# CommonYard

> CommonYard is a free social app where people vote in polls, take sides, sign petitions, play games, and run their own yards (communities) for schools, faith groups and friends. RateYourSociety, Ghana's public-opinion platform, lives inside CommonYard.

CommonYard's own words for itself: "Find your people. Play, talk, and take part." It is free to join, runs in any phone or desktop browser at https://commonyard.app/, and was created by Ronald Dumeloo.

Every page below is plain HTML. Each guide and announcement is also published as Markdown at its address + `index.md`, and https://commonyard.app/llms-full.txt holds all of them in one file.

## About

- [CommonYard home](https://commonyard.app/home): what CommonYard is, what people do there, and common questions
- [What is CommonYard?](https://commonyard.app/what-is-commonyard/): CommonYard is a free social app where people vote in polls, take sides, sign petitions, play games and run yards for their school, faith group or friends. Here is how it works.
- [Press kit](https://commonyard.app/press/): For writers and journalists — what CommonYard is in a sentence and a paragraph, the key facts, how to write the name, the logo, the founder and how to reach us.
- [Questions and answers](https://commonyard.app/faq/): every common question about CommonYard, answered
- [CommonYard words](https://commonyard.app/glossary/): what a yard, a swipey, Troll War, points, streaks and the rest mean
- [About CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/about/): why it exists, how it is organised, and how RateYourSociety lives inside it
- [Ronald Dumeloo, founder](https://commonyard.app/founder/ronald-dumeloo/): the official profile of CommonYard's creator and founder
- Contact: hello@commonyard.app

## What you can do

- [Polls](https://commonyard.app/features/polls/): Ask a question with two to four choices, in words or pictures, and choose when it closes. People vote with one tap and watch the result fill in. Free.
- [Petitions](https://commonyard.app/features/petitions/): Start a petition that names who should act. People choose a side, then press and hold to sign — and nobody can see who signed. Free.
- [Games](https://commonyard.app/features/games/): Play on your own for a hall of fame, join live rounds with other people, or take on another yard in Troll War. Free, in your phone’s browser.
- [Yards](https://commonyard.app/features/yards/): Make a yard for your school, church, mosque, family or friends. Choose who gets in, post a notice, set up events with reminders, chat, and keep it kind. Free.

## Who it's for

- [For schools](https://commonyard.app/for/schools/): A school yard gives a class, a hall or a whole school its own posts, polls, chat and events — plus Practice, a bank of past and practice questions to revise with. Free.
- [For faith groups](https://commonyard.app/for/faith-groups/): A faith yard gives your church, mosque or fellowship a devotional, a prayer wall, the week’s service times, announcements, events with reminders and a chat room. Free.

## Words CommonYard uses

- The Yard: the whole of CommonYard, and the home list of posts people take part in.
- A yard (lower case): a community inside CommonYard — general, school or religious. Yards can be open to anyone with the link, need admin approval, or take nobody new.
- The bar at the bottom of the app: HOME (the Yard, or the yard you are in), GAMES (play) and YOU (your profile), with a round + beside it for making a post. Inside a yard the bar adds CHAT, plus PRACTICE in a school yard or FAITH in a faith yard. At the top of HOME, YOUR YARDS holds a round tile for each of your yards, then Find a yard and New yard.
- A swipey: a run of pictures people judge one at a time, left or right.
- A petition is signed by choosing a side and pressing and holding the button until it fills. Signatures are private; only the counts are public.
- Points are credits for taking part, not cash. A streak counts days in a row.
- RateYourSociety (RYS) is Ghana's public-opinion platform, launched in June 2023. It is not a different name for CommonYard: it lives inside CommonYard, shares its accounts, and keeps its own Ghana's Mood page at https://rateyoursociety.com/.
- Every word, explained: https://commonyard.app/glossary/

## Guides: Getting started

- [Get started on CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/guides/get-started/): Open CommonYard in your browser, look around, and join when you want to take part. It's free and there's nothing to download.
- [Put CommonYard on your home screen](https://commonyard.app/guides/add-to-home-screen/): Add CommonYard to your phone's home screen so it has its own icon and opens full screen, like an app.
- [Turn on notifications](https://commonyard.app/guides/turn-on-notifications/): Say yes when CommonYard asks after you join a yard, then choose what you hear about — replies, yards, games, points — and keep the nights quiet.
- [Search CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/guides/search-commonyard/): Find posts, polls, petitions, games and yards by name, topic or creator. Results show their pictures, and you don't need the exact words.

