Changelog

March, 2024
improvement
We've added customizable content that can be used as an introduction to the new petition flag form.
fix
We fixed a bug with the {% attendee_shifts_details %} Liquid tag that sometimes caused shifts on the same day to be displayed out of order.
improvement
Webhooks about attendees at shifted events now include which shifts the attendee is signed up for.
improvement
For events with shifts, if a member has previously changed their RSVP to "No" and then changes it back to "Yes", they'll now be able to select which shifts they're signing up for.
improvement
For events with shifts, it's now possible for a member who has previously RSVPed to an event to go back and change which shifts they're signed up for.
fix
We've updated the reminders schedule for events with shifts. Now, a reminder email for all of the shifts they've RSVPed to for the same day will be sent either 1 day or two hours before their first shift each day.
improvement
We've updated event pages and invitation emails to not display the web conference URL for members who haven't yet RSVPed to the event.
fix
We've fixed an error that caused a blast email's recipient count details to not load.
fix
We've fixed an issue that had caused emails to display incorrectly in iOS Dark Mode when using the "Classic" email layout.
fix
We've improved the campaign image upload process to better detect and prevent invalid file uploads.
improvement
We've adjusted how uploaded images are loaded onto petition/event pages to ensure that any metadata about where photos were taken is removed.
fix
We've fixed the style of the Messenger share button in emails when view in Apple mail while using iOS dark mode.
improvement
We've refreshed the Flagged Comments admin pages and improved their page load speed.

These updates include: performance improvements, new links to the petition each comment belongs to, and removal of redundant buttons for approving already-approved comments or removing already-removed comments.

fix
We've fixed an issue with how social share buttons in emails are displayed in Outlook.
improvement
We've improved the performance of the public API endpoint to retrieve a single petition.
fix
We've updated the member anonymization process to happen asynchronously to avoid timeout errors when triggering from the authenticated API or the admin's member page.
improvement
We removed support for including HTML in forum posts.
fix
We've updated the wording of the prompts shown on the petition and event page asking the campaigner to add an image to the campaign. The new wording is based on an a/b test that showed an increase in conversions.
fix
We fixed an issue with expired invitations that had caused errors when trying to view certain Team pages.
fix
We've added pagination to the Updates section of the petition page.

This prevents performance issues for petitions with many updates that include embedded content.

fix
We've fixed errors on the events list page for admins when filtering by start date and location.
fix
We've fixed an error that could occasionally happen when creating or updating an in-person event's location, where the time zone was not correctly set for the event's location.
improvement
We've updated the handling of messages from the public to campaigners, event hosts, and organisers, to ensure that only plain text messages are sent.
January, 2024
improvement
We've made changes to our infrastructure to better handle sudden traffic spikes.
fix
We've updated how the "From" and "Reply To" email fields are generated to avoid emails being blocked for delivery when the fields included colons.
improvement
We've made a series performance improvements to speed up the delivery of large blast emails.
improvement
We've updated the email address used for forum emails for organizations that have the Mailgun integration disabled.
fix
When a group member invites a friend to join the group, that email is now sent from the organisation contact email address, to avoid deliverability problems.
fix
We fixed a deliverability issue with emails sent to decision makers.
fix
We improved the page load time of calendar hub pages during heavy traffic.
improvement
We've updated several groups-related automated emails to come from the organisation contact email address, consistent with other platform emails.
fix
We've fixed an issue that was sometimes preventing forum emails and certain other emails from passing SPF and DKIM.
improvement
We've fixed a problem that had prevented some API calls from reaching the platform.
December, 2023
fix
If a member arrives on a campaign page with an invalid share parameter in the URL, we'll now ignore it instead of showing an Oops page.
fix
We've fixed an error that caused images attached to blast emails not to be included in the email's content.
fix
We've fixed an error that didn't allow updating shifted events when it the attendee limit was lower than the sum of all the shift's attendees. Now we correctly check that the max number of attendees isn't below the attendees for each shift.
fix
We've fixed an error that could cause images in a partnership's introduction and on group resource pages to be lost when updating them.
improvement
When a user is invited to join an admin team, that invitation now expires after 30 days.

We also fixed a bug that showed a user a generic error page if they attempted to accept a team invitation from a team that was since deleted.

improvement
We've added a list of all pending admin invitations, to make it easier to review them for security purposes.

The new list can be found at Settings > Teams & Permissions > Pending invitations.

