How to Use the Forum – America's Plan

The America’s Plan forum is at americas-plan.discourse.group (opens in new tab). It is where the actual work of the platform happens — the deliberation, the proposal development, the back-and-forth that turns lived experience into something actionable. The main site explains the model. The forum is where people use it.

This page explains what the forum is for, how it is organized, and what to do when you first arrive.

What the Forum Is For

The forum is the working layer of the platform. If the main site is the reference layer — articles, explainers, issue overviews — the forum is where those issues get discussed in real time by the people affected by them.

Specifically, the forum is where:

Affected people describe what they are experiencing and compare notes with others in the same situation
Participants develop, test, and refine policy proposals through structured deliberation
Issue hubs do their active work between the stages of the pipeline
Facilitators guide discussions toward concrete outputs

It is not a general political discussion board. It is not a place to vent or debate. The deliberation model used here is structured and specific — see What Is Deliberation, and How Does It Work Here? for a full explanation before you post.

How It Is Organized

The forum is organized into categories that mirror the issue hub structure on the main site. Each active issue hub has a corresponding forum space where its pipeline work happens. There is also a general space for platform-level discussion — questions about how America’s Plan works, feedback on the site, and coordination between contributors.

At this stage, the forum is early and lightly populated. That is not a sign that nothing is happening — it is a sign that the project is in its first phase of building. The people who join now are shaping what it becomes.

What to Do First

1. Read the community guidelines.
Before posting anything, read the Community Guidelines. They are short and specific. The forum is only useful if participants hold to deliberative norms, and those norms are enforced.

2. Introduce yourself.
There is an introductions thread in the general space. Post a brief note about who you are, what issue brings you here, and what you are hoping to contribute or learn. This is not required, but it helps the community know who is in the room.

3. Find the issue hub that brought you here.
If you came to the forum because of a specific issue — Media Reform, or another hub that is active when you arrive — go directly to that category and read what is already there before posting. Understanding the current state of the discussion is more useful than starting from scratch.

4. Ask questions in the right place.
If you have questions about how the platform works, how to contribute, or how deliberation works here, post them in the general platform space rather than in an issue hub. Issue hub spaces are reserved for work on that issue.

A Note on the Learning Curve

Discourse — the software the forum runs on — has more structure than a typical social media feed. That structure is intentional. It is what makes deliberation possible rather than just commentary. If the interface feels unfamiliar at first, give it a few minutes. The Discourse beginner’s guide (opens in new tab) covers the basics of navigation and formatting.

If something about the platform is genuinely confusing or broken, use the contact page or post in the general platform space. Feedback at this stage is useful.

What the Forum Is For

How It Is Organized

What to Do First

A Note on the Learning Curve

Further Reading