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I'd been using the resistbot texting tool on and off to send faxes to my senators and/or representatives, because I believed those faxes would get more attention than letters or email, and it was easier than actually calling. The last couple of times I used the bot, instead of "your fax has been sent on the second try" or even "we couldn't get through to Senator Warren," I got either "your message has been queued" or a generic "something didn't work" error.
So I looked at the resistbot FAQ a couple of days ago to find out what's going on : they're no longer faxing congress, but connecting to the House and Senate electronic messaging system. The reasons make sense: the message volume was overwhelming the fax system, so some offices were taking fax machines offline, and constituents faxing to ask for help with problems couldn't get through.
Resistbot is now basically a way to email both my senators (or them and my congressmember, or just one of the above) at once, from my cell phone. Useful, but it doesn't feel like a substitute for actually calling. If I'm home rather than waiting for a bus, I can send emails more smoothly from my actual computer, with a real keyboard. That said, I will probably still use the bot occasionally.
Side note: when I sent electronic messages to both my senators via resistbot, I got an autoreply from Ed Markey almost immediately (thanking me for writing about my concerns) but nothing from Elizabeth Warren. (When I lived in Katherine Clark's district, some of my phone calls got actual paper letters back; that hasn't happened yet with Mike Capuano, but I've only lived here two months and called him two or three times.)
So I looked at the resistbot FAQ a couple of days ago to find out what's going on : they're no longer faxing congress, but connecting to the House and Senate electronic messaging system. The reasons make sense: the message volume was overwhelming the fax system, so some offices were taking fax machines offline, and constituents faxing to ask for help with problems couldn't get through.
Resistbot is now basically a way to email both my senators (or them and my congressmember, or just one of the above) at once, from my cell phone. Useful, but it doesn't feel like a substitute for actually calling. If I'm home rather than waiting for a bus, I can send emails more smoothly from my actual computer, with a real keyboard. That said, I will probably still use the bot occasionally.
Side note: when I sent electronic messages to both my senators via resistbot, I got an autoreply from Ed Markey almost immediately (thanking me for writing about my concerns) but nothing from Elizabeth Warren. (When I lived in Katherine Clark's district, some of my phone calls got actual paper letters back; that hasn't happened yet with Mike Capuano, but I've only lived here two months and called him two or three times.)