Use of an online letter 'wizard' which was used to send a death threat letter to the editor published in the Herald last week is really catching on – although not quite in the way its authors intended. The Maxim Institute's letter 'wizard' allows and encourages visitors to their website to send a letter to over 76 publications around the country at the click of a mouse, even providing handy hints on effective letter writing, but not only Maxim's supporters are using the tool. The New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists this week used it to send a letter to every publication on the list informing them about the existence of the wizard and how Maxim use it to manipulate the letter-writing process, a "common tactic of the anti-gay fundamentalist right in the USA", and GayNZ.com has subsequently heard from others who have also been using it. "I wanted to let you know that I just used Maxim's letter wizard to send Matt Nippert's article on Stephen D Taylor [the author of the Tim Barnett death threat letter] to everyone on the list," says one reader. "What a wonderful community service Maxim have provided, and so easy to use...now that's what I call free speech."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 28th April 2004 - 12:00pm