Moderation Policy

What is Our Block?

Our Block is a platform for land-use consultants managing contested rezonings to engage transparently with residents. Residents register to submit questions and concerns about a proposed development project. Consultants (the project representatives) review submissions and publish answers. This policy explains how we keep discussions on-topic, respectful, and fair.

Expected Conduct

When you participate on Our Block, you agree to:

• •Stay on topic. Concerns should relate to the development project and its community impacts: traffic, parking, building height, green space, construction impacts, process, and timeline.
• •Be respectful. Personal attacks, harassment, slurs, and threats are not permitted. Disagree with ideas; do not attack people.
• •Do not spam or flood. Do not submit duplicate concerns, advertise unrelated services, or post repetitively to disrupt the discussion.
• •Respect privacy. Do not share other residents' personal information or attempt to identify anonymous commenters.

How Submissions Are Reviewed

Every resident submission is private by default. When you submit a concern, only you and the consultant team can see it. No other resident sees your submission unless the consultant chooses to publish it.

Human review. A consultant reviews your concern and writes an answer. That answer is not visible to you or anyone until the consultant explicitly approves it. This approval step ensures quality, accuracy, and consistency before any response is published.

Publishing is optional. After answering your question, the consultant decides whether to publish the thread to the registered community. If published, other residents can read your question and the consultant's answer. If kept private, only you see the answer.

Instant answers. If the project has instant answers enabled and your question closely matches a previously approved and vetted answer in the knowledge base, you may receive that answer immediately. You will always know it is an instant answer and can escalate it if it does not fully address your question.

Policy Violations

If your concern violates this policy (off-topic, disrespectful, spam, privacy violations), the consultant may:

• •Decline to answer and explain why your concern does not meet platform standards.
• •Keep the concern private. Nothing you submit is visible to other residents unless a consultant explicitly publishes it, and a concern that violates this policy will not be published.
• •Restrict future submissions if you repeatedly violate the policy (for example, flooding with duplicates).

Raising Concerns About Moderation

If you believe a consultant has treated you unfairly or violated this policy, you can escalate within the platform:

• •If an instant answer did not address your question, click "This didn't answer my question" to reopen your concern. The consultant will be notified and can provide a custom answer.
• •If a consultant refuses to answer without good reason, or if you believe a policy violation has gone unaddressed, contact the project organizer or Mandate support with details.

Transparency & Audit

Our Block logs all state changes — who approved an answer, when it was published, if a concern was reopened. These records help ensure fairness and allow consultants to demonstrate that moderation decisions are made consistently and transparently. If you request records of your interactions on Our Block, the consultant team can provide them.

Changes to This Policy

This moderation policy may be updated. If you have suggestions or concerns about this policy, please share them with the consultant team managing your project.