After a number of petitions that have made many say the White House's "We the People" site has jumped the shark, the White House has adjusted the petition threshold.
As of Tuesday, Jan. 15, it now takes 100,000 signatures within a 30 day period for a petition to receive an official White House response. Previously, it was 25,000, and when the site first opened, it was 5,000.
When we first raised the threshold -- from 5,000 to 25,000 -- we called it "a good problem to have." Turns out that "good problem" is only getting better, so we're making another adjustment to ensure we’re able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve.
Starting today, as we move into a second term, petitions must receive 100,000 signatures in 30 days in order to receive an official response from the Obama Administration. This new threshold applies only to petitions created from this point forward and is not retroactively applied to ones that already exist.
The White House is attributing it to over-popularity, but many would love to see less petitions involving building a real Death Star or deporting Piers Morgan for exercising his First Amendment rights.
Perhaps a higher threshold will mean that will be the case.
Admittedly, though, many say there are still some useful petitions, such as labeling the Westboro Baptist Church a hate group, which reached the threshold for an official response very quickly, although it still has not received a response. It set records in doing so.
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