## Guides: Taking part

- [Vote in a poll](https://commonyard.app/guides/vote-in-a-poll/): Tap a choice to vote. The choices fill in to show how everyone voted, and the card says when the poll closes.
- [Take a side](https://commonyard.app/guides/take-a-side/): An opinion post asks where you stand — on a hot take, a confession, a prediction or a debate. Tap your side, then see how everyone split.
- [Sign a petition](https://commonyard.app/guides/sign-a-petition/): Pick Agree or Disagree under "Sign as", then press and hold the Sign here bar until it fills. Your signature is private.
- [Swipe through a swipey](https://commonyard.app/guides/swipe-a-swipey/): A swipey is a run of pictures you judge one at a time, left or right. The post says what left and right mean — then you see how your picks compare with everyone's.
- [React and reply](https://commonyard.app/guides/react-and-reply/): Give a post an emoji, reply in its thread, and use the three-dot menu to save, report or hide it.
- [Take a shot at a troll](https://commonyard.app/guides/take-a-shot/): A troll post is a roast with rules. Read the rules, take your shot, and laugh at the ones that land — the funniest shot is crowned when it closes.
- [Watch clips](https://commonyard.app/guides/watch-clips/): Tap a video to watch it full screen, then swipe up for the next. Press and hold a clip for more — save, share, copy the link, full screen, auto scroll, speed, or not interested.

## Guides: Posting

- [Make a post](https://commonyard.app/guides/make-a-post/): Tap +, write what you want to say, add a picture or a video if you like, ask people to do something if you want, and post.
- [Make a poll](https://commonyard.app/guides/make-a-poll/): Ask a question with two to four choices, in words or pictures, and choose when the poll closes.
- [Weigh in — hot takes, confessions, predictions and more](https://commonyard.app/guides/weigh-in/): Post something people take a side on, in one of seven forms — hot take, confession, question, pick a side, prediction, story time or debate — under your name or anonymously.
- [Post anonymously](https://commonyard.app/guides/post-anonymously/): Post an opinion — a confession, a hot take, a question — without your name. Other people see Anonymous and a mask; you still see it's yours, and still hear about replies.
- [Start a petition](https://commonyard.app/guides/start-a-petition/): Write what should change, say who has to act, pick how many names you're aiming for, and let people sign by pressing and holding.
- [Start a troll](https://commonyard.app/guides/start-a-troll/): Put yourself — or a school, a team, a business or an event everybody knows — up for a friendly roast. You set what's off limits, the heat, how many shots each person gets and how long it stays open.
- [Post to several yards at once](https://commonyard.app/guides/post-to-several-yards/): Tick every yard a post should go to — and the whole Yard if you like. It's one post, seen in each of them.
- [Post a series, and follow one](https://commonyard.app/guides/post-a-series/): Post something in parts — a story, a weekly review, a diary — as a series. Followers can ask to be reminded a day and an hour before the next part lands.
- [Edit or take down your post](https://commonyard.app/guides/edit-or-take-down-your-post/): Change the words of your post, or take it down, from its three-dot menu or from What you made. Here's what can and can't be changed.
- [What you made — edit or delete anything you posted](https://commonyard.app/guides/what-you-made/): One page holds everything you made — posts, polls, petitions, opinions, swipeys, games and series — with Edit and Delete on each, and the controls for your games.

## Guides: Yards

- [Find and join a yard](https://commonyard.app/guides/find-and-join-a-yard/): Tap Explore beside your yards on HOME, look inside an open yard before you join, then tap Join — or ask to join when a yard needs approval.
- [Make a yard](https://commonyard.app/guides/make-a-yard/): Start a yard for your school, faith group or anyone — tap Start a yard on HOME, pick its starting shape, name it, choose who can join, and share the link.
- [Run your yard](https://commonyard.app/guides/run-your-yard/): For owners and admins — Manage yard holds the link and who can join, members and admins, join requests, events, the pinned notice, the chat's rules, sub yards and what was taken down.
- [Chat in your yard](https://commonyard.app/guides/chat-in-your-yard/): Every yard has a chat room. Tap CHAT on the bar to send words, photos, videos or voice notes, see who is typing and who has seen it, forward messages, mention people, and search what was said.
- [Practise school work in a school yard](https://commonyard.app/guides/practice-in-a-school-yard/): Every school yard has Practice — questions by level, course and topic, timed or untimed, from 5 to 50 at a time — and a shelf of study materials from the yard's admins.
- [Share and download study materials](https://commonyard.app/guides/study-materials/): In a school yard, admins put slides, notes and past papers on the shelf under Practice, and every member can download them. PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel or text, up to 50 MB each.
- [Sub yards](https://commonyard.app/guides/sub-yards/): A sub yard is a smaller yard inside a yard — a hall, a class, a department, the choir — with its own chat and admins. Join one from the yard's page, or make one if you run the yard.

