9. Publishing Decision Makers and Moderating Petitions

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Moderating Petitions

Moderating petitions in an effort is generally the same as moderating other petitions. However, with petitions in an effort, it is very important that you publish the newly created decision maker if you want it to appear in search results. More information on publishing decision makers is below.

In addition to the standard moderation workflow (via the petition moderation queue), it is also possible to bulk moderate petitions in an effort. To apply one moderation status to all petitions in an effort, go to the admin homepage > Efforts > name of the effort > Petition Content > Edit Effort Defaults And Existing Petitions. At the top of this page is an admin status section. Click the pencil icon to edit, and choose the moderation status you want to assign to the petitions. Click the check mark to update.

Publishing Decision Makers

By default, all targets added by members are marked as unpublished. Unpublished decision makers will not appear in an effort's landing page search results regardless of the associated petition's moderation status. Because this can be a bit confusing, here are the rules that determine a petition's visibility in effort search results:

• If the decision maker is published and the petition is moderated to good or above, users will be able to find and sign (or lead) the existing petition.
  
  
• If the decision maker is published and the petition is moderated to approved or below, users will be able to see the decision maker in search results, but they won't be able to see the petition. This means that users whose search queries match the decision maker will be prompted to create a new campaign for the decision maker, not sign (or lead) the existing petition. However, because the petition technically does exist, they will not be able to create a new petition for the target. They'll get stuck on the petition creation page. To fix this issue, moderate the petition to good or above.
  
  
• If the decision maker is unpublished and the petition is moderated to good or above, then the petition will be shown on the effort's hub page, but it will not be shown on the effort's landing page. If a user searches for the decision maker's location, the petition will not be shown in search results and they will not be able to sign (or lead) the campaign. Instead, they'll be prompted to create a new campaign, with a new decision maker, for that location. When they go to enter the decision maker, they'll see a warning that there is another decision maker with that name included in the effort. They'll be asked to add additional context to the decision maker. They'll then be able to continue with petition creation. To prevent users from creating multiple petitions targeting a single decision maker, publish the decision maker.
  
  
• If the decision maker is unpublished and the petition is moderated to approved or below, then the petition will not be shown on the effort's hub or landing pages. If a user searches for the decision maker's location, the petition will not be shown in search results and they will not be able to sign (or lead) the campaign. Instead, they'll be prompted to create a new campaign, with a new decision maker, for that location. When they go to enter the decision maker, they'll see a warning that there is another decision maker with that name included in the effort. They'll be asked to add additional context to the petition. They'll then be able to continue with petition creation. To prevent users from creating multiple petitions targeting a single decision maker, publish the decision maker and moderate the petition to good or above.

As an admin, you can publish the decision maker from the petition moderation queue (for newly created petitions) or from the Manage Decision Makers & Petitions page. 

• To publish a decision maker from the petition moderation queue (admin homepage > Moderation), click the name of the petition. If the petition is newly created, you'll see the normal unreviewed petition moderation screen. Included in this screen is the Decision Maker section, which will include the decision maker's status (published or unpublished).

  
  
  If the decision maker is unpublished, click the Publish button and then continue moderating the petition normally. 

• To publish a decision maker from the effort's admin page, click the Manage Decision Makers & Petitions button. From the Decision Makers tab, you'll see a list of the decision makers that have been added to the effort.

  

  Unpublished decision makers will have a red Unpublished tag next to them. To publish the decision maker, click their name. You'll be brought to the decision makers record page. At the top of the Details tab, you'll see their status. Click Publish to publish the decision maker.
  
  

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Abandoned Petitions

While we try to keep the recruitment series/new decision maker workflow as simple as possible, not all users will complete the process. If you've added decision makers, but haven't pre-created petitions, or if you're allowing users to add their own decision makers, you may need to deal with abandoned petitions. Abandoned petitions are petitions that have been left in an unlaunched/draft state for more than one hour. When that time limit is reached, they'll be added to an Abandoned view. To see these petitions go to the admin homepage > Efforts > name of the effort > > Petitions > Abandoned (or click the link in the warning on the effort's details tab.)

The decision makers associated with abandoned petitions cannot be claimed by other users. This means that other supporters who are interested in campaigning these decision makers will be unable to take any action – they won't be able to run these campaigns or sign the associated petitions. This renders these targets effectively dead – no one can do anything with them while they're in this liminal unlaunched state. Therefore, we collect all the abandoned petitions into one view and ask org admins to decide what should happen to these campaigns.

For each abandoned petition, you'll see basic information about them, including their title, target, leader, and creation date. To start processing these petitions, click the Get Started button on this page.

From this modal, you'll be asked what you want to do with the petition, the leader, and the decision maker.

First, the petition:

• If you choose to launch the petition, the petition will go live and anyone with a URL to the petition can begin adding their signature. When you choose this option you'll also be asked to choose a moderation status for the new petition. If you don't want to moderate the petition now, you can choose to Moderate Later.
  
  
• You can also choose to delete the petition. If you choose to delete the petition you'll still be asked what you want to do with the associated decision maker.

If you chose to delete the petition, you won't be asked to make any decisions about the leader. If you chose to launch the petition, you'll need to decide if you want to keep or remove the leader.

• If you keep the current leader, they'll be the campaign's primary admin, will be listed on the petition page, and will have access to the petition creator tools. Additionally, the campaign leader position will be filled and no other users will be able to volunteer to lead the campaign.
  
  
• If you remove the current leader, they won't be associated with the petition. Instead, the campaign will be opened up for recruitment and another leader can volunteer to run the campaign.

Lastly, you'll need to decide what to do with the decision maker. 

• If the decision maker is currently unpublished, you can choose to keep unpublished. This will prevent the decision maker from showing up in search results, regardless of any associated campaign's moderation status.
  
  
• If you choose to publish the decision maker, the decision maker will show up in search results.
  
  
• If you chose to delete the petition, you can also delete the decision maker. This will remove the decision maker from the system.

When you've finished making selections, click process and we'll show you the next abandoned petition in the list.

Again, it is important that admins process abandoned petitions regularly to ensure that the effort continues to work properly. This is especially true for efforts using admin-added decision makers which have been left as targets. If abandoned petitions are not processed, people will not be able to run campaigns on the decision makers that have been added by staff.

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Next we'll look at updating petition content.