The President Does Not Want To Hear It.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

First of all, The Article…

The upshot is this: it used to be that you or I could simply send the President an email.

True, the President is a busy man. It’s not likely he’d ever see your email personally. Still, you could rest assured that your voice would be added to the chorus that gets reported to the Big Guy every day, as to whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies, thought he was doing a good job or not, and what you wanted him to do, as YOUR elected representative.

You had a VOICE. It wasn’t MUCH, true, but it was something.

And now… this has changed.

Now, in order to send a crummy email to His BushShip, you get to navigate as many as nine web pages, and fill out a little questionnaire to let them know more about YOU.

The system’s architect says he expects this to “enhance communication.”

I am very much inclined to wonder what the hell he thinks the word “enhance” means. Now, if I just send the President an email, it will be BOUNCED BACK to my account, with a little note about how it cannot and will not be delivered until I jump through a bunch of damn hoops.

I wonder: is the White House doing this with His Lordship’s snail mail, too? You send the President a letter, it gets sent back with a little note on the back about how it can’t be delivered until you fill out the attached questionnaire?

I mean, do we need ANY MORE EVIDENCE that Bush does not give a hoot in hell what the people of America (or the rest of the planet, for that matter) think or want?

[Coriolanus]

If you’re sending snail mail to the White House, it always helps to enclose a $2000 check.

[Syntropy]

Ah. Ever the civil servant, Mr. Bush is. How sweeeeet to want to get to know us all so much better. Not thinking of the sacrifice to himself, all the hours it will take to read all that extra material… and there might be BIG WORDS, TOO!!! Such a tireless, brave man.

[whatami]

I think he just wants to get your name and address so Ashcroft knows where to send the “Patriot Police” when the time comes.

[cadolphin]

Don’t look at me… Like the majority of the county, I voted for Gore. :dubious:

[Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow]

This is the stupidest complaint I’ve ever heard, for the simple reason it can be so easily looked into my simply visiting the White House Webmail address listed in the article.

A quick visit to the site (which redirects to here) shows that the web form is designed to categorize the topic of the email (economic issues, etc, etc). This is clearly an aid to While House communications: according to the article, the presidential White House e-mail address gets 15,000 e-mails per day. All of those e-mails have to be categorized and sent to the appropriate staffer for a response. While I’m sure that process can be automated somewhat by scanning for keywords and similar techniques, such systems are imperfect: some quantity of e-mail will be misrouted, delaying an appropriate response. Requiring the user to pick a predefined category would go a long way to improving those sorts of efficiencies.

I agree with the comments later in the article that the web form could stand some user interface upgrades, but that’s just poor web design – I’ve seen far worse from other “professionally designed” websites. The basic goal that shifting to the web form interface is trying to accomplish is perfectly legitimate. It is silly to suggest malicious motivations.

[Syntropy]

Yeah!! Geedubya never lied about his motives before…oh…wait.

He never misled the American People about website security…ah …um…

Hey!! Look!! We got a shiny new tank!!

[Briny_Deep]

Dewey, what do you think of this:

and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

That kind of misses the point, though, doesn’t it?

NOW I have to jump through a buncha hoops simply to send a few words to the President?

Having been to the site and examined it, my first impression is “a lot of people aren’t going to want to deal with this, or be ABLE to deal with this.” What the heck was wrong with just sending him an Email?

[Syntropy]

Agreed. The American people invented “instant gratification.” As if it were a good thing.

And dammit, Wang-Ka, just once I’d like to be the one making YOU laugh for a change.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

I’m sorry… but this just ain’t funny.

What can you say about a situation that makes it even harder to send a message to the top elected official in the country? I mean, not that he’s listening at all, but at least we had SOMETHING.

Now you get to practically fill out a damn job application before you can even send him an email that he’s going to ignore anyway…

[Syntropy]

I have to laugh, Wang Ka. The alternative is crying. It’s just to unbelieveable that we put up with this from someone who talks non-stop of the liberation of a whole country. About giving them the freedoms we take for granted. While they’re taken away from us.

I won’t give in just because it’s getting hard. I WILL keep laughing in the face of stupidity. Rejection is a great weapon.

[Manduck]

Sheesh, I remember when you couldn’t send the president an email at all. And it’s not like you could ever get him on the phone.

[Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow]

*Originally posted by Wang-Ka *
NOW I have to jump through a buncha hoops simply to send a few words to the President?

There was a time when, if you wanted to communicate with the White House, you had to actually get out a piece of PAPER, write a LETTER, put a STAMP on it, and take it to a mailbox and MAIL it. The horror!

My God, people. You can still send your stuff to the White House from the comfort of your own home at 2am while sitting around in your underwear if you really want to. Since when is clicking through a couple of web forms a “buncha hoops”? Have we, as a people, become so fucking lazy that a few extra mouse clicks and keystrokes is considered a serious impediment to communication?

**Having been to the site and examined it, my first impression is “a lot of people aren’t going to want to deal with this, or be ABLE to deal with this.” What the heck was wrong with just sending him an Email? **

If you’re too stupid to handle the basic information requested in that form, you couldn’t possibly have anything worthwhile to ask. If you’re too lazy to fill out a fairly simple form, then you obviously don’t care terribly much about whatever it is you’re asking about.

*Originally posted by Wang-Ka *
**Dewey, what do you think of this:

and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

I think that is exceedingly poor web design. The dropdown list should include an option for general inquiries.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

Pardon my sayin’ so, Dewey, but I don’t recall anything in the Constitution, or any other of the documents that supposedly ensures our rights and freedoms having ANY kind of amendment that reads “…unless you’re too stupid to fill out a freakin’ questionnaire.”

I mean, isn’t this the President that made it a crime to be stupid? What with “No Child Left Behind,” and all.

No, it’s not the forms or the questionnaire that bothers me. I am quite capable of managing it, not that I wanted to write the man an email, anyway.

What BOTHERS me is the fact that what I’m seeing is a way to cut down the amount of email the president is receiving… disguised as a way of “enhancing communication.” In short, make it harder to send the president a note.

I might also point out that I can’t even send three letters for a buck anymore, whereas email is free (IPS fees notwithstanding).

In addition, the whole thing just smacks of a desire NOT to be bothered with the lumpenproletariat. I mean, what next? Will we be hearing something next time he decides to hold a televised press conference to the effect of, “Look, all you greasy, no-account trailer trash, I’m really busy, and I just can’t bother with all of you any more, so just shut the hell up and pay your taxes and vote Republican, and don’t expect me to look after your interests or, for that matter, even PRETEND to be the least bit interested in you,”?

Not likely. Wouldn’t help his chances at reelection. And it’s too damn frank and straightforward for Bush…

[Ferrous]

*Originally posted by Wang-Ka *
**The upshot is this: it used to be that you or I could simply send the President an email.

True, the President is a busy man. It’s not likely he’d ever see your email personally. Still, you could rest assured that your voice would be added to the chorus that gets reported to the Big Guy every day, as to whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies, thought he was doing a good job or not, and what you wanted him to do, as YOUR elected representative.

You had a VOICE. It wasn’t MUCH, true, but it was something.**

Would I be showing my cynical side if I opined that no, it wasn’t in fact “something”? That it was practically identical to “nothing”?

Even if you could still just drop him a line, the idea that the President would actually read it strikes me as…well, “touchingly naive” would be the nice way to say it.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

Guess it’s irrelevant.

Y’can’t even do THAT any more. At least, not without being naive enough to fill out a friggin’ questionnaire.

[Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow]

*Originally posted by Wang-Ka *
Pardon my sayin’ so, Dewey, but I don’t recall anything in the Constitution, or any other of the documents that supposedly ensures our rights and freedoms having ANY kind of amendment that reads "…unless you’re too stupid to fill out a freakin’ questionnaire."

There’s also nothing in the Constitution guaranteeing that the White House will maintain a functioning public e-mail address. What’s your point? **

What BOTHERS me is the fact that what I’m seeing is a way to cut down the amount of email the president is receiving… disguised as a way of “enhancing communication.” In short, make it harder to send the president a note.**

It DOES enhance communication – by making it easier for the White House to route incoming e-mails to an appropriate party. That is no small task, and that benefit more than outweighs the extremely small additional burden of having to click through a few web forms. **

I might also point out that I can’t even send three letters for a buck anymore, whereas email is free (IPS fees notwithstanding).**

Are you seriously suggesting that the $0.37 cost of a stamp is cost-prohibitive? Good Lord, how many times are you planning on writing to the White House? **

In addition, the whole thing just smacks of a desire NOT to be bothered with the lumpenproletariat. **

Don’t be absurd. A better routing system means the “lumpenproletariat” will get responses to their inquiries faster.

[Coriolanus]

*Originally posted by Ferrous *
Even if you could still just drop him a line, the idea that the President would actually read it strikes me as…well, “touchingly naive” would be the nice way to say it.

Naive would have done. The quotes and “touchingly” make it “haughtily patronizing.”

The US House of Representatives web site is still open and you can still e-mail or even call your congressional representative. Sure - you’re only one of his/her 600,000 constituents - yet they work for you.

[Syntropy]

Wang Ka, you cannot force someone to look at that which they refuse to acknowledge exists. No matter how it threatens what this country is supposed to be about.