Frequently Asked Questions
I moved! How do I update my officials/address?
Text account to the bot and follow the prompts! (You can also update your name, email, or other account information this way.)
My officials are wrong!
Text account to the bot to make sure your address is correct first, then verify your officials and districts with official government sources like House.gov and your state legislature. If the bot doesn’t match, only then should you contact support.
I’m texting 50409 but I’m not receiving a reply!
If you’ve used the bot before, you may have stopped us at the carrier-level. Text START to the bot to remove the block.
Make a campaign about [insert issue here]!
Resistbot doesn’t create any campaigns, everything is made by users. You can write anything you want by texting write to the bot. See my keyword guide to see everything I can do.
How do I send faxes or postal mail?
You will be asked how you want to deliver your letter before you send it. Use the write keyword, for example, to start a letter. You’ll need 10 coins per recipient for a fax, or 75 for a postal letter. (e.g., 300 for a letter going to the President and your three members of Congress.) Use the buy keyword to buy coins!
What happened to faxes?
If you don’t see the fax option, it’s because I don’t have working fax numbers for your officials. These are often hard to find and are sometimes unplugged, changed, etc. If you can find a working fax number for the official you want to reach from an official government source, or can call your official and get it, please contact support and you will help activate it for all Resistbot users. Thank you!
The bot is taking my coins for emails now, why?
Resistbot is expensive to operate, every letter and text has costs, and few users contribute. Free accounts receive deliveries and all the needed texts for up to one hundred unique letters, after that we ask for one coin (about $0.02) per delivery. By now, the bot has saved you hours of filling out forms, solving captchas, and Google searches, so please buy coins to get going again, or go premium for unlimited 0 coin emails. You’ll help to keep Resistbot online!
If you can’t contribute, please organize others for even greater impact, or if you are a community organizer, please text support to the bot and ask for a hardship exemption.
You did not get my letter, parts of it were cut off, or my letter is mixed up!
Your mobile carrier is cutting off, breaking up, or mixing up your letter on its way to us, so there’s nothing we can do. To compose a letter with SMS, you must send your letter in many, short texts of no more than 140 characters. You can send as many as you need. The done command tells the bot when you’re finished. Be sure to use the preview command to double-check any letters composed with SMS. Use clear if you need to re-write it.
Better: use the switch keyword to connect another messaging app. SMS is the only one with this limitation.
I typed up a whole letter, but your system keeps saying you didn’t receive anything.
See above. Texts that are too long may simply be dropped by your mobile carrier. Send shorter texts to the bot or switch from SMS.
The bot isn’t understanding my address!
Most folks that run into this are entering their street address without a city and state or without a zip code. You must type your entire address just as you would write on an envelope, in order for the bot to get your location. Addresses are needed to determine your officials.
If you have a brand new address, the post office may not have it yet and neither will we. Respond yes to the address the bot returns, and then contact us for a manual fix.
I’m direct messaging you on Twitter and nothing is happening!
Twitter suspended our API access on April 27, 2023. Most people can text 50409 to access their account. But if you can’t access your account by texting, please contact us with your Twitter handle, and our volunteers can restore access to your account on SMS.
What are coins?
Coins are an in-bot currency that can be purchased and spent on texting campaigns to other members, excess e-deliveries, or delivering letters via fax or U.S. postal mail. Premium members receive double the number of coins per dollar and don’t need to spend any for e-delivery.
You earn one coin for each promoted alert you receive, and when other members promote your campaigns. For example, with a 100 coin promotion, 50 coins would go to you, and 50 to the recipients of the promotion. Get your friends to support your organizing!
How do I stop receiving texts?
Text alerts to control what kinds of texts you receive. Though before you turn them all off, remember that promoted campaigns are all coming from fellow members asking for your help with an issue they care about, and you get a coin for each one you receive. As you’d want help fighting for what you care about, we’ll hope you’ll also want to help others.
How can I change the payment method for my premium membership?
Send premium change from the platform where you upgraded initially, e.g., texting 50409 or Messenger. If you see a link to start a subscription, it means you used a different platform. Try another platform until you see, “Thank you for your support!” If you have any problems, please contact us.
I’m a premium member, why are you still asking me to upgrade?
This can happen for three reasons: one, you have more than one bot account, perhaps on different platforms. One is upgraded, one is not. If you’re not on SMS you can try pair to merge your current account to your original SMS account, then text account to check your donor status.
The other possibility is that you donated on the web with a different email address than you used when contacting your officials. Send account to the bot to change your email address to match. If you see a message recognizing you as a premium member, you’re set!
Lastly, if you contributed via a third-party like PayPal or ActBlue, those platforms are not supported. Please cancel your monthly payments there and start a new one with the premium keyword. If none of this helps, please contact us.
I paid for coins but don’t see them!
Similar to the situation above, you may have two accounts created on different platforms (e.g., SMS and Facebook) and your coins may be going to a different account. contact us and we can merge your accounts!
Why does my credit card statement say recurring charge when I bought coins once?
Banks make assumptions based on data from all their customers and may add a “recurring” label to your transaction regardless of if it was or not. If you see “ONETIME” or “COINS” in the charge description, it was a one-time charge.
How can I end my premium membership?
Send premium end to the bot however you subscribed initially (e.g., texting 50409 or Messenger) to cancel your membership. If you have any problems, please contact us.
I’m texting the bot on Apple Messages but not getting a reply!
If you blocked the bot on Apple Messages after previously closing a conversation, the bot may be trying to reply there but can’t reach you. Or you may have initiated the converation without an Internet connection. Delete your conversation, and then tap here to open your conversation again. If that doesn’t work, please contact us.
How do I change my name, address, email, or title?
Send account to edit your account information!
Do you have a petition for [topic]?
See the petition page for a petition search and list of trending petitions. If you don’t find one you like, remember they are all written by users, not us, and you can Write anything you want.
How do I start a petition?
Send Write to the bot and follow the prompts exactly to compose and send your letter. Once your letter is successfully sent, you will be prompted to make it public, and then signable by others.
See our petition guide for more instructions or our guide for organizers to learn more about growing successful campaigns.
I changed my mind. I don’t want to send my letter.
Once you text send your letter is sent immediately and can’t be recalled, feel free to send a follow-up letter. If you didn’t send yet, discard will cancel your letter in progress.
Why do you need my info? What do you do with it?
Elected officials delete messages without information to verify that you’re a constituent; everything we ask for is so we can match you to your officials and deliver your messages in a way that counts. A zip code is not sufficient. Unlike most other campaigns and organizations, we do not sell, lease, or otherwise share your data with anyone.
I’m getting [texts or emails] from [group] now, what gives?
We get tons of texts too! Political organizations and campaigns sell their lists to each other, and harvest public voter data. We do not. Whoever it is, they didn’t get your number or email from us. Here’s your bill of rights as a member, our terms of use, and privacy policy.
Why do you include my phone number in your letters?
Most offices won’t accept letters without them. Also one such staffer told us, “at least once a month I had a designated block where I called constituents in order to follow up on their letters, especially if they’d written in about something personal. And I know some offices have the Member of Congress do that from time to time.” The information on your letters, whether phone, email, or address, is so your officials respond. A landline is fine!
Will my email count?
Yes! According to Kathryn Schultz of the New Yorker:
According to a 2015 C.M.F. survey of almost two hundred senior congressional staffers, when it comes to influencing a lawmaker’s opinion, personalized e-mails, personalized letters, and editorials in local newspapers all beat out the telephone… For mass protests, such as those that have been happening recently, phone calls are a better way of contacting lawmakers, not because they get taken more seriously but because they take up more time—thereby occupying staff, obstructing business as usual, and attracting media attention.
You can learn more here about how offices handle your messages. If you’d rather not email, use the call or visit keywords, or you can fax or postal mail your letters just as easily.
Will I get a response?
Many members report quick responses by email, postal mail, or even calls. However every office is different, we can’t guarantee a reply. But, we will tell you when your message is sent, and we deliver your message in a way that can be read and responded to by your officials.
How can I see all my letters?
If you claim a username, you will get a page like this where you can see all your petitions.
AI is terrible, I’m going to stop using Resistbot.
We deployed an AI-assisted writer to solve a years-long problem of folks having feelings and wanting to be heard but not knowing what to say or lacking confidence. Yes there are issues with AI, which we write about here but we view it as a net positive, and an accessibility technology for many people. It may not help you be heard, but it does help others, and we built the bot in the first place because we want as many people to be able to participate in democracy as possible.
What Mayors do you support?
Try the mayor keyword! If we have your city, you’ll be able to contact your Mayor; if not, our official data is open source! You can add the data yourself on Github.
How can I put paragraphs in my letters?
Use the return key on your mobile keypad, not the send key, and you can insert paragraphs where you need them. On a desktop, holding down shift while pressing enter usually does the trick.
Help, my messages to my officials are coming back as gibberish!
Each carrier handles SMS a little differently. You can fix this by removing all “special” characters from your message: return breaks, directional quotes/apostrophes, symbols like % or $, etc. Alternatively, use the switch keyword to switch from SMS to another app that works better.
I’m getting a “Service Access Denied” message.
Some carriers block “shortcodes” like 50409. You can dial 611 from your mobile and ask them to fix it, or (recommended) use Apple Messages, Facebook Messenger, or Telegram.
Can I get the contact information of the people who signed my petition?
To protect the privacy of our members, including you, we don’t give personal data to anyone for any reason. However, Resistbot will text your followers for you automatically every time you create a new petition. See our guide for organizers for more!
Why are you asking me for a gendered title?
The Congressional email system, and most other official contact forms require a title. The only ones universally accepted are Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Dr. When the bot asks you for your title, you can reply with “Mx.” and Resistbot will send it, but not every office can process it. Visit your officials’ contact forms to know for certain. We raise this issue regularly with legislative staffers.
How do you fund operations?
We pay for texts, faxes, postage, calls, and servers with your support only. We do not sell your data or personal information. Without enough members to cover costs, we will run out of money and shut down. We almost did. There are no institutions supporting our mission or billionaires rushing to help, it’s up to us.
How can I help?
Upgrade to premium to keep us alive! If you’re part of an advocacy group or know an activist, please ask them to organize campaigns with us! You can also volunteer to program (Python, NodeJS, AWS, Terraform, Docker, Postgres, and iOS especially), write articles, or we are open to your suggestions. Please hop in our Discord and introduce yourself to get started.
Can I deduct my contribution?
No. Our primary activity is delivering your communication to officials, which the I.R.S. considers lobbying. So despite our mission, we can’t be a 501(c)3 charity, only a 501(c)4 social welfare non-profit.
I want to edit my letter! I have a typo!
Editing isn’t supported, but it matters less than you think. The occasional typo shows staffers that your message is from an actual human and not a copied script. The best way around this is to clear your message, copy and paste your texts back in, and make edits that way. You can also add to your message.
Do you have scripts? What do I say?
If you’re not sure what to write, use the coauthor keyword and our AI will generate a letter for you with only a news article and a position statement. It should take you less than a minute. You can also sign or share a trending petition to help an existing effort organized by one of our members.
Who should I write to?
When in doubt, use congress for any national issue. Federal legislation must pass both the House and Senate, so this will cover your bases. Use state for state issues and mayor for local issues. Our user guide has more targets.
I want to contact representatives outside my district.
Congressional staffers throw away letters from people they don’t represent; hence, we don’t allow this. Here’s more from the Congressional Management Foundation, a non-partisan civic education group. You can however, start a petition and share it with friends outside your district.
I’m an American living abroad. Will Resistbot work for me?
Yes! Use the bot on Apple Messages, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or even Instagram. (WhatsApp deactivated us for policial activity in October 2024.) When prompted, provide the address where you’re registered to vote/get your absentee ballot from. If you don’t know, use the last place you lived in the United States.
Who’s behind this?
Over 800 volunteers have contributed since 2017, all passionate about democracy, government accountability, and voter turnout. Resistbot is a non-profit, non-stock organization with no owners, and governance falls to its board of directors: Gina Bianchini, Jason Putorti, and Eric Ries. Read our mission and values and user bill of rights. We’ve also been fact-checked by Snopes, twice.
Are you going to spam me?
No. We won’t text you ads or spam. We rely on memberships, not outside funding, so serving you is the only way we’re going to stay online.
If you mean texting you a lot, no. You’re in control of the texts you receive with the alerts keyword, and we don’t give numbers to anyone. And unlike similar services we don’t share your email or other information with other groups.
I have another question not listed above.
Please text support to the bot, this will automatically attach your account and make it much easier for us to help you. Or if you can’t access Resistbot, email support@resist.bot for help. Please be patient as we’re seeing a huge spike in activity.