Our purpose — and how it works

A community command center, and how it works

Written to be clear, not legal. For the exact terms, see our Terms, Privacy Policy, and Refund Policy.

URS Network exists to bring people together — to foster unity — by giving people who aspire to serve others, through the goods and services they produce, a place to collaborate, grow, and serve their local communities. It is a private, member-funded platform — free of ads, propaganda, bots, and backend surveillance — for the whole ladder of organization, from the individual, to the business, to networks, to combined networks. Everyone carries a lifetime of experience and capability; this is the mechanism we built to turn that into livelihoods and lasting relationships of mutual benefit.

At its core it’s simple: you build a profile from your real experience and skills, you place yourself on a shared map, you post what you offer and what you’re looking for, and you form or join networks — groups of people and businesses moving toward something together — and showcase your work so it can speak for itself.

Everything below — the networks, the way members choose their own leaders, the tools and the rules — is the structure we use to make that happen. The structure isn’t the point on its own; it’s how we reach the point: people, united, building something together.

Here is what we’ve done so far.

Back to the map

1Joining and paying

Anyone can look at the public map. To take part — put yourself on the map, post, message people, or join a network — you need a paid membership.

Everyone starts with a 30-day free trial. We ask for a card when you sign up, but you are not charged during the trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.

After the trial, membership is $29.99 a year (this may be lower in some regions), or $2.99 a month. The yearly plan costs less over a full year. Billing is handled by Paddle, our payment company.

If your membership ever lapses, you can still sign in and look around — but you won’t be able to take part again until you renew.

2If you sign up but don’t finish

If you create an account but never start your free trial, we remove that empty account after 24 hours. This keeps the community made of real, active people.

Once you’ve started your trial or you’re a paying member, your account stays. This only clears out accounts that never got going.

3Free access some members get

Sometimes our team gives a member free access — for a promotion, a partner, or a special situation. We call this complimentary access.

It can last for a set time (say, three months) or stay open-ended. While it’s on, you get full access and aren’t charged. When it ends, the normal price applies again.

4Votes: types, calculations, outcomes

This platform provides recorded collective decisions, which allow a network to settle a question by counting its members, and the purpose is to standardise how a group moves from disagreement to a recorded outcome — in a way that lets the global network compare how different groups decide, and refine the rules by evidence.

This section describes the categories of vote type allowed within the system to date, and their different purposes, processes, calculations, and outcomes.

A network belongs to its members. The person who starts a network manages it at first; that is a role held, not owned, and the members can vote it away.

Definitions

Electorate. The number of active members recorded at the moment the vote opened. Frozen — later joins and departures do not change it.
Ballots cast. The number of members who submitted a ballot, blank ballots included.
Turnout gate. A minimum number of ballots cast, below which no threshold is applied and the outcome is turnout not met. Where it applies it is 51% of the electorate, rounded up.
Threshold. The number of yes votes required to pass.
Blank ballot. A ballot submitted with nothing selected. It counts as a ballot cast.
Retracted ballot. A ballot withdrawn before close. Not counted at all.

The two mechanics

Every vote uses one of two calculations. Which one is stated on the ballot, with your network’s actual numbers, before you vote.

Threshold vote. One question, answered yes or no. It passes if the yes count clears a stated number, and otherwise does not pass. Types: yes/no question, membership removal, manager role removal, readmission.
Selection vote. Several options; one is selected, or none is. Types: manager selection, option selection, procedure.

Nothing “wins”. A threshold vote passes or does not pass. A selection vote selects, or selects nothing.

Yes / no question

Any member can ask the network a yes or no question. You write the question; the system supplies the two answers.

Turnout gate: 51% of the electorate, rounded up. Below it, no threshold is applied and the outcome is turnout not met.
Threshold: yes votes × 2 > ballots cast.
Outcomes: passed, did not pass, turnout not met, no ballots cast.
System action: none. The outcome is the record of where the members stand. What follows is decided by people — typically a project, and a team assigned to plan it.

Worked example, electorate 6. Gate = 4. If 4 ballots are cast, the threshold is 3 yes (3×2 = 6 > 4). At 3 yes: passes. At 2 yes and 2 no: 4 > 4 is false, so it does not pass — a tie does not pass. If only 3 members vote, the gate is not met and no threshold is applied.

Manager selection

Any member can call one, whether or not the network already has a manager. It runs in two parts: nominations, then voting — 7 days each by default, and anything from one hour to 30 days can be set.

Nominations. Put your own name in, or nominate someone else; they choose whether to accept. Only accepted nominations appear on the ballot.
Ballot: approval. Select any number of candidates.
Turnout gate: 51% of the electorate, rounded up.
Threshold per candidate: approvals × 2 > ballots cast. Leading the field is not sufficient; there are no run-offs.
Outcomes: one candidate above threshold → appointed. Two tied above threshold → both are asked to manage jointly; both accept → two managers, either declines → tied, no appointment. None above threshold → no appointment, recorded as below threshold if one candidate stood and tied if more than one. Blank ballots exceeding every candidate → no appointment.

Worked example, electorate 10. Gate = 6. If 6 ballots are cast, a candidate needs 4 approvals (4×2 = 8 > 6). So 4 of 10 members can appoint a manager.

A selection appoints a manager. It never removes one. A vote saying “Ana should manage this” does not say “Ben should not”. If a network already has a manager and the members select someone else, both manage it. Ending a role is a separate question, put to the members separately.

Option selection

A choice between options you write yourself.

