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Google vs. Boilerplate Activism

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ready-made-indignation dept.

ArmorFiend writes with this NYTimes article which "details the efforts of journalists to discern real reader-written letters from boilerplate form letters. Seems like there should be a centralized searchable DB of letters to the editor."

1 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. I'm not so sure that this is a good thing... by Noren · · Score: 1, Redundant
    ... if I write a letter to my congresscritter supporting an issue, I support that issue whether or not the original words are entirely mine. After all, presidents use speechwriters -- and this is entirely accepted as the norm (though Lincoln often wrote his own, but that's an aberration.) And yet we say that the president himself (or herself, someday in the future) supports the issue. Why should members of the public be ignored just because they have speechwriters, of a sort? It's the opinion that matters, not the form of the opinion, as long as it's not threatening or rude to another person.

    Sincerely, Noren