## Guides: Games

- [Play games on CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/guides/play-games/): Tap GAMES for four doors — solo games, hosted rounds, team games and the hall of fame — plus your own challenges and the games you're playing.
- [Play Troll War](https://commonyard.app/guides/play-troll-war/): Two sides trade their best comebacks in the arena, and the crowd's reactions decide who wins. Challenge a friend by username, or take on another yard.
- [Play Guess the Number](https://commonyard.app/guides/guess-the-number/): Each of you locks in a secret number, then you take turns calling the other's. Every call comes back higher or lower. Play a friend, another yard, or the house.
- [Make a game](https://commonyard.app/guides/make-a-game/): Make a quiz, a word scramble or another round for your friends or your yard. Pick a time and it starts by itself — or take the controls and run it yourself.
- [Your yard's games and ladder](https://commonyard.app/guides/your-yards-games/): Inside a yard, GAMES is that yard's own — what's on now and coming up, what the yard did together this week, challenges against other yards, games members made, and what the yard has already played.
- [Play Sasabonsam](https://commonyard.app/guides/play-sasabonsam/): Everybody hides in the yard. Every round Sasabonsam searches one place, and anyone hiding there is taken. The last one hiding sees the sunrise. Play with anyone, or yard against yard.

## Guides: Your account

- [Your profile and interests](https://commonyard.app/guides/your-profile/): Tap YOU for your profile — your photo and username, your posts, yards and points, your streak and level, what you saved, your people, what you made, and the interests that steer what reaches you.
- [Change your photo and username](https://commonyard.app/guides/change-your-photo-and-username/): Tap your picture on your profile to change your photo, and the pencil beside your username to pick a new one. CommonYard checks the name is free as you type.
- [Points, streaks and your figures](https://commonyard.app/guides/points-and-streaks/): How points are earned, how a streak and its freezes work, what your level means, and what impact and contribution count.
- [Bring your friends in](https://commonyard.app/guides/bring-your-friends/): Share a yard, a post or a challenge. Whoever comes in through your link becomes one of Your people.
- [Add your birthday](https://commonyard.app/guides/add-your-birthday/): Tell CommonYard your birthday and the day itself brings a greeting on your home, a birthday card with confetti, and a note that morning. It stays private.
- [Log out, or delete your account](https://commonyard.app/guides/log-out-or-delete-your-account/): Log out from Settings at the bottom of your account page. Deleting your account removes it and its data for good — CommonYard asks you first.

## Guides: Safety

- [Stay safe on CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/guides/stay-safe/): Report, block, hide and mute — what each one does, who finds out, where to undo it, and how your petition signature is kept private.
- [Find the posts you hid](https://commonyard.app/guides/hidden-posts/): Every post you hid is kept on one page, Hidden posts, under Settings. Tap Show again to bring one back where it was.