Turnout gate: none. Any number of ballots produces a result.
Threshold: none. The option with the most votes is selected.
Blank ballots are counted as a group. If blank ballots exceed the highest option, no option is selected.
Outcomes: one option highest → selected. Two tied highest → tied, nothing selected.

Manager role removal, and membership removal

Any member can call a vote about another member. The type is determined by the subject’s role and is not a choice: a manager is voted out of the role first, and out of the network second, as two separate decisions. You must give a reason, and the members see it on the ballot. The subject’s name, username and account id are shown, so there is no ambiguity about who the vote concerns.

Turnout gate: 51% of the electorate, rounded up.
Threshold: yes votes × 2 > the electorate — not ballots cast. More than half of the whole network must vote yes.
Counts toward the threshold: yes votes only. A no vote, a blank ballot, and not voting at all each leave it unmet.
Outcomes: passed → the manager role is removed, or the membership ends. Did not pass → no change.
Only one vote about a given member can run at a time, and you can have only one vote of your own open at a time.

Worked example, electorate 10. Gate = 6, threshold = 6 yes. Six members must turn out and six must vote yes. Compare the manager selection above, where 4 of 10 can appoint: appointment is deliberately easier than removal. A network that loses its manager opens a selection automatically, and if that required a majority of the whole electorate a quiet network could fail it repeatedly and be left with no manager at all. Failing to remove someone leaves a working network, so removal needs no such guarantee.

If the subject leaves before the vote closes

Leaving answers the question. The vote closes immediately with no result, and it is recorded as a departure rather than a removal. The ballots already cast are kept — what the members had said at that moment is part of the record.

Left voluntarily: no re-entry bar. You rejoin by ordinary request.
Removed by a vote: a re-entry bar of 60 days, then 120 on a second removal, then 365 from the third. When it expires, your request to rejoin opens a readmission vote — no single manager can approve or refuse it.

The difference is an incentive expressed as arithmetic, not a judgement: the cheaper resolution costs nothing and leaves the door open on ordinary terms.

Readmission

Same mechanic as removal, and deliberately so: the threshold is a majority of the whole electorate. That produces one symmetry — silence preserves the status quo in both directions. Silence keeps a member in when removal is on the ballot, and keeps a removed person out when readmission is.

A refused readmission extends the bar again. So does one that fails on turnout.

Your ballot

Your ballot is private while the vote is open, and counts stay hidden until it closes. Afterwards everyone sees the result. How many people voted is always shown; who they were never is.
You can change your ballot any number of times until close.
You can take your ballot back. Ballots cast goes down by one and you return to not having voted.
A blank ballot and a retracted ballot are opposite acts. On a yes/no question a blank ballot raises ballots cast, and so raises the number a yes has to beat; taking your ballot back lowers both, and moves turnout toward the gate. On a removal neither moves the threshold, because it is measured against the electorate — there, a no, a blank ballot and silence are arithmetically identical.

Results that are not decisions

A vote closing without a decision is a result, recorded honestly, not a failure. There are no automatic re-runs; members can call another vote whenever they choose.

Turnout not met — fewer ballots than the gate.
Tied — two options level at the top.
Below threshold — a single candidate stood and did not reach it.
No option selected — blank ballots exceeded every option.
No ballots cast, no candidates — what they say.

A network of three can deadlock, and that is deliberate. Removing someone takes more than half the whole electorate. In a network of three where two members are aligned, a third who wants one of them out cannot reach it — one yes out of three is not two. This is not a fault to report. A network that small is a room, not an institution, and the platform will not hand one person a mechanism to break up a room. If the other two will not move, the answer is a different network; your profile, your work and your history come with you.

5Stepping down

You can step down as a network manager any time. Open the network — from Networks, or from Profile ▸ Networks — and you’ll find it with the votes. You stay a member. If you were the last manager, the network has no manager until the members choose to vote for one.

6Connecting a calendar you already use

You can subscribe to a calendar you already keep — Google, Outlook, or Apple — by pasting its share link on the Calendar page. Your events then show up here automatically and stay in sync. They’re read-only, so you keep managing them wherever you already do — no double entry. They refresh about once an hour, and you can add up to ten.

7The Coordinator — the people behind the scenes

Alongside the automatic rules above, real people help keep the community healthy. We call this the Coordinator.

Coordinators can:

Review reports and act on posts or accounts that break the rules — a warning, a suspension, or removal.
Help with support requests and answer questions.
Grant complimentary access (the free access in section 3).
Look after the health of networks and members.

Think of it this way: the automatic systems handle the routine — billing, tidying up, running the votes — while the Coordinator handles judgment calls and support. Together they keep the platform fair and safe. You can reach the Coordinator through support any time you need help or want to report something.

8Your information

We use your information to run the service, and nothing shady. When you close your account, we remove your personal data within a reasonable time; empty signups are removed within 24 hours (section 2). The full details are in our Privacy Policy.

9Where we’re headed

The same democratic spirit that lets a network choose its own manager is meant to grow to cover the platform itself. As we build, we’ll add a way for members to propose and vote on the improvements, tools, and rules they want — so the system keeps being shaped by the people who use it, not just handed to them.

Membership does more than run the service. Fees centralize global contributions into a fund that invests in businesses and incubates, mentors, and builds young entrepreneurs to fill the voids in communities around the world — targeting the essentials people can’t live well without: clean energy, water, air, soil, food, clothing, transportation, goods, and shelter. Join the network to build our resources, so we can build resources out of people worldwide. Read the full story in our mission, goals, and white paper.

This guide is kept up to date as the platform grows and its rules change. It explains things in plain words; the Terms, Privacy Policy, and Refund Policy are the full, official versions.