Protests & walkouts
Organise a walkout, protest or vigil that only goes ahead with numbers
The first person to walk out takes all the risk. Crowd removes that problem: everyone commits to a threshold, nobody is exposed, and the action only happens once the number is reached.
The problem
Collective action has a chicken-and-egg problem. People will act if they know others will, but nobody wants to be first. Petitions collect names without a commitment, and group chats leak. What organisers need is a conditional promise: I'm in if we get to 200.
Why a threshold fixes it
- Joins are anonymous. Crowd stores a random device ID and a salted hash of the IP address, never a name, email or raw IP.
- No list of participants exists, so there's nothing to hand over and nothing to leak.
- The threshold is public. Supporters can see how close it is, and the counter itself becomes the recruitment tool.
- If the deadline passes short of the target, nothing happens. No half-empty protest, no exposed minority.
Examples
Tap one to start →- If 200 people say yes……we'll walk out of lectures at 11am on Thursday and gather on the steps.200 students walking out. Use as template
- If 500 people say yes……we'll march from the town hall to the station at 2pm on Saturday.500 marching on Saturday. Use as template
- If 50 people say yes……we'll hold a candlelit vigil outside the council offices at 7pm.50 at a candlelit vigil. Use as template
How to do it
- 1
Set a threshold that makes the action safe and visible. For a walkout that might be a quarter of the room; for a march, a few hundred.
- 2
Write the action as a plain "if this many of us, then we will" sentence with the time and place.
- 3
Share the link through trusted channels first, then wider once the counter has momentum.
- 4
When the target is hit, the page shows it. Everyone knows the number is real before they act.
Questions
- Is it really anonymous?
- Yes, as far as Crowd is concerned. We never ask for a name or email. Each device gets a random ID in a cookie, and IP addresses are hashed with a secret salt for rate limiting only. The organiser sees a count, not a list. Your own network or device may still identify you, so use the same judgement you would with any website.
- Can the organiser see who joined?
- No. Nobody can. The action page shows counts and nothing else.
- What are yellow and red cards?
- Alongside "I'm in", anyone can leave a yellow card (a concern) or a red card (an objection). They're anonymous and don't affect whether the target is hit, but they let a crowd signal doubts about timing, location or tactics before the day.
- Can Crowd be used for anything illegal?
- No. Actions that incite violence or break the law are removed, and the content filter blocks the obvious cases at creation. Peaceful protest, walkouts and vigils are exactly what it's for.
Also used for
Ready to set a number?
One link. Anonymous. No accounts. If the number doesn't fill before the deadline, nothing happens and nobody is on the hook.