improvement
We've updated the hCaptcha integration setup process so that if there is an error contacting the hCaptcha service, we display more details to the user.
fix
We've fixed the error message shown when attempting to upload an image that is too large.
fix
We've fixed an issue where recipient count details on the blast email admin page sometimes failed to load for very large recipient lists.
fix
We fixed the ordering on the signatures stats page to show the most common sources and buckets at the top of the page.
November, 2023
improvement
Location searches throughout the platform now return more relevant results, by taking into account what country the member is likely in.
improvement
For embedded maps/lists with a bounding box specified, the bounding box is now taken into account when interpreting the location search.
fix
For organizations using Action Network, we've fixed an issue that could cause data sync delays under heavy traffic.
improvement
We've fixed an error that could happen for very large petitions when loading the signatures sources and buckets stats on a petition's admin signatures page.
fix
We've fixed an issue that for large petitions could cause the signatures detailed stats to not be displayed on the petition's admin signatures page.
improvement
For organizing using the ActionKit sync, we've improved how virtual events are synced so that they are more accurately represented in ActionKit.
improvement
When adding new hostnames to the site, we now show a note if there are integrations that require domain safe-listing (e.g.: reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, or Google Authentication), asking admins to include the new hostname on the list.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused duplicated text in some emails to petition creators.
fix
We've updated the URLs produced by the {% facebook_share_url %}, {% twitter_share_url %}, and {% social_share_buttons %} liquid tags to be more consistent with other sharing buttons.
improvement
We've added a platform status page to the bottom of the org admin homepage.
improvement
We've adjusted how event and group search results are ordered to show virtual events with no audience location lower in the list.
fix
We've fixed an error that could occur in rare cases when two web requests tried to sign or create a user account for the same email address at the same moment.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had resulted in out-of-date attendee counts being shown for events on the calendar hub page.
improvement
We've made performance improvements to the recipient stats calculation for blast emails.
fix
We've fixed a bug in the moderation queue that could sometimes cause the wrong options to appear in the moderation status dropdown.
improvement
In the blast email authoring UI for petition creators and event hosts, the "To" section now loads faster.
fix
We changed how the projected recipient count is calculated for the blast email authoring page, so that it will eventually load even for the largest petitions.
fix
We fixed a bug that prevented certain users with only "Moderate" permissions from seeing admin notes on events while moderating.
improvement
We've improved the error messaging when a request cannot be completed due to a network problem or other error.
fix
We fixed a bug that caused unpredictable behavior in rare cases when a member tried to RSVP over an unreliable network connection.
improvement
For members leaving a "reason for signing" comment after signing a petition, we've fixed an issue with the error message displayed when the text is too short or too long.

We’ve also updated up the “Save” button behavior on the comment form to avoid accidental double-clicks.

feature
Forum messages can now be edited within the first 5 minutes after they're created
improvement
When virtual events are imported from EveryAction/VAN for a Region with an associated geographic shape, they'll only show up in local search results if the searched location is inside that geographic shape.
improvement
We've added support for admin notes when moderating a new group or group organiser request.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the EveryAction/VAN sync that had prevented signups from syncing properly for members whose Person records had been merged.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had occasionally prevented some forum replies sent by email from being posted to the forum.
feature
Turkish is now an available locale.

Thank you to the 350.org team for providing this translation.

improvement
We're now including a flagged forum message's poster details in the moderation queue.
improvement
We've refreshed some of the labels on the form for contacting group organisers.
improvement
When a logged-in user contacts a petition creator or event host, the logged-in user's name and email are now pre-filled on the contact form.
fix
We've fixed a bug in the EveryAction/VAN sync that prevented certain events with shifts on multiple days from syncing properly.
fix
We've fixed an error with a petition or event email's sender name when the campaigner's name is hidden or the event/petition is leaderless.

Previously we’d send the email from “via [Organisation Name]” which only makes sense when there’s an actual leader included in the string (“[Petition creator] via [organization name]”). Now we’ll just use the Organization Name if no leader is included in the string .

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented members from assuming leadership of an effort petition if that petition was set up for writing messages to a decision maker.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the moderation queue that occasionally caused it to get stuck when advancing from one moderation task to the next.
improvement
If someone tries to visit the "organiser instructions" page for a calendar that does not have organiser instructions enabled, they now get redirected to the New Event page instead of seeing an Oops message.
fix
The Engaging Networks integration now allows specifying which Engaging Networks hostname should be used.
fix
We've fixed a few issues related to the moderation of forum messages.

We’ll no longer show an error in the moderation queue when a message is deleted while still pending moderation. We won’t display the first message of the thread in the Topics view if it’s still pending moderation. We’ve fixed some edge cases where messages pending moderation could be displayed to other members.

fix
We've fixed an issue with CRM syncs that occasionally prevented updates to events from syncing if the event's original host had deleted their account.
improvement
When the local organizing map has no results for a search including groups, the user now has the option to start a group.

We’ve also fixed a bug in the location-based group creation workflow that prevented the searched location from carrying over to the form if the user had to log in on the way there.

improvement
Forum messages are now checked for profanity.

For groups, messages are submitted to the moderation queue and hidden to other members until moderated. For events, messages are automatically hidden.

October, 2023
improvement
Org admins can now check if the credentials for their Engaging Network sync are correctly set from the Engaging Network's Integration page under Settings.
improvement
We've updated how QR codes for two-factor authentication are generated to include "Controlshift" as part of the account name to make it easier to identify on the authentication apps.
improvement
Group organizers can now remove regular members from their group.
improvement
Org admins can now demote group organizers to regular members without removing the user from the group.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had occasionally prevented some forum replies sent by email from being posted to the forum.
improvement
We've updated the notification email sent to a group organiser when someone asks to become an organiser of their group; the email now links to the correct page where the organiser can review the request and is customizable.
feature
When a group organizer or admin ejects a member from a group, that member will not be able to rejoin that group, unless an admin unblocks them.

