A surprising postscript to The Independent’s Brexit referendum petition

This is the rather unfortunate option I was offered after signing The Independent‘s petition backing up its call for a referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal:

I wonder how many Remainers think that a Labour-Conservative coalition is just what we need next..?

To be fair to The Independent, this looks to be the result of the algorithms used by Change.org, who are hosting the petition, rather than a decision made either by themselves or by any humans at Change.org.

What’s more, the use of Change.org is a welcome improvement on a previous Indy petition. Back in 2010 the paper gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition calling for electoral reform. It then both did no proper follow-up and subsequently disposed of the data. Building up a huge database of supporters of a cause and then not using it is a daft way to try to success for your cause. (A lesson for Francois Hollande too.)

There are some downsides in outsourcing your online campaign infrastructure to Change.org. But, its great advantage is that if you don’t have the capacity to run a more advanced, more powerful set-up yourself, then Change.org offers a bundle that is easy to use.