THE PINETREE PEOPLE
User Manual
Public edition · Updated July 29, 2026
1. Welcome
The Pinetree People helps Maine residents follow legislation, compare public sentiment, communicate within their Maine House district, and see how closely elected representatives align with district-verified constituent views.
- Read plain-language legislative posts and open the official source text.
- Record one advisory position on a bill or public question.
- Compare statewide and district results after participating.
- Save and share posts for later discussion.
- Join District Community conversations, events, and bulletins.
- Review public representative information and alignment indicators.
2. Quick start
3. Accounts and sign-in
Email and password
- Select the account-creation option.
- Enter your email address, password, name, and Maine House district.
- Open the verification message sent to your email.
- Use the newest verification link, then return to the platform.
Google sign-in
A supported Google account can be used for sign-in. You will still need to complete your Pinetree People profile and select your home district.
Email verification help
Check Junk, Spam, or Promotions when the message is not visible. Settings provides controls to resend the message and refresh verification status.
4. Your Maine House district
Your home district determines where you participate, which district totals apply to your advisory vote, and which District Community room you may post in.
- You may view other district feeds and public representative information.
- Participation in another district is read-only where district restrictions apply.
- When you move, update your district information and complete district verification again when required.
Unsure of your district? Use Maine’s official voter-information tools or contact your municipal clerk before selecting a district.
5. Becoming a District-Verified Constituent
District verification confirms that an account belongs to a real person who resides in the selected Maine House district. It is separate from email verification and voter registration.
- Open Settings and expand Get Verified.
- Upload a clear photo of the front of a current Maine driver license or state identification card.
- Do not upload the back barcode.
- An authorized review checks only the identity and district-residence information needed for the request.
- After approval, your account displays District-Verified Constituent.
- The source image is deleted after approval, rejection, expiration, or a request for a new photo.
Every accepted advisory vote appears in public sentiment totals. Votes cast while you are district verified may also count toward representative alignment on eligible posts.
6. Using the main feed
| Area | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Your profile card | Your public display name, home district, verification status, and account role. |
| District representative | The current representative, party, district, represented communities, official profile, and available contact information. |
| Representative performance | An alignment indicator that appears only after enough eligible district participation exists. |
| Legislative feed | Bill posts, summaries, source links, advisory voting, engagement tools, and discussion. |
| District tools | Mobile access to profile, representative, community, installation, sharing, registration, and sponsor cards. |
7. Reading legislative posts
Each post may include a bill number, title, date, summary, official source link, representative statement, advisory-vote block, comments, and engagement controls.
Opening the source bill
The platform requires you to open the full bill or official source before the advisory-vote buttons become available. A summary is an aid, not a replacement for the official text.
8. Advisory voting
- Open the full legislative post.
- Select the link to the full bill or official source text.
- Return to The Pinetree People.
- Choose Yes, No, or I don’t know.
- Confirm the final warning that the advisory vote cannot be changed.
I don’t know is a valid response when you need more information or do not support either Yes or No.
9. Results and representative grading
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Statewide totals | Accepted advisory votes across the post’s participating Maine districts. |
| House District totals | Accepted advisory votes associated with the district being viewed. |
| Grade-eligible district totals | Eligible votes cast while members were District-Verified Constituents. |
A vote cast before district verification remains part of public sentiment but does not become grade-eligible later. A public grade is withheld until enough qualifying posts and district-verified participation exist.
10. District Community
District Community provides local spaces for Chat, Members, Events, and Bulletin information.
- Post only in your home district where posting restrictions apply.
- Use replies and reactions to keep conversations organized.
- Report abuse, threats, impersonation, private information, or unsafe content.
- Do not post identification documents, account credentials, private addresses, or confidential information.
- Ordinary chat messages and their attached media remain visible for the active 24-hour room period.
Adding a photo or video to District Chat
You may attach one media file to a chat message in any of these ways:
- Paste an image from your clipboard into the message box.
- Drag and drop a supported image or video onto the message box.
- Select Attach media and choose a file, camera image, or gallery item offered by your device.
A preview appears before sending. You may remove the attachment, replace it with another file, or send it with or without message text. Upload progress is shown while the file is being added.
| Media type | Supported formats | Maximum size |
|---|---|---|
| Images | JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF | 8 MB |
| Video | MP4, WebM | 25 MB |
Ordinary chat may be muted locally. Important district or platform notices may appear separately in Bulletin or notice banners.
11. Saved bills, reactions, and sharing
Saved posts
Use the bookmark control to save a post privately. The Saved filter returns to those posts later.
Likes and dislikes
Likes and dislikes rate the usefulness of the post card. They do not change, replace, or count as an advisory vote.
