who might sign a petition something different? And
perhaps there's a smart crowd quality to these - after all, they connect between
people who otherwise might not ordinarily be connected. On the other hand, simply
because people who sign the same petition apparently agree about something, perhaps
they don't fit the four characteristics of Surowiecki's crowds. Four
years ago I wrote that, no matter how worthy the cause, I don't pass these
on, and I haven't yet found any reason to change my policy. When signing a petition
requires nothing beyond clicking on a link, or clicking on "send", to
my mind it loses its ability to make an impression, to convince anyone.
Go to: ... how smart can we be?, or
Go to: I can't believe I read the whole thing,
or
Go to: Are crowds really that smart?