This website differs in function and purpose from any other, so there is a lot to talk about. We suggest reading the General Information section, and coming back to read about the specific functions if you want to know more.
General Information
Welcome to WikiPraxis, the world’s first online political organizing platform (as far as we know). In contrast to existing social media platforms, which force you to engage with issues indirectly by following the pages and profiles of imperfect politicians and parties, we aim to create an index of the subject matter to allow you to organize more directly with your interests. As of this writing (September 2026), we are still a small organization, and the process of creating this index is just beginning.
Because we are a non-profit, not focused on maximizing advertising dollars, we’re not putting people into bubbles and dividing them- we’ll be focused on solutions. After many years of studying what doesn’t work on other platforms, we’ve developed unique tools specifically for political content- the Discourse tool and the Workflow tool. The Discourse tool allows oft-repeated discussions to be archived for easy reference, to save time when educating others, and make persuasion more efficient. The Workflow tool creates a framework for measuring progress on issues in terms of data, rather than election results, allowing the public to stay engaged year-round. You will learn more about both of these tools below. The combination of these tools, in the wiki structure, create a series of items that can be linked to events you create in your area, from which you can organize a variety of actions to bring about necessary change in your community.
The current version of the platform (1.0) is a combination of MediaWiki for the educational functions, and Mastodon for the social media functions. Currently, they open in separate tabs. This is not ideal, but we wanted to get something out as soon as possible. We are ready to begin development of our mobile app but would like to solicit feedback from potential users before doing so, and if you’re reading this you’ve been invited to participate in the beta testing of the website. This is a very early stage of development, and it was always intended to evolve based on input from members. Currently, during the beta testing phase, anyone can post in the Member Proposals section, whether they are a paid member or not, but you must pay the $5 monthly fee to be able to vote on any of these items.
Our organization is intended to operate as a democracy. There is a board of directors (currently people who have helped the project get started) to keep things stable. Dues-paying members get to vote on most decisions that come before the board, and in between board meetings, submit their own petitions. However, these votes are not binding unless the number of members is 10,000 or more. This was done to prevent any instability that might arise from catering to the whims of a small group of members during the early development phase. But as long as the members do not request anything too reckless, the board will go along with it- to do otherwise would lead to members canceling their monthly payments. With the tools we’ve built for the platform, we should be able to arrive at a consensus that most are happy with.
If anyone wishes to help with the organization in general- fundraising, programming, marketing, etc., feel free to email us at contact@wikipraxis.org. To report technical issues, send an email to beta@wikipraxis.org.
Discourse Tutorial
Introduction
Have you ever grown frustrated with repeating yourself making the same arguments about politics over and over again? We are building an archive of common debates so that once we have them entered, we have an easy reference to come back to, saving the energy of repeating the argument yourself in the future. For more information about the problems solved by the Discourse system, visit the “Why WikiPraxis?” page.
This will not (entirely) replace the comment sections you’re used to. You’re free to engage in the normal back-and-forth in the Social section- this is just a special format to make things more efficient.
Creating a New Topic
To allow the debate to be easily divided into two sides, each topic should be a statement that can be reversed or negated by the insertion of the word "not" (or one of its variants). An example is "The Easter Bunny exists," which can be reversed as "The Easter Bunny does not exist." More complex arguments can be made by linking topics together in the arguments (If X, then Y, etc.)
For the glossary, it is a good idea to define key terms to avoid misunderstandings. Terms like "capitalism" and "socialism" do have actual meanings that you can look up, and if they are not correct, moderators will change them. Our advice is to not get too hung up on labels — it's highly unlikely that you'll be given a ballot that gives you a choice between "capitalism" and "socialism" with no other context, so just focus on the actual policy details in the meantime.
When choosing a category, most of the choices should be self-explanatory. Of special note is 'fact-checking', which should be used in cases where there is a right answer, but there remains a controversy (for example, when the outcome of an election is disputed). If you would like to suggest more categories, do so in the Member Proposals section.
Choosing a Side
You are perfectly welcome to review the arguments on both sides without committing to one or the other. However, if you wish to contribute to the discussion, you must choose a side, and your decision is irreversible. This is to prevent people from sabotaging the opposing side and creating extra work for moderators. After you click "Choose a Side" and make your selection, you will be able to edit the page.
Adding Arguments
Each argument should be a single talking point that supports that side of the topic being discussed. It can be multiple sentences, or a paragraph, but should not be an essay. The idea is that each side puts forth a talking point, and then the other side gets to respond to that specific point. Users are able to vote up or down, whether they agree with those points or not. If you type in a long essay, with multiple points being made, then it is harder to respond to, and we cannot evaluate feedback.
