Do online petitions do any good?

[LisaLynne]

1. It depends, which I know is a crappy answer.

Actually, I have seen some that I know helped, but those were directed to very specific, more "local" (meaning, say, a Sheriff's Office or a city council) issue. Usually, there was other pressure, too, but oftentimes just from the group that was sponsoring the petition. In other words, they used the petition as one of many tools to press for action.

So, I think it depends on the issue, on the person being petitioned, and also what else is being done on the issue. I do think, though, that if some cause is able to get 200k+ signatures, it does turn some heads/open some eyes.

What comes of that, I can't say.