techPresident - Change.org - Comments

A strange design decision by change.org

JonPincus — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:57:03 -0500

Since yesterday, change.org got rid the list of top 10 user-rated ideas from their site, leaving the "featured ideas" (presumably chosen by change.org). Yesterday we could see that Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties was up to #8; today there's no indication.

I must be missing something here. The whole point of the site is user feedback. Why not recognize it? And many of change.org's partners on this understand the value of transparency in other contexts ... why not here?

jon -- http://talesfromthe.net/jon

Thanks, Micah

brattray — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:16:32 -0400

Thanks for the write-up, Micah. Fair and honest; we would expect nothing less :-)

To your last point about being able to empower people to make real change through the site; you rightly point out that this is going to be one of our most difficult challenges and is something we're going to start putting a lot of effort into. As you mentioned, nobody has nailed this yet.

The one other thing I'd say is that if we're a successful media outlet publishing revealing stories about topics rarely covered in such a sustained way - such as human trafficking, homelessness, or criminal justice - and thereby raising awareness and changing the conversation, that by itself could have significant impact. We're certainly not stopping there, but I think it's a solid foundation.

Thanks again,

Ben

Boring organization

Freedomfighter — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:15:24 -0500

9 out of 10 organizations are worthless and are not doing much to help real people. Change.org suffers from "save the world" syndrome.