Sharing a bill
Use the post-sharing control to send a direct link to a specific post. A signed-out visitor may be asked to sign in before returning to it.
Sharing the app
The Share Pinetree People card opens your device’s sharing options or copies the public installation link. The recipient lands on a dedicated installation page rather than the main feed.
12. Notifications
- Settings contains email-verification and legislative-notification controls.
- Daily legislative digests are sent only when relevant material is available.
- You may change optional notification preferences from Settings.
- Representatives do not receive a private constituent mailing list from the platform.
13. Official notices and sponsored content
Official notices are intended for important, limited, time-sensitive information and should be clearly labeled and targeted.
Advertisement and sponsor cards are labeled and kept separate from advisory voting, comments, representative grading, and district-verification decisions.
14. Privacy and safety
- Upload only the front of the requested Maine identification card.
- Do not upload the back barcode.
- The source image is temporary and deleted after the review reaches an outcome or expires.
- Only limited verification and audit information is retained.
- Assume posts, comments, reactions, and public district activity may be visible to others.
- Do not publish passwords, authentication links, identification numbers, financial information, or another person’s private contact details.
Screenshots submitted through Feedback & Help should show only what is needed. Remove private information before attaching an image.
District Chat attachments are visible to signed-in room readers during the active message period. Do not upload identification documents, private addresses, account information, medical or financial records, or media you do not have permission to share.
15. Installing the app
The Pinetree People is available as a free installable web app. An app store is not required.
Android
- Open the public installation page in Chrome.
- Select Install Pinetree People when Chrome makes it available.
- When a social-media app opens the link in its own browser, choose Open in Chrome first.
iPhone or iPad
- Open the installation page in Safari.
- Use Safari’s Share button.
- Select Add to Home Screen.
Desktop Edge or Chrome
Use the browser’s installation option or the installation card when the browser offers it.
16. Help and troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Verification email does not arrive | Check Junk, Spam, and Promotions. Resend the message and use the newest link. |
| Email is verified but district status has not changed | Email verification and district verification are separate. Complete Get Verified for District-Verified Constituent status. |
| Vote buttons remain disabled | Open the full bill or source link, return to the post, confirm the post applies to your district, and make sure you have not already voted. |
| A vote cannot be changed | This is expected. Accepted advisory votes are permanent. |
| District Community will not post | Confirm you are signed in and viewing your home district. Sign out and back in when account status recently changed. |
| A photo or video will not attach | Use JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, MP4, or WebM. Images must be 8 MB or smaller and videos 25 MB or smaller. Try Attach media when paste or drag-and-drop is not supported by your browser. |
| The installation button does not appear | Open the installation page in Android Chrome, desktop Edge/Chrome, or iPhone/iPad Safari. |
| A page appears out of date | Refresh the page. Installed apps may be closed and reopened after an update. |
| Representative information appears incorrect | Use Feedback & Help and report the incorrect representative information. |
Use Feedback & Help to report a problem, request assistance, suggest an improvement, report an accessibility issue, or flag unsafe content. Never include a password, private verification link, full identification document, or confidential message.
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Advisory vote | A permanent, non-official opinion recorded on a legislative post. |
| Home House district | The Maine House district used for participation, district totals, and District Community access. |
| District-Verified Constituent | A member whose identity and district residence were confirmed through the platform’s limited verification process. |
| Grade-eligible vote | An eligible advisory vote cast while the member was district verified. |
| Representative alignment | A public comparison between recorded representative positions and qualifying district-verified constituent sentiment after minimum participation is reached. |
| Official notice | A clearly labeled, limited message from the platform or an authorized district office. |
| Sponsored content | A labeled advertisement or sponsor message kept separate from voting and grading. |
Guest Preview
Preview as Guest opens a temporary anonymous Firebase session with a unique UID. It does not create a constituent profile, enter the verification queue, or count toward district participation.
Guests may read public legislative posts, representative information, source links, policies, and manuals. Guest accounts cannot vote, reveal hidden poll totals, comment, reply, join District Chat, upload media, request bills, enable notifications, submit verification documents, or use owner and representative tools.
When a guest selects a member-only control, the site explains the limitation and offers a return to the normal sign-in and account-creation screen.
Request a bill that is not in the feed
When a bill-number search returns no matching post, a signed-in member can ask their own Maine House representative to add the bill.
- Search for the bill number.
- Select Email my Representative.
- Review the prepared recipient, subject, and message in the phone or computer's email application.
- Edit the message when needed, then select Send.
The message is sent from the member's own email account. The Pinetree People does not read the inbox or send the message automatically.
Copy request is available when no default email application is configured. Guest Preview visitors must sign in or create a regular account first.