Re: Lou Valenti's comment on the petition from a couple of days ago:
Yes, Lou, you did sign the petition very early. And thank you. According to the print-out that I have, you signed on May 5, 2008 and you were #19. So my math is off: EIGHT years and roughly 80 signatures a year instead of SEVEN years and roughly 90 signatures a year.
It's not unusual for a name to "disappear" off of the petition, but I don't know what to recommend. Anything I say is going to take us -- as pretty much everything does -- into "Crazy Dave Sim" territory. It's "Crazy Dave Sim's" fault that signatures keep disappearing. "Crazy Dave Sim" is just being paranoid that signatures are being deleted. It's just a computer glitch. Move along. Nothing to see here. Just "Crazy Dave Sim the Evil Misoygnist".
The petition isn't mine. The petition belongs to everyone else who is concerned (as I think they should be concerned) with being on the wrong side of the "if you aren't a feminist you're a misogynist" "debate" here in the early part of the 21st century. As I've said elsewhere, that's the equivalent of saying "The only reason you're not a Communist is because you hate Workers." The reason I'm not a Communist is the same reason that I'm not a feminist: it's structurally unworkable. The 15 Impossible Things To Believe Before Breakfast explain WHY I think that feminism is structurally unworkable. No one wants to talk about that. Just "Crazy Dave Sim".
I'm sorry, Lou -- and everyone else who signed the petition in good faith -- but that's the situation. You can't count on the signature staying on there and, presumably, will have to check on a semi-regular basis to ensure that your signature is on there. I assume that's the idea: to make the petition seem even more futile than it already is.
Maybe Margaret could publish the complete list once every six months or something? Yes, that will DEEPLY IRRITATE everyone besides the 654 (and MIA) signatories.
But, that's up to Margaret and the 654.
Wish it was otherwise, but that's the...malignancy?...we all inhabit.
[The full list of signatories to Dave Sim's Petition can now be found here...]
6 comments:
iPetition is annoyingly scant with their documentation, but I'd guess there's probably a built-in tool to export the list into an external document, most likely an Excel-compatible spreadsheet. The solution would then be to back up the info on the server at some sensible interval - once a month or four times a year, say.
It's not surprising that the data seems to be disappearing - the internet is the very definition of impermanent, and free tools like iPetition (no matter how well meaning or implemented) that collect data are statistically likely to get buggy or hacked over a long period. If anything, I'm actually a little surprised iPetition is still live. Not just Dave's - the entire site.
iPetition does allow for an export (.csv or .pdf). I'm talking with Tim about the best way to publish all the names using AMoC. The names are still there, just hidden by iPetition's current code. I've routinely downloaded the entire list as a .csv file, cleaned it up in excel (for printing) and sent it to Dave.
Though sometimes I will delete a signature - if someone signs it without putting a full name - a first and last name - then I'll delete it. I used to be able to email people to let them know why their "signature" was removed - only one name - but now iPetition changed it so people didn't have to put in their email. I've also deleted "names" because they were obvious spammers / anti Dave Sim people (why sign it only to leave a negative comment?), those get deleted as soon as I see them.
I'll admit to my being curious as to what number I wound up being and how long ago I signed it.
But not if that means anyone has to actually work to find it. :)
Bill - you're #24, signed 05/05/2008.
I think it was Lenny Cooper who was #100, a very cool # indeed.
I was somewhere around #120...
Thank you so much, Margaret!
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