38Degrees Emails

Well I just got a shock.  I decided, because I was a bit bored to be honest, to have a look at my stats for this teeny tiny blog.  I was gobsmacked because one post got over 500 hits.  It was this post about my emails to 38Degrees.  I simply couldn't understand why one of my blog posts could possibly get that many hits because this is a new blog and have hardly any followers.  So I decided to look on the traffic source part of stats and I discovered this post that had created most of my traffic.

I'm on the Guardian website - ME!!!  My partner called me, and I quote, "a proper grass root activist".  Not that it seems to have done any good.  I didn't hear back from 38Degrees so I decided to send my email again through their contact form on their website.  Here is their reply.

Hi Chrissy,


Thanks for getting in touch.  

Don't worry, it's no problem at all that you're not able to make a donation at the moment. The team has no expectation that everyone will donate but do need to ask for donations so that 38 Degrees can keep on campaigning. 

Thanks for being involved, 

Cian & the 38 Degrees team

Erm, I don't think they got the point, do you?  I was so angry at this reply that I have ignored it. It has sat in my in box since before Christmas angering me every time I saw it. 

I got another email from them a week or so ago asking for my support so I clicked on unsubscribe and when the box popped up asking why I was unsubscribing I ranted.  I ranted big style and I forgot to keep a copy.  I wish I had kept it because it was worthy of being kept if only to marvel at how much anger can be put into an email.

I am disgusted with 38Degrees and their attitude.  They have provided no assistance to the sick and disabled campaigners who are nearly killing themselves to get the word out to the public about what is being done to their benefit system. 

I have to wonder if now the Spartacus Report has gained publicity and the campaign has helped achieve some change in the Welfare Reform Bill via the House of Lords votes, 38Degress will climb on board and claim any further victories.  They do seem to like the populist causes rather than the ones that will require them to really push and challenge the public.

I would love to know if anyone else emailed 38Degrees in a similar vein and what, if any, reply they received.  Am I the only person who was fobbed off in this manner, or do they really not care about this issue?