My senators have a system that requires me to press 1 to leave a voicemail and 2 to speak with someone. I had to actually dial on my phone to make it happen.
Maybe a little keypad could be displayed while on the call?
Hard to say. I think many people on HN would prefer an on-screen keyboard, but that's sampling power users. Then again, it may be that the power users are the ones that are willing to take a stand.
I would prefer google voice style, my phone rings and I am connected. I don't often take phone calls through my computer, despite using skype chat and having a webcam. I suspect many others are the same.
Which makes me wonder what percentage of internet users have ever had a google hangout?
I think connecting me through the phone would be best. I was a little confused about how the call was going to work initially until I stopped skimming and actually read what was on the page.
Another good rationale is that the user may not have a microphone on the machine they're on. Or there could be security restrictions on the machine that prevent access. It also opens up a new world -- you could let them schedule the call during business hours for the senator's office, or a time when the user is free.
I was very confused by this statement, until I realized that you created the widget and were talking about how to get blackout pages to display your widget, and not a site owner unsure of how to copy-paste an iframe tag.
Great job with the widget, it shows all of my reps and the calling works. To answer your question, being on the front page of HN should help. Have you tried the relevant subreddits (r/sopa, r/politics, etc)? Reaching out to Wikipedia, reddit, etc directly?
Have you thought about making this more generic, and/or letting people customize instances of it, so that it can be used for other issues?
We created it as a generic, customizable widget for activists. Anyone could add talking points, a title, etc. We also have a way to browse through the widgets that other people have created. (Although since we made it at a hackathon this weekend, there's not much there.)
We made the SOPA widget and page AFTER the hackathon was done, because we realized it was an ideal use case.
I'm guessing you haven't tested it much yet? My senator's office doesn't even allow the call to go through unless the caller presses '1' to speak with someone, but your interface lacks a keypad! Hopefully you guys get it out before the 18th
Same here. It'd be great to put up some HTML5 Geolocation as a choice for users to select (obviously, not requested by default, since that'd be an obtrusive behavior for a widget.)
We'll do our best to do a blog post sometime this week. (Disclaimer: We're all busy college students trying to keep the Internet open _and_ pass our classes at the same time.)
As I said already, they do not care what we say as long as they get their money. Even if SOPA will not pass, efforts againts Internet freedom will continue.
The wide boycott of RIAA, MPAA and all SOPA/PIPA supporters is necessary. If you give them money, you do in fact support Internet censorship no matter what you say. There is no way to protect freedom conveniently without sacrificing anything.
Unfortunately it got my geolocation wrong for all three of my internet sources (Cable, phone, and Clearwire). Since this seems such an unreliable method of getting the answer correct, make it easier for the user to make a fix:
(1) Show the current state name
(2) Put the zip code search on the main page
Why is PIPA referred to as "SOPA"'s little sister? Does that reflect the changes proposed by the managers' amendments? Both bills need to pass their chambers for any part of SOPA to become law.
It's not supposed to be a serious remark. People have been been referring to PIPA as the little sister, merely because SOPA is the more commonly known piece of legislation. (I chose to keep SOPA the focus, even though it's been temporarily shelved, just because it's the signature phrase in this whole ordeal.)
Also, I think it's kind of funny to call PIPA the evil little sister, and I hope a little levity makes this grave ordeal easier for everyone.
Maybe you could add a little script of what one would say! Or maybe a sample recording of someone's conversation, it would help people get over the fear of calling!
I'm in Oregon and Wyden came up for me but hes already a SOPA/PIPA opponent. Shouldn't he (and the others) be omitted to direct traffic to where its needed?
My senators have a system that requires me to press 1 to leave a voicemail and 2 to speak with someone. I had to actually dial on my phone to make it happen.
Maybe a little keypad could be displayed while on the call?