## News

- [Also new: a yard's week instead of a leaderboard, and Show me as here](https://commonyard.app/news/a-yards-week-and-show-me-as-here/) (2026-10-12): Smaller changes from the last two days — a yard's games page shows what the yard did together and ranks nobody, you can hide that you're here, yard names are shorter, and your own posts nag you less.
- [HOME opens on your yards](https://commonyard.app/news/home-opens-on-your-yards/) (2026-10-12): HOME now opens on your yards, one round shape for each, bigger when more is going on. Swipe up for your feed, and the yards fold into a row of tiles at the top.
- [CHAT on every bar, and see who's typing in your yard's chat](https://commonyard.app/news/chat-on-every-bar/) (2026-10-10): CHAT now sits on the bar everywhere in CommonYard and opens all your chats in one place. In a yard's chat you can see who is typing and who has seen your message, and forward a message to another chat.
- [A new top for HOME](https://commonyard.app/news/a-new-top-for-home/) (2026-10-09): Your yards now sit together in one cluster on the sky at the top of HOME. Under them, Your next move, Happening now and Came back for you show what to do, what's on and what came back to you.
- [Next up: the next thing comes to you](https://commonyard.app/news/next-up/) (2026-10-09): Vote, answer or take a side on HOME and the next thing to do moves up right under it, marked NEXT UP. Videos on HOME now run across the top of their card, with the time left on them.
- [A simpler profile, game invitations as cards, and more](https://commonyard.app/news/a-simpler-profile/) (2026-10-08): Your profile now leads with you — three figures, your streak and your level. Game and yard links in a yard's chat show as cards, you can swipe across the posts to change yards, and Troll War explains itself.
- [Swipe through your yards on HOME](https://commonyard.app/news/swipe-through-your-yards/) (2026-10-07): The yards on HOME are now pages you swipe through, with what's new in each one under it. Your streak moved to the top bar, and Find a yard and New yard are on the last page, More yards.
- [Also new: series from the post screen, and fewer interruptions](https://commonyard.app/news/also-new/) (2026-10-05): Smaller changes from the last few days — add a post to a series as you write it, a gear on the yards you run, resetting a yard's link from Invite people, no pop-ups in the middle of a game, and the birthday ask moved to your profile.
- [Every yard you're in, on your home](https://commonyard.app/news/every-yard-on-your-home/) (2026-10-05): The sky at the top of HOME now holds up to five of your yards, and an All yards list for the rest. A yard you've just joined shows up at once.
- [Press and hold a clip for more](https://commonyard.app/news/hold-a-clip/) (2026-10-05): In the clips, press and hold to save, share, copy the link, watch full screen, turn on auto scroll, change the speed, or say you're not interested. Hold an edge to play at 2×.
- [Games now start on time, by themselves](https://commonyard.app/news/games-run-themselves/) (2026-10-04): Every game made on CommonYard now starts at its time and runs itself to the end — no host needed. Makers can still take the controls, and hand them back.
- [Search finds more, and shows you pictures](https://commonyard.app/news/search-finds-more/) (2026-10-03): Search now finds posts with any of your words, best matches first, and every result shows its picture — the photo, a swipey's first card, or a video's first frame.
- [Troll: a roast with rules](https://commonyard.app/news/troll/) (2026-10-03): A new kind of post. Put yourself — or a school, a team, a business or an event everybody knows — up for a friendly roast, set the rules, and the funniest shot is crowned.
- [Weigh in: seven ways to ask, and you can do it anonymously](https://commonyard.app/news/weigh-in/) (2026-10-03): Opinions now come in seven forms — hot take, confession, question, pick a side, prediction, story time and debate — each with its own sides. And you can post one anonymously.
- [A calmer CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/news/a-calmer-commonyard/) (2026-10-02): A new home with your yards on the sky, calmer cards where a poll's result grows as you vote, a plainer post screen, notifications in plain words, and What you made in place of Your studio.
- [Find what you hid, and change your name in one tap](https://commonyard.app/news/hidden-posts-photo-username/) (2026-10-01): Every post you hide is now kept on a Hidden posts page, where you can bring it back. And your profile lets you change your photo and username right where they are.
- [Every guide now shows you the screen](https://commonyard.app/news/guides-with-pictures/) (2026-09-29): CommonYard's how-to guides now have pictures of the app itself — the button to tap and what you'll see — with made-up people and yards, never real accounts.
- [Sasabonsam: hide, and hope it doesn't find you](https://commonyard.app/news/sasabonsam/) (2026-09-29): A new game for groups. Everybody hides in the yard; every round Sasabonsam searches one place, and the last one hiding sees the sunrise. It replaces The Floor Is Lava.
- [Yards get sub yards, a study shelf, and games of their own](https://commonyard.app/news/yards-grow-inside/) (2026-09-29): A yard can now hold smaller yards — a hall, a class, the choir — that members join from its page. School yards get a shelf of study materials, and every yard's GAMES is its own.
- [CommonYard now has guides and news](https://commonyard.app/news/guides-and-news/) (2026-09-24): A public home for how-tos and announcements, readable by people, search engines and AI assistants alike.
- [GAMES looks like a game now](https://commonyard.app/news/games-is-an-arcade/) (2026-09-24): The GAMES door was redrawn as an arcade — a sky by day and stars by night, your player card up top, and big buttons for ROUNDS, SOLO and TEAMS.
- [Points now come as one summary](https://commonyard.app/news/points-come-as-one-summary/) (2026-09-22): Instead of an email and a notification for every vote, CommonYard adds up your points and tells you once in a while.
- [Troll War: the crowd decides](https://commonyard.app/news/troll-war-the-crowd-decides/) (2026-09-22): Troll War battles are now won by reactions, not votes. Every reaction on a comeback is a point for its corner — and fighters can't react to their own side.
- [Yards get the tools to run them](https://commonyard.app/news/yards-get-tools-to-run-them/) (2026-09-22): Moderation, join requests, a notice and announcements, events with reminders, yard pictures, handing over, and better ways to find a yard.
- [Your petition signature is now private](https://commonyard.app/news/petition-signatures-are-private/) (2026-09-22): Petitions show how many people signed and how the sides split — never who signed, or which side anyone chose.
- [Every poll now says when it closes](https://commonyard.app/news/every-poll-says-when-it-closes/) (2026-09-21): When you make a poll you choose when it closes — a day, three days, a week or no end — and voters see it on the card.
- [RateYourSociety now lives in CommonYard](https://commonyard.app/news/rateyoursociety-lives-in-commonyard/) (2026-09-21): rateyoursociety.com opens on Ghana's Mood, and the rest of RateYourSociety has moved into CommonYard. One account works for both.
- [Two games to play alone — Penalty Flick and Hot Potato](https://commonyard.app/news/two-games-to-play-alone/) (2026-09-16): Flick penalties past a keeper who keeps getting faster, or pass a potato before it burns. Both have a hall of fame.