If the argument being made relies on some other principle that could be argued elsewhere (for example, the Easter Bunny exists because the Earth is flat), you should check if that page exists (and if not, create it), and make a link to the relevant Discourse table. You should also cite sources when appropriate. Try to keep things simple- the average American reads at a 7th grade reading level.
Making Rebuttals
Each argument is allowed one specific rebuttal by the other side. Depending on which side you are on, and whether the arguments on each side already have rebuttals or not, you may see a "Reply" button on some of the arguments. This is for adding a rebuttal to that specific argument.
Responding to Rebuttals and Editing
Rather than allowing rebuttals to rebuttals in an endless back and forth, after the other side has given their rebuttal, the original argument can be edited to incorporate a response to the rebuttal, and then, if necessary, the rebuttal can be updated to reflect the new information, etc., until a perfect pair of arguments exists for that subtopic.
You may find there are situations where there is an argument/rebuttal similar to the one you want to make, but you feel it could be expressed better. The edit button can be used for this as well, but be careful not to distort the original meaning. If the page is vandalized, we will be able to see in the edit history who changed it. Just use your best judgement.
Workflow Tutorial
Introduction
Our platform is specifically designed for political activism, so instead of treating all content as interchangeable blocks of text, we have broken down different steps of the process into various types of posts to make things easier. Our three stage workflow begins with identifying which measurable Goals you want to achieve (typically something like lower gas prices), debating Proposals for how to achieve it, and evaluating ongoing Projects to see how well they are working. By focusing on achievable goals, rather than elections, we believe this will be a more constructive way to focus our users' attention.
Goals
Elections are a means to an end. Yes, it feels good when your candidate wins, but the whole point of getting a candidate elected is to achieve victories on policy. Since elections are simply one day every couple of years, we are going to help people focus on policy objectives during the rest of the cycle. That begins with defining clear, measurable goals that the community wants to make progress on. Most of that can be measured with data, but many abstract values (like freedom of the press) are measured by various independent organizations on a graded scale, and thus the goal can be to move up or down, depending on how the scale works. The goal is simply to move the needle in the right direction. Our theory is that people generally agree on what the goals should be — lower gas prices, cheaper groceries, less crime — they just disagree on how to get there, and those disagreements manifest in different choices of candidates on Election Day. If we can remind people they share the same goals, and turn the conversation to how best to achieve those goals, perhaps we can calm rising political tensions.
Creating a Goal
- Title
- This is what the goal is describing — it should be pretty straightforward (average gas price, average annual salary, etc.)
- Direction
- Whether you want the value to go up or down. Believe it or not, there are some who want gas prices to go up, so there won't be unanimity on every topic here.
- Current Value
- This should be the most up-to-date figure on the subject.
- Last Updated
- It is important to know how current the information is, so when entering the value, enter the date that it is from. A value that is too out of date may trigger a request for more data.
- Data Source and Description
- This space should identify the source of the value, and a link to the website (if applicable). There can also be discussion of the reliability and trustworthiness of the source.
- Geographic Scope
- The value that you enter will be specific to a particular geographic area — select it here.
There will also be Combination Goals, which group together multiple data points under more abstract titles, like "Clean Up Main Street". This feature is to allow the general public to follow a smaller number of umbrella items rather than tracking each data point individually. The makeup of these Combination Goals will be subject to debate and revision by the member community.
While a big part of the beta experience will be entering data, we do hope you use the platform for its intended purpose, which is political organizing. The new social media feeds will allow you to follow the goals, proposals, and projects that are important to you, and receive timely updates. This way, you won't miss an opportunity to join the fray and fight for the causes you're most passionate about.
Proposals
After choosing an objective (goal), we distinguish between something that is only theoretical (a proposal) and something that is currently being done (a project). Anyone can submit a proposal, provided they can provide a few details.
Creating a Proposal
- Title
- Just a name, nothing fancy.
- Description
- A somewhat brief description of the idea: what is it that we will be doing?
- Geographic Scope
- How wide of an area will be impacted? This will probably line up with the scope of the Linked Goals, listed below.
- Responsible Party
- Who will be responsible for implementing the proposal if we decide to carry it out? Will it be the government (if so, try to specify a particular agency), some group in the private sector, or will the people of the community be doing it themselves?
- Resources Required
- A rough cost estimate is required, and it is helpful to include a breakdown of what the money will be spent on.
