This morning I received an email asking me to sign an online petition which said 'it seems this one is genuine, I've checked it out on Google and Facebook'  What?!!!!!!!

I have subsequently checked reliable sources which show the petition concerned to be 'well meaning but misguided' based on a flawed understanding of some complex legal stuff.  Getting petitions taken seriously is hard enough when they are well founded, but this kind of thing flying through the ether only harms their value.

The other week when I was visiting my Mum someone stopped us to sign a petition on warden services for sheltered housing.  She signed it, being directly affected; I declined saying 'I don't live in your area so it would undermine the authenticity of your work.'  'Oh, just put a fake address down' the man said... What?!!!!! (again) - do they really not appreciate that random checks do get done to check authenticity and that good intention is undermined when M Mouse signs yet another petition.

Too much easy information and too little responsibility seems to give authority to twaddle and worse.  But, seemingly, if we want to get taken seriously by the masses then Facebook is the place for pronouncements - how scary is that?