## Past and practice questions (University of Ghana courses)

Every school yard on CommonYard comes with Practice: timed or untimed questions by level, course and topic. CommonYard is not part of the University of Ghana. All courses: https://commonyard.app/practice/

- [PESS 102 Sports in the Making of the World II](https://commonyard.app/practice/pess-102-sports-in-the-making-of-the-world-ii/): 100 questions, level 100
- [SREL 112 Introduction to Christianity](https://commonyard.app/practice/srel-112-introduction-to-christianity/): 100 questions, level 100
- [UGBS 101 Introduction to Business Administration](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-101-introduction-to-business-administration/): 100 questions, level 100
- [UGBS 102 Introduction to Computing](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-102-introduction-to-computing/): 400 questions, level 100
- [UGBS 104 Principles of Management](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-104-principles-of-management/): 300 questions, level 100
- [UGBS 105 Introduction to Public Administration](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-105-introduction-to-public-administration/): 100 questions, level 100
- [UGBS 108 Psychology for Everyday Living](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-108-psychology-for-everyday-living/): 300 questions, level 100
- [UGRC 110 Academic Writing I](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugrc-110-academic-writing-i/): 300 questions, level 100
- [UGRC 150 Critical Thinking and Practical Reasoning](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugrc-150-critical-thinking-and-practical-reasoning/): 300 questions, level 100
- [UGRC 220 Introduction to African Studies](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugrc-220-introduction-to-african-studies/): 674 questions, level 100/200
- [STAT 226 Official Statistics](https://commonyard.app/practice/stat-226-official-statistics/): 217 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 106 French II](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-106-french-ii/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 201 Microeconomics and Business](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-201-microeconomics-and-business/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 202 Business Mathematics](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-202-business-mathematics/): 400 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 203 Commercial Law I](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-203-commercial-law-i/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 204 Macroeconomics for Business](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-204-macroeconomics-for-business/): 400 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 205 Fundamentals of Accounting](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-205-fundamentals-of-accounting/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 206 Commercial Law II](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-206-commercial-law-ii/): 550 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 207 Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-207-corporate-social-responsibility-and-ethics/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 208 Financial Accounting](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-208-financial-accounting/): 400 questions, level 200
- [UGRC 210 Academic Writing II](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugrc-210-academic-writing-ii/): 640 questions, level 200
- [UGRC 220 Introduction to African Studies and Gender](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugrc-220-introduction-to-african-studies-and-gender/): 100 questions, level 200
- [UGBS 301 Quantitative Methods for Business](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-301-quantitative-methods-for-business/): 100 questions, level 300
- [UGBS 303 Computer Applications in Business](https://commonyard.app/practice/ugbs-303-computer-applications-in-business/): 100 questions, level 300

## Optional

- [All guides and news as Markdown](https://commonyard.app/llms-full.txt)
- [News feed (Atom)](https://commonyard.app/news/feed.xml)
- [Sitemap](https://commonyard.app/sitemap.xml)