Frequently asked questions

Every new idea goes to the moderators first and appears publicly once they approve it. That keeps spam and abuse off the page, and it usually takes no more than a short while.

You can see your idea the whole time: it is listed under My ideas in your own area and stays reachable through its direct link. If you like, you get a notification as soon as it is approved.

If your instance moderates comments too, the same applies to them. Heard nothing after a few days? Simply ask the moderators.

Editing, yes: as long as your idea is still marked New or Selected, you can change its title, text and categories yourself. Once work has started the moderators take over – so the content does not shift while others are already discussing it.

Your own comments are different: those you can delete at any time.

If the whole idea should disappear, contact the moderators of your instance. They can remove ideas or take them off the public list.

You support an idea with one click on the arrow. A second click takes that vote back, as often as you like.

Each idea counts exactly one vote per person, and there is support only – MyIdeas has no downvotes. How many ideas you vote for is not limited.

Voting requires you to be signed in. That is the only way to keep one person from pushing the same idea up again and again.

Every idea moves through clear stages: New, Selected, In progress and finally Done – or Rejected, if it cannot be realised. Each instance can rename these stages.

Whoever changes the stage can add a note. All steps stay visible as a timeline below the idea, so you can always read up on what happened.

The progress page also shows at a glance which ideas across the whole instance are being worked on and which are already finished.

The idea moves through stages — Selected, In progress, Done — and every step stays visible as a timeline below it, so anyone can read up on how far along it is.

If you need more than a stage, book the projects module: the idea then gets a workspace with project leads, members, milestones and an internal conversation. Several related ideas can be bundled into one project.

Whatever the public should see, the project leads share as a project page through a link — password-protected and time-limited if you want.

While you type the title, the platform shows you similar ideas that already exist, with title, stage and vote count. Joining that one is usually worth more: an idea with many votes gets picked up sooner than two with half the support each.

You can still submit yours, nothing stops you. If you do, describe what makes your proposal different.

If it turns out later that two ideas mean the same thing, the moderators can mark yours as a duplicate. It then moves to the stage Rejected and visibly links to the original, so the discussion continues in one place. Votes already cast do not move across.

Every idea and every comment has a report function. One click, a short reason, done – you need to be signed in for it.

The report goes straight to the moderators of your instance. They review the post and remove it if needed. Other participants cannot see that you reported it.

In serious cases, threats for instance, additionally contact the people named in the imprint of the site.

There is none, on purpose. You enter your mobile number, receive a six-digit code by SMS and type it in. Nothing to memorise, nothing to forget.

If no code arrives, wait a moment and request a new one. Check the number as well: with the country code (+49 …) it works most reliably.

Some instances also let you sign in with an existing account, for example at Google or Microsoft. The sign-in page of your instance shows which options are available.

That depends on the instance. By default, signing in works with a code sent by SMS – no password, no email account needed. That does require a mobile number.

If your organisation is on the Organisation plan, it can set up single sign-on: you then sign in with your existing Google, Microsoft Entra, Keycloak, cidaas, Okta or Jumpcloud account – no phone number involved.

The sign-in page of your instance shows which options are available. If all you see is the number field, ask your moderators – the decision rests with the organisation running the instance.

Contact the moderators of your instance – you will find them in the imprint of the site. There is currently no self-service deletion in your profile; moderators delete accounts directly in the user management screen.

Your submitted ideas can go two ways: they are deleted along with your account, or they stay and are transferred to someone else so an ongoing discussion does not break off. Say which you prefer right away.

If you run an instance yourself and want to close it completely, write to us through the contact form – we will then delete the entire instance including all its data.

No. When you first sign in you are given a pseudonym such as „NewShore31“. It belongs to your account permanently and is what everyone sees – on ideas, comments and in public lists.

Whether you add a display name on top of that is up to you. The field in your profile is optional and can be changed at any time; leave it empty and your pseudonym stays.

One exception: the moderators of your instance can see the phone number you signed in with. We need that against duplicate accounts and abuse – for every other participant it stays invisible.

By default, no. An idea shows the total number of votes, not who cast them.

Moderators can switch on a list of supporters for their instance. It shows pseudonyms and profile pictures – never your phone number or your real name.

You can tell at a glance: if pseudonyms appear next to the vote count, that display is switched on.

All content sits on a server in Nuremberg, Germany. There are no tracking cookies, no ads and no passing of your data to anyone for advertising.

Publicly visible are only your pseudonym and what you write yourself – your ideas and comments. Your phone number is visible to the moderators of your instance alone, your email address only if you voluntarily add one.

For delivering the sign-in codes by SMS and the notifications by email we work with service providers who are contractually bound to act on our instructions only. The privacy policy names them and spells out the details.

No. Submitting ideas, commenting and voting is free for everyone taking part. The only one paying is the organisation running the platform – your town, your school or your club.

The sign-in code by SMS costs you nothing either: receiving a text is free in Germany and the EU, and we pay for sending it.

There are no ads, no features behind a surcharge and no hidden costs for participants.

No. Every plan can be cancelled monthly, there is no minimum term and no setup fee.

The Starter plan is free forever, and the paid plans come with a 14-day free trial – billing starts only after that.

If you later move back to a smaller plan, your ideas, comments and users stay; the features and limits of that plan simply apply again.

No. MyIdeas runs straight in your browser – on your phone, your tablet and your computer. There is nothing to install, and you need neither Play Store nor App Store.

If you would still like it to feel like an app, you can add the page to your home screen with two taps. It then opens with its own icon and without the address bar.

Your account works everywhere: vote on your phone and keep reading on your computer later.

Under Notifications in your own area you decide what you hear about: new comments, replies, votes, status changes or the approval of your idea. You can also subscribe to whole categories.

Two channels are available: by email, if you voluntarily add an address, or as a message straight to your device. Each one can be switched on and off separately.

Prefer silence? Switch everything off there. We never send anything you have not asked for.

The live demo is the most convincing route: a button on the home page leads straight into our sample instance. It can be explored without signing in and shows what a real participation platform looks like – that says more than any description.

For decision-makers in municipalities, schools or organisations, the pages „For municipalities“, „For schools“ and „For organizations“ are the best entry point, because they describe the benefit for exactly that group.

If your town or school already runs an instance, a direct link to it works best – together with an idea that matters to you and that you are asking for votes on.

There is no referral programme with rewards. We are still delighted about every recommendation.