- Linked Goals
- At least one goal must be listed, but you can have more than one if the proposal will advance multiple goals. These goals will determine how your proposal shows up in searches.
- Steps
- Explain how you expect your proposal, if implemented, would lead to a change in the goal(s) listed above.
- Projected Outcome
- What you hope to achieve with the proposal.
When a Proposal post is created, it allows for debate for and against the idea. This functions similar to our Discourse system, which has its own tutorial above. Depending on what type of proposal it is (for example, a piece of legislation being considered by the government), the decision to implement it may fall outside the platform. But when that decision is made, an administrator can change the post to a Project, and the next step begins.
Projects
These posts are for reviewing efforts already in progress to achieve certain goals. It is important to give projects time to succeed, but after a certain amount of time, if it becomes obvious that they are not working, it may be time to retire them and try something else. Luckily, the workflow system sorts potential replacements for the projects (proposals) by impact area (goals) so that process can be streamlined. But in order to begin the process, projects that predate the platform must be entered. Many of the fields are the same as they are for Proposals.
Creating a Project
- Title
- Same as proposals.
- Description
- Same as proposals.
- Start Date
- The date the project began.
- Geographic Scope
- Same as proposals.
- Linked Goals
- Same as proposals.
- Responsible Party
- Same as proposals.
- Commentary/Links
- This is where you can explain the history of the project since its implementation. What the status of the goal was at the start date, where it is now, resources utilized by the project, etc. You can also include links to any articles/analysis done on the project if any are available.
After creation, again there is a debate section. The for/against framing is meant to be for and against continuing the project. For a reminder of how to use the Discourse debate system, see the Discourse tutorial above.
This is not meant solely as a vehicle to cancel projects — it can also demonstrate when they are working and need to continue. By verifying that resources are allocated to the best projects, we ensure the best chance of meeting our common goals.
Conclusion
This system was designed to be as generic as possible a tool for solving problems. Identify what you hope to achieve, debate possible courses of action, and audit ongoing efforts in terms of stated goals. Combined with the Discourse system, we believe it will allow users to cut through the muck and bring democracy into the 21st century, kicking and screaming.
We recently indexed thousands of bills from Congress’s website into the workflow system. Pending legislation can be tagged based on its impacts so users can more easily follow its trajectory. Bills passed into law are visible under Projects and pending legislation is visible under Proposals. There are thousands of entries, so you can make use of the search feature to find a specific bill- we should have everything going back to 2019. Congress’s website obviously doesn’t have goals or any of our stuff on it, so that would need to be added to the ones worth discussing. The merits of these bills can be discussed using the Discourse system.
However, you may think of ways to solve problems that do not require government intervention. Think outside the box and figure out what resources and connections you can make available to you. The more people you have working on the problem, the more ideas you will come up with! Good luck!
Events Tutorial
Introduction
Another benefit of our non-profit status is that we’re not trying to keep you scrolling forever- we can actually encourage you to log off and go outside when necessary- which it often is in political activism. It is not enough to find people on the internet who agree with you- you must build power in the real world, starting with your neighbors. You just need to give them something to come out for. Each of the items from Workflow and Discourse gives you the option to create an event in support or opposition. You can have multiple items, but if you have a bunch of items without belonging to an organization or supporting a candidate, it can be hard for things to cohere. Organizations and candidates running for office can create their own events using the same general tools.
General Guidance
There are lots of different types of events you can have in political activism- the two main types are indoor and outdoor. For indoor events you can reserve space at a community center or library, or, depending on how many of you there are, you can go to a pizza joint and order a pizza for every half dozen people, and have your meeting over a meal. There are lots of possibilities. Outdoor events may require permits, but the First Amendment covers a great deal. Remember that urban police tactics are based around stopping one large demonstration- if a large city’s population held demonstrations in ten different locations, it’s unlikely the police could contain them.
Conduct at Events
Be respectful to those you encounter at these events, so long as they are respectful to you.
Do not monopolize the conversation- allow everyone time to speak.
Be sure to get permission from all private citizens before filming them.
It is not a good idea to ask someone out on a date the first time you meet them. Yes, everyone is lonely, but that’s not what we’re doing here. People are coming to these events for political reasons, not to be asked out, and if you ask them out, they may not come to the next event- and then you’ve sabotaged the original mission. It’s not your fault- Hollywood tells you that the only solution to loneliness is romance, but there’s another way- community. Go to the event and connect with your peers. Stir up trouble. Make the world a (slightly) better place. See if that changes how you feel.