How exactly does an online petition work?

My guess is that it has something to do with who started the petition. If the store started it to see where potential customers wanted a new store, they might actually pay attention to the results. However, if it’s just Citizen Joe Schmo who started one, he can only tell the store, “I got X number of people to sign my petition!” and hope the store takes that into account when choosing their next location.

Internet petitions, to me, often seem more like a relatively innocuous way to vent frustration or show general support for a cause, rather than accomplish any real action. For one thing, since anyone can sign (or create) them, anyone does. They may not be legal voters, or residents of an area, or even of legal age, which limits their effectiveness. Often, if you have 10 email addresses, you can sign them 10 times, which can skew results in an unscientific way.

But mostly, people can sign them and feel like they’ve done something, like their work here is done! :) And then they sit out there in cyberspace. Are they very effective? Doubtful. For instance, if 1000 people signed an internet petition asking me to leave Fluther, I’d probably ignore it. And that’s probably what political figures, businesses, celebrities, and everyone else does, too.