Questions
CommonYard: questions and answers
What people ask about CommonYard, answered plainly. For step-by-step help, see the guides.
What is CommonYard?
CommonYard is a free social app. People vote in polls, take sides on opinions, sign petitions, swipe through pictures, play games, and chat — and they do it in yards, communities for their school, their faith group, their friends or anyone. Its line is: Find your people. Play, talk, and take part. See What is CommonYard? for the longer answer.
Is CommonYard free?
Yes. Joining and taking part are free. The points you earn are credits for taking part, not cash.
Do I need to download an app?
No. CommonYard runs in your phone’s browser or on a computer at commonyard.app. You can put it on your home screen so it opens like an app.
How do I join?
Open commonyard.app and look around. When you tap to vote, sign or join a yard, CommonYard asks you to join and keeps your pick while you do. You can join with Google, Apple or your phone number. On a new phone, sign in the same way you joined.
What is a yard?
A yard is a community inside CommonYard — for a school, a church or mosque, a family, a team, or anything people share. Anyone can make one. A yard has its own posts, chat, events and the people who run it.
What can I do on CommonYard?
Vote in polls, take a side on an opinion, sign petitions, swipe through a swipey, react and reply, take a shot at a troll, post your own pictures, videos or words — in parts as a series, or anonymously as an opinion — play games alone or with others, and chat in your yards. Every one of those is a tap or two on the card in front of you. See the guides for each one.
How is RateYourSociety connected to CommonYard?
RateYourSociety (RYS) is Ghana’s public-opinion platform, started in June 2023 by the same founder. It now lives inside CommonYard, and one account works for both. RYS keeps its own page, Ghana’s Mood, at rateyoursociety.com.
Who made CommonYard?
Ronald Dumeloo, a product builder. He also created RateYourSociety.
Who can make a yard?
Anyone with an account. On HOME, tap Find a yard beside your yards, then Can’t find yours? at the bottom, and pick its starting shape: School (adds Practice for revising school work), Faith (adds the devotional, the prayer wall and the week’s times) or General. See Make a yard.
Can a yard be private?
Yes. A yard is public or private: a public yard is on the open list for anyone to find, and a private yard is off it, with its chat for members only. Its owner also chooses who gets in — anyone with the link, only people an admin approves, or nobody new for now — and can reset the link. A post made in a yard stays in that yard: anyone who opens a public yard can read it, and only members can read a private one’s. See Run your yard.
Who can see my posts?
When you post, you choose where it goes. The whole Yard can be seen by anyone on CommonYard. A post in one of your yards stays in that yard, and it can’t be moved to another yard later. In a public yard anyone who opens the yard can read it; in a private yard only its members can.
How long does a poll stay open?
Whoever makes the poll chooses: a day, three days, a week or no end. The card says when it closes, and a closed poll takes no more votes and shows its result. See Make a poll.
Is my petition signature public?
No. Your signature is private. The petition shows how many people signed and how the sides split — never who signed, or which side you chose.
Why do I press and hold to sign a petition?
So nobody’s name is ever added by an accidental tap. You choose your side first, then press and hold Hold to sign until it fills. Let go early and nothing is signed. See Sign a petition.
What is a swipey?
A run of pictures with one question, judged one at a time: swipe left or right. The post says what left and right mean, and at the end you see how your picks compare with everyone else’s. Post two or more pictures and your post becomes one.
What games can I play?
On your own: Penalty Flick, Hot Potato, Trivia, Rush, Scramble, Case 500, Guess the Number against the house and more, each with a hall of fame. With other people: hosted rounds you can join or start, Squad Trivia for yards, Troll War, Guess the Number and Sasabonsam. See Play games on CommonYard.
What is Troll War?
A battle of comebacks. Two corners — one against one, or teams — post their best lines, and the crowd’s reactions are the score. When the clock runs out, the side with more reactions wins. Fighters can’t react in the arena; only the crowd can. See Play Troll War.
What are points for?
Points are credits for taking part — a post, a vote, a signature, a finished game. They are not cash. This week’s points climb your yard’s ladder, which starts over every Monday. See Points, streaks and your figures.
Can I practise for my exams on CommonYard?
In a school yard, yes. Every school yard has Practice: past and practice questions by level, course and topic, timed or untimed, 5 to 50 at a time. There are past questions for University of Ghana courses such as UGRC 110, UGRC 150 and UGBS 104.
Can I change or delete my post?
Open the post’s three-dot (•••) menu, or tap YOU and then What you made, where everything you posted and every game you made is in one list. Edit changes the words (and, for a poll, when it closes); Delete or Take it down removes it. A poll’s choices, the pictures and the yard a post is in can’t be changed. See What you made.
Can I post anonymously?
Yes, as an opinion. On the post screen choose Weigh in, pick a form — a confession, a hot take, a question — and switch on Post anonymously. Other people see Anonymous and a mask instead of your name and photo. You still see it’s yours and still hear about replies, and it can still be reported like any other post. See Post anonymously.
What is a troll post?
A roast with rules. Its host puts themselves — or a school, a team, a business or an event everybody knows — up for trolling, and sets what’s off limits, how hot it is, how many shots each person gets and how long it’s open. People take their shots and laugh 😂 at the ones that land; the funniest is crowned when it closes. Hate, threats, anything sexual, private details, made-up claims about real people and anything about children are always off limits. See Start a troll.
What is a sub yard?
A smaller yard inside a yard — a hall in a university, a class in a school, the choir in a church — with its own posts, chat and admins. A yard’s owner and admins make them, and members join them from the yard’s page. See Sub yards.
Do games need a host to start?
No. Every game made on CommonYard starts at its time and runs itself to the end. Its maker can take the controls in What you made and hand them back. A member’s game for a yard goes up once one of the yard’s admins allows it. See Make a game.
Where do the posts I hide go?
They’re kept under Settings → Help & legal → Hidden posts, where Show again brings any of them back. Nobody is told you hid something. See Find the posts you hid.
How do I change my username or photo?
On your profile: tap your picture to change your photo, and the pencil beside your @username to pick a new name. CommonYard checks the name is free as you type. See Change your photo and username.
How do I report something or block someone?
Tap the three dots (•••) on the post or reply and choose Report or Block user. Only the people who run CommonYard see a report, and nobody is told who reported them or that they were blocked. See Stay safe on CommonYard.
How do I delete my account?
Signed in, tap YOU, then the gear for Settings, and tap Delete account at the bottom. CommonYard asks you first; it can’t be undone. See Log out, or delete your account. If you can’t sign in, the data deletion page says how to ask by email.
How do I contact CommonYard?
Email hello@commonyard.app. To report a post or a person, use Report in the app — it reaches the people who run CommonYard fastest.
Where can I see what’s new?
On the news page. There is also an Atom feed for news readers.