Ejected members will be shown in the “Removed Members” list on the group’s admin pages.

improvement
We've updated forums to hide deleted threads that don't have any replies instead of showing the "This message was deleted" placeholder.
fix
We've fixed an issue that had prevented some action takers who had opted in to SMS from being synced to Mobile Commons.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused errors in rare cases for users who were asked to consent to updated data processing consent terms.
September, 2023
improvement
We've improved our localization for maps in Hebrew.
feature
We've replaced our self-service integrations with Mapbox and Geoapify (used for dynamic maps), with an AWS-hosted service that is included under our DPA, simplifying the platform administration.

For users who have not completed our GDPR DPA, you shouldn’t see any changes in services. For organizations who have a completed DPA, your organization will no longer need an external Mapbox/Geoapify account. If your organization had not already integrated with one of those tools, your supporters will now be able to see the /local page and maps on other lookup pages.

improvement
We've updated the style of the banner shown on virtual group pages.
improvement
We've replaced the background map displayed on group pages, removing dependency with Google Maps.
fix
We've fixed an error that occurred when attempting to accept a Team invitation that was sent by a user account that has since been deleted.
improvement
We've removed the static Google map from petitions for which the OSM static map hasn't been generated yet.
improvement
On the petition admin page, we've adjusted how the "signatures over time" graph is loaded, to eliminate timeouts and ensure it loads eventually for even the largest petitions.
improvement
We've updated the map used on effort's landing pages to use Amazon Location Services instead of Google Maps.
improvement
We've updated the small static Google maps used to illustrate geographic shapes to be proxied rather than loaded directly from Google in the browser.
feature
Organization admins can now configure custom email layouts for blast emails sent by partner organizations.

This option allows admins to specify a logo, set a background header color, and choose fonts to be used in emails sent from the partnership’s email supporters tool on the partner hub page.

fix
We've fixed a bug that caused an Oops page when trying to view the admin details page for an external event.
improvement
On the petition signatures page, we optimized the Sources and Buckets graphs so they should load faster for large petitions.
fix
We've fixed an error that prevented updates to ActionKit and Engaging Networks field mappings.
feature
The New Event form, and all location autocomplete fields, have been updated to avoid making direct calls from the browser to Google Maps, to avoid privacy issues associated with sending member data to Google.
fix
We've improved the error messaging if an attempt to anonymize a member via the web UI fails.
August, 2023
improvement
Group organizers can now see a full list of members in their group and the date the member joined.

The list of names will use the organizer name privacy setting configured by the organization.

fix
We've fixed an error when uploading large CSV files for event imports.
improvement
It's now possible to export a CSV of decision makers in a decision maker collection, including the "slug" associated with each decision maker.

Because the “slug” is required for uploads, this will make it easier to import events into a decision maker calendar.

improvement
API calls for member anonymization that fail because the member is associated with a REST API application now return a clearer error message.
improvement
We've updated the phone number requirement options in the organization's SMS opt-in settings to support different phone number required rules for events and petitions.
feature
For organisations that have signed a Data Protection Agreement, it's now possible to connect either Geoapify or Mapbox to enable use of the local map.
fix
We've fixed the event export CSV to not include duplicate "virtual" columns.
improvement
We've added support for uploading events associated with one or more partnerships.
fix
We've fixed an error which on certain occasions caused events with duplicated titles not to be imported.
fix
We fixed an error that caused success messages to be displayed when browsing pages with toggleable fields.
fix
For organisations using the EveryAction/NGP VAN integration to sync events into ControlShift, we've improved the dropdown for configuring a Tag that should control which events are synced.
fix
We fixed a bug with text-format custom fields on signature and RSVP forms that prevented entering any text in those fields.
improvement
For organisations using the EveryAction/NGP VAN integration, there's now a self-service UI for configuring the survey question associated with group organisers.
fix
We fixed a bug that sometimes caused the wrong time zone to be set when creating events in decision-maker-based calendars.
fix
We fixed minor layout issues in the moderation task list.
fix
We fixed an issue with the EveryAction/NGP VAN sync that had prevented event hosting information from syncing properly for hosts who have not yet activated their user accounts.
feature
We've updated the logic for behind the prompt to create a new event in a calendar that is constituency-bound and that only allows a single event per target.

Previously members would be able to see the new event form page but weren’t able to submit the new event without an error. Now, we’ll show the “Host your own event” only if there’s an unclaimed target within the search radius. If all targets in the search radius have already been claimed, we won’t show the “Host your own event” button.

feature
When uploading a CSV of events, it's now possible to associate events with decision makers using the target_slug column.
improvement
We've replaced Google Maps for static maps on event pages with OpenStreetMap.
improvement
We've fixed an error that caused events imported from MobilizeAmerica that are virtual but have a location to be incorrectly treated as in-person in search results.
improvement
We've added validation errors when fields are left blank on the local group creation form.
improvement
We've improved the performance of large signatures and attendees data exports.