All experiments

Experiment 04 / Demopulse / 2024–26

What happens when product freedom meets governance?

Follow political leaders, get sourced facts, and have your say.

FounderProduct designSolution architectureLead full-stack development

01 / Hypothesis

Direct feedback can make civic views easier to understand.

I started by testing a direct-democracy MVP. Moving from public figures to news discussion and back taught me that more flexibility can blur a product’s purpose.

02 / Smallest loop

Connect public context to individual feedback.

  1. 01

    Follow a public figure.

  2. 02

    Read a weekly digest of sourced facts.

  3. 03

    Submit a rating and comment.

  4. 04

    Moderate and aggregate feedback, not reactions to news.

How citizen voices get heard — and moderated

Sourced public context informs individual feedback. A moderation boundary stops some signals before aggregation. The distribution represents contributions, not political worth or a winner.

Sourced context; Public figure; Individual views; Moderation; Distribution.

  1. Sourced articles build a public figure's context
  2. Citizens respond with individual opinions
  3. Moderation stops some signals at the boundary
  4. Accepted voices add up to a visible distribution

03 / Division of labour

AI contributes. People remain accountable.

AI leverage

Where models contribute

AI updates news, aggregates feedback and assists comment moderation. Opinion classification and organization are still planned.

Human judgment

Where responsibility stays

Users choose whom to follow and what to say. I set identity, moderation and privacy rules and remain responsible for the product.

04 / Product evidence

Public figures stay central. News provides context.

Live screens show the feedback interface and sourced news digest, not evidence of adoption.

Demopulse welcome panel inviting users to explore politicians, provide ratings or opinions and compare feedback with the average.
Production UI / civic feedback
Demopulse leader profile showing Anthony Albanese, a current-news digest and source links.
Production UI / sourced public context

Reality check / moderation changed the product

By July 2026, Apple had rejected the app eight times. Review requirements led to accounts, blocking and hiding across the app. Moderation improved, but participation became harder and the service held more sensitive political data.

Next test

Is this feedback useful enough to justify the identity and moderation requirements?

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