Publishing to the public board

By default, requests are private - between the filer and the board (and, for a complaint, the household at the address it names). But when the issue affects everyone - a broken gate, a streetlight out, drainage in the common area - the community benefits from knowing it’s being handled. Publishing puts a Neighborhood Request on the Community Notice Board that all residents see on their home screen.

Only Neighborhood Requests can be published. Complaints, ARC Requests and General Inquiries stay private. For anything else the whole community should hear, use Announcements or Community Pulse.

What “publishing” means

When you publish a request:

• A card appears on the Community Notice Board in every resident’s app
• The card shows the public title and description you write, not the raw filing
• Residents can open the card and Subscribe to get notified of updates
• The board can post updates to it, and subscribers are notified

Important: publishing is separate from resolving. A published request keeps moving through New, In Progress and Resolved like any other, and its card shows the current status.

What residents see

The card on the notice board shows:

• Your public title and description
• The status (New, In Progress or Resolved)
• The date it was reported
• The most recent update, with the rest behind a link
• A star if it’s pinned

When a resident taps View Details, they see more than the card:

• The request’s original title, description and photos, as filed
• Every entry in the request’s thread, under Updates from HOA

Residents cannot see:

• Who filed it (only admins see Reported by)

Treat every reply on a Neighborhood Request as something the whole neighborhood may read once it’s published.

Resolved requests stay on the board for 24 hours after their last update, then drop off on their own.

When to publish

The judgment-call situations where publishing helps:

Problems that affect everyone

Publish: “The streetlight at the corner of Maple and Oak is out - repair scheduled.”

Why: residents stop filing duplicate requests. They see the issue is being handled.

Common-area work in progress

Publish: “Pool gate latch is broken - replacement part ordered.”

Why: sets expectations and heads off “has anyone reported this?” in the group text.

Requests the board is weighing

Publish: “Speed bump request for Elm Street - on the agenda for the June meeting.”

Why: turns one resident’s request into something the community can follow.

When NOT to publish

The common mistakes:

Don’t publish anything that points at one household

Even when the issue is real, a card that makes it obvious which neighbor is at fault humiliates them and breaks community trust. If it’s about one home’s behavior, it should have been a Complaint - reclassify it and handle it privately.

Don’t publish individual disputes

If two residents are in a property-line argument, that’s not the community’s business. Mediate privately.

Don’t publish a request whose filing you wouldn’t read out loud

Residents who open the card see the original title, description and photos. If the filing names people or says something you’d hesitate to post at the clubhouse, don’t publish it; post an Announcement in your own words instead.

How to publish

1. Open the Neighborhood Request in Requests
2. In the Community Board section, click Draft Public Post. Herald drafts a neutral title and description from the request.
3. Edit the draft:
   • Title - short, neutral. e.g. “Streetlight out at Maple and Oak”
   • Description - what you want residents to know
4. Click Publish

The card appears on the Community Notice Board right away. Publishing doesn’t send a notification; residents see it next time they open the app.

Pinning, unpublishing and republishing

Once a request is published, the Community Board section shows Pin and Unpublish:

• Pin - sticks the card to the top of the board until you unpin it
• Unpublish - removes the card from the board. The request itself, its status and its comments are untouched, so a resolved request can be unpublished without reopening it
• Republish - after unpublishing, drafts a new public post so you can put it back up with a fresh title and description

There’s no in-place edit. To change a published title or description, unpublish and republish.

Pinning publications

Use Pin sparingly. Pinned items stick to the top of the board until you unpin them. Good uses:

• A problem affecting most residents (“Main gate stuck open - repair Friday”)
• Common-area work with a date (“Pool closed for repair April 22-25”)

Bad uses:

• Routine items (“Streetlight fixed” doesn’t need pinning)
• Items more than a couple weeks old
• More than 2-3 things at once (too many pins = nothing is pinned)

Unpin once the issue is resolved or the date passes.

Updates and subscribers

Residents can’t comment on a published request, and there are no reactions - the notice board is one-way. What residents can do is Subscribe. The person who filed it is subscribed automatically.

Board members can open the card on the notice board and click Post Update. The update appears on the card, subscribers and the original filer are notified, and it shows up in the ticket as a community comment. Subscribers are also notified whenever you change the request’s status.

Publishing frequency

A practical rhythm: publish the handful of Neighborhood Requests each month that genuinely affect everyone. Less than that and the board feels invisible. More than that and residents stop reading.

Common situations

”I published something and a resident is offended”

If the card identified them or made them feel publicly shamed, unpublish immediately. Apologize privately. Update your publishing guidelines so it doesn’t happen again.

”Should we publish dues collection rates / financial summaries?”

Not here - the notice board is for Neighborhood Requests. Some communities share aggregate numbers in an Announcement (“This quarter, 94% of dues were collected on time. Thanks to all who paid promptly!”). Don’t ever publish per-property balances or non-payers’ names.

”Residents keep asking for status on a published item”

Post an update to it. “Update April 22: Streetlight contractor confirmed for May 5.” Subscribers are notified; the card stays in place.

”Can residents publish to the board too?”

Not directly. Residents file requests, the board chooses what to publish. This keeps the board the editorial filter.

If your community wants resident-driven publishing (like a community forum), that’s not part of HomeHerald’s publishing flow.

Where to go next

• The request lifecycle - when to consider publishing
• The four request types - which types can be published
• Announcements - for news that isn’t tied to a request
• What residents see vs. admins - the privacy boundaries