Open City Hall

Subscribe to Registered Statements From Forum Participants

What is a disruptive statement?

A statement

containing personal attacks, profanity, commercial advertising or content which is entirely off-topic, and/or
from a user who has falsified their registration information with the intent to post multiple statements in one topic or to misrepresent their city of residence.

Why does Open Town Hall monitor for disruptive statements?

OpenGov is a non-partisan company dedicated to building public trust in government and broadening civic engagement. Many people will not participate if the forum has disruptive statements.

Does Open Town Hall find many disruptive statements?

No. Disruptive statements are quite rare - less than one in a thousand statements are disruptive.

What does Open Town Hall do if they find a disruptive statement?

Open Town Hall

moves the statement to a different web page,
describes the problem in an email to the author, and
invites the author to change the statement.

Does Open Town Hall ever edit or delete statements?

Never. Only the statement's author can edit or delete a statement.

If I disagree with someone, can I post my opinion?

Yes. Open Town Hall encourages open dialog which, by necessity, includes disagreements.

How do I know if my statement is a 'disagreement' or a 'personal attack'?

Personal attacks are disparaging remarks which impute motives to a person's action. Statements of fact, or of your own opinion are generally not personal attacks.
Here are some examples of statements which are, and are not, personal attacks.

Personal Attack	Not A Personal Attack
He lied.	He said he did X, but in fact he did Y.
She misrepresented the truth.	I don't trust her.
He is greedy.	He is making plenty of money.
It is merely a power play on her part.	She will announce her candidacy soon.

Get registered statements in your RSS reader or emailed to you as a daily digest.

A statement is registered if it is claimed, verified and civil:

It is claimed if its author has claimed the statement by signing in before or shortly after submitting the statement.
It is verified if it is claimed and its author has provided their street address in their registration and verified their email address by clicking the verification link emailed by Open Town Hall.
It is civil if it is verified and it meets the guidelines for civility.

If any of these conditions are not met, then the statement is unregistered.