FAQ

Is MAPLE associated with the state legislature or government?

No. MAPLE is a non-profit initiative of the 501(c)(3), the Open Collective Foundation, and supported by Partners in Democracy. MAPLE is not affiliated or supported by the Massachusetts legislature or government.

What is MAPLE trying to accomplish?

MAPLE seeks to maintain an archive of public testimony, standardize the process for submitting testimony and engaging with the legislature, and foster a digital public space to improve the quality of laws that govern our lives. Note that the MA legislature rarely publishes the testimony it receives, and has exempted itself from public records laws (i.e., FOIA requests).

What is a “non-profit digital public space”?

People generally congregate online in for-profit spaces (e.g., Twitter or Facebook) which are designed to maximize clicks and generate profit. That is well and good for entertainment, but they are poor mechanisms for political energy. MAPLE is designed to maintain civility, promote meaningful engagement, and to channel the knowledge and aspirations of the electorate to our elected representatives.

How else is MAPLE different from traditional social media?

While we hope you share and connect on the website, MAPLE is different from traditional social media in critical ways. We do not sell your data. Our website does not use personalized algorithms, so it presents the same experience for everyone; and this shared experience is the foundation for common ground. We enable prolonged focus on critical issues - the proposed laws that shape our lives. We seek to optimize for civic health; not clicks and engagement.

How does the testimony function work? Is testimony posted to MAPLE formal public testimony?

Posting testimony to MAPLE does not constitute formal public testimony. However, when you publish testimony, MAPLE opens your email client (e.g., Outlook) and populates an email with your testimony, addressed to the chairs of the committee hearing the relevant bill. When you send this email, you are submitting formal public testimony. The primary intended use of MAPLE is to do both; share testimony publicly on the MAPLE platform while also formally submitting it (via email) to the relevant legislators and committee.

Do I need to send an email with my testimony to the legislature?

Sending the email that MAPLE populates for you is how you submit formal public testimony. You do not need to send the email with your testimony, however, we cannot guarantee that legislators will see your testimony on MAPLE, while they should consider all formal public testimony that they receive via email.

How do I edit my testimony?

You can edit your testimonies by visiting your profile, clicking “edit profile”, and then selecting the “testimonies” tab and the testimony that you’d like to edit. Please note, MAPLE maintains and displays previous versions of the testimonies that you’ve published and edited.

Can I delete my testimony?

Generally, we do not allow users to delete testimony. However, we will allow users to delete testimony in select circumstances, such as after accidentally posting testimony with personal or sensitive information, or after posting testimony on the wrong bill. Please email “info@mapletestimony.org” to request a deletion.

What is the difference between “organization” and “individual” accounts?

MAPLE has two user account types: “organization” and “individual”. We verify the legitimacy of organizations (corporations, LLC’s, LP’s, etc.) with the Massachusetts Secretary of State. This helps us fight against “trolling” and “spam”, since we can guarantee the quality and authenticity of organization testimony. Organizations also play a special part in civic life as they speak on behalf of many people, and we therefore emphasize organizational testimony in certain places on MAPLE. In addition, while individual accounts can choose to have a ‘public’ or ‘private’ account (see “Privacy”, below), organization accounts must be ‘public’.

Does my group qualify for an organization account on MAPLE?

If your group has not formally registered with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, please sign up as an ‘individual’ account. Organizations that have not formally registered with the Secretary of State (student groups, neighborhood groups, etc.), should sign up as an ‘individual’ account. We plan to expand our account types in the future.

What does it mean to have a “private” or “public” account?

Individuals can set their profile as either “public” or “private”. In the former, the user's name on the site is a clickable hyperlink directing to a profile page that displays all testimony the user has provided, and any bio/social media links added to their profile. In the latter, when the name of the private user appears on the platform, it is not clickable, and they do not have a public profile page.

How is my personal information treated?

All information our users share on the platform is displayed publicly. We do not sell any user data. We do not maintain the privacy of any user-provided data, other than login credentials. Read more in our Privacy Policy.

Can I delete my account?

Since a core function of MAPLE is to preserve and archive testimony, we do not currently allow users to delete their profile.

Should I use my real name on MAPLE?

We encourage you to use your real name, as legislators will assign more weight to your testimony when they can verify you as a constituent. Journalists and researchers may also seek to leverage or share your testimony, and may seek to to contact you for further information on your testimony and experience.  You may choose to exclude certain details from the testimony you post on the MAPLE site; for example, you could exclude your address in a post on MAPLE and still choose to include it in an email you send to your legislators.

How can I report testimony?

Every posted testimony has a ‘Report’ link that you can use to flag the testimony for moderation.Simply click ‘report’ to begin the process. You will be asked to provide some basic information about why you are reporting the testimony.

How does moderation work?

When a user flags a testimony for moderation, it is surfaced for review by our moderator team. Testimony violating the Community Guidelines in our Code of Conduct may be removed at the discretion of our moderators. The moderators may also act to freeze the account that submitted the offending testimony. The process for our moderator team to review and act may take a few days.

Who are the moderators?

A team of Massachusetts-based moderators trained by members of the MAPLE organization has been entrusted to review each testimony that is published on MAPLE. These moderators include volunteer members of the MAPLE development team.

Who is behind MAPLE?

We are a collective of open source developers, legal scholars, and policy analysts & advocates seeking to leverage digital technology to improve our capacity and ability to self-govern. The MAPLE platform is a project of the NuLawLab of Northeastern University developed with Code for Boston. We are volunteer-led and operate as a nonprofit project of the 501c3 organization OpenCollective Foundation.

How can I support MAPLE?

There are lots of ways to support MAPLE! Please visit this page for details on how to help MAPLE grow, share feedback, volunteer with us, or even contribute financially.

Who do I contact to learn more?

You can reach our volunteer leadership by email at info@mapletestimony.org.