Letters, e-mails and petitions

Is it better to send thousands of e-mails, thousands of letters, or a petition with thousands of signatures?  Are letters better than e-mails?  Is it better to use your own words or to send a standard message or letter? What do you think?

The internet allows campaigns to help their supporters to send e-mails or to sign petitions.  No need to write out a letter or buy a stamp.  Avaaz is an organisation that creates petitions on a wide range of topics and their web pages are attractive and easy to use.

Avaaz has started a petition to the Iranian leaders urging them to drop the use of death by stoning.  The number of people who have signed is approaching 300 000 but that must leave billions of people more who are shocked by this terrible and deliberately cruel punishment.  Avaaz is an international campaigning group and you can see names and nationalities of the people who have signed the petition recently.  Germany is making a very strong showing but there is a wide range of countries represented. 

Update, 16 July 2010:   The petition is now heading for 500 000 and signatures are being added at almost one every second.