Civic Q&A — Everywhere
About this platform
Public Forum is a standing civic question-and-answer service for town halls and public forums. Each event on the platform is hosted by a named office or organization, which sets the themes, reviews submissions, and publishes its responses here as a permanent public record.
What it is for
Public meetings work best when the questions are gathered in advance, ranked openly, and answered on the record. The platform gives every event a single public page where anyone can submit a question, support the questions that matter most to them, and read what the host organization said in reply.
How questions are reviewed
- Submitted. A question is filed under one of the event's themes. No account is needed. It is held in a private review queue.
- Reviewed. Event moderators approve questions that are on-topic and respectful. Duplicates, personal attacks, and content containing other people's personal data are declined. Approved questions become public and can be voted on.
- Answered. The host organization publishes an official response. Every response records who published it and when, and the question moves to the event's answered archive and progress timeline.
Who publishes responses
Responses are issued by the host office or organization named on each event, not by the platform itself. The attribution shown beneath each answer ("Response published by …") is that host. The platform operator does not edit or endorse the substance of responses.
Roles and access
Staff accounts are created by invitation only; there is no public sign-up for staff. Super-administrators create and manage events. Event moderators are assigned to one event and can only see and act on that event's questions and registrations.
Data we collect
For questions: the text, the theme, and any name and city you choose to provide. Approved questions are public together with that name and city. For event registrations: name, city, email address and an optional message, visible to event staff only. To prevent duplicate voting, a random identifier is stored in your browser; it is not linked to your identity.
Terms of use
By submitting a question you confirm that it is your own, that it does not contain personal data about others, and that organizers may edit it for length or clarity or decline to publish it. Responses are provided for public information and do not constitute legal advice. Voting is limited to one vote per question per device; attempts to manipulate rankings may result in questions being removed.