Frustrated requesters have shared form letters with others interested in researching a subject, in effect encouraging them to file a request for the same material. This way, one denial turns into 50, which can force the agency to reconsider. This works best when the agency receives several requests at once rather than scattered over a long period. This can also be used to get an important document more quickly, as more requests can increase the priority of a request. The FOIA case log A FOIA case log lists all requests received by an agency each year.
Most agencies maintain such a log, usually in a spreadsheet, computer database, or handwritten log.
The case log not only shows who else is interested in and requesting records from an agency, but lists the subjects of the records being requested. Using these records, a requester can learn from the mistakes and successes of requesters who have gone before. Once you receive a log, you might request copies of request letters, the response letters, and the first 100 pages of the records provided to each requester. Be nice Requesters should try to make things easier for the FOIA office whenever possible. However, if this will result in more than 500 pages, you may send me only the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages of the report, to include the table of contents and references.