# Your Thoughts/Opinions on "Call Flooding" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-opinions-on-call-flooding/692857 "2014-07-11T14:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-opinions-on-call-flooding/692857/1 "2014-07-11T14:56:27Z")
A “call flood” is when dozens, if not hundreds (or even thousands) of people call an telephone number to demand that some injustice be remedied. For example, an activist friend of mine (we’ll call him “Dean”) was taken to jail for some ridiculous and trumped-up charge. Word got out on social media, with instructions to “call flood” the local police department where he was held and demand that he be released. Eventually the jailers realized that having Dean in their custody was more trouble than it was worth, and the charges were dropped. Well, in the latest example, Slate columnist Emily Yoffe is encouraging her readers to call flood the Manassas City, VA Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office over the following injustice: > [@Emily Yoffe](#): > > Police in Manassas, VA won’t photograph the penis of a 17 year-old boy to prove he distributed “child pornography” when he exchanged sexts with his girlfriend. But sanity has not overtaken government officials. The charges against the boy are still pending and he could go to jail and face sex offender status because he sent a naked picture of himself to a girl who first sent one of herself to him. (She is not being charged.) Please keep up the pressure on the prosecutor’s office and ask that they drop this absurd attempt to ruin a young man’s life. Here’s the office info: Paul B. Ebert, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County (703) _ **-** _\* Here’s my problem with this. First, neither Paul B. Ebert nor his secretary (and let’s face it, she’s the one likely taking these calls) likely give a damn about what some random person in Illinois (me) thinks about their criminal justice system. Second, Paul’s secretary is likely in for a _very_ long day of taking call after call, some of them bound to be abusive, even though she had nothing to do with this situation. And third, at the end of the day, when Paul’s secretary reports that she took 150 calls from across the country demanding that this nonsense be stopped, Paul is likely to respond with a shrug and an “I’ll be damned,” before getting in his Prius and driving home for the weekend. But on the other hand, _someone_ needs to speak for this kid, so it might as well be me. And there’s some quote from The Buddha or Ghandi or someone about not sitting still and being silent while evil takes place. Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-opinions-on-call-flooding/692857/2 "2014-07-11T15:01:38Z")
I would think the person to contact and pester would be the Judge who authorized this stupidity in the first place (apologies if that is in fact the Attorney’s Office), but that’s just me. If this gets enough attention, Anonymous or someone else will probably dox the idiots involved, and then they’ll really be in for it.