5calls
Feature Request: Senator Phone Number Priority
Perhaps this is how it works and I'm unaware, but I always seem to see the same senator show up first (for example, in CA Feinstein appears first). Perhaps this should be randomized so that calls get more equally distributed across multiple senators?
That said, I'm not sure what the better strategy is - and maybe it depends on their current stance of an issue. Whether one senator should always get the bulk of call volume, it should be equally distributed, OR should it be weighted based on their current stance?
Long term, weighted based on stance and other relevant factors (do they sit on an important committee?) seems like a great idea. Short term, randomization sounds like a good idea. I think I can add randomization pretty easily, but I'd like for https://github.com/5calls/5calls/pull/132 to be merged first.
+1 for randomization, then priority. I got directed to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is actually on the Senate Committee that is specifically relevant to an action. (this)
Is randomization really a good idea? We have lots of people who flip through each issue and call 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3 - I'm a little concerned that randomization will mess with this process.
@nickoneill For context, I chimed in primarily because I thought better priority/weighting or filtering would be valuable (prompted by my experience above).
I think there's a stronger case for randomization when people are more likely to only call one office for a given action. In those cases, randomization helps more evenly distribute calls. By contrast, if most people are calling everyone in a given order, I agree randomization would offer less value and potentially add confusion.
Another option would be to give more visibility to how many/which offices someone can call for a given action, and even let them choose (especially if they aren't going to call everyone). This would offer more user choice, make it clearer how many total calls they could make, and would still be appropriate if/when some sort of weighting gets added.
- I'm new to this project and still just checking out how things work, so take that for what it's worth. I'm a designer so my main lens is UX/UI.