Request templates

MuckRock.com uses "request templates" to facilitate making requests.

They said:

This was the number one problem we ran into early on with MuckRock: Showing what users could request. We created a fairly complex template system, but I think far more effective were highlighting other successful requests.

In the US, this is particularly helpful as pretty much any request should be accompanied by a preamble requesting that fees be waived in the public interest (and this may vary by state).

Templates may have fixed fields that need filling out before the prefilled textarea is presented to the user. For example, the template for requesting meeting minutes includes a "group" that the user wants minutes from, and the number of meetings back that they'd like minutes for.

This facility might be useful, both because it guides the user into making better requests that are more likely to succeed, and because it will make requests more businesslike and less adversarial (see #issue/17)

Selecting a template

[[/muckrock-templates2.png|frame|alt=A resulting prefilled textarea. Note form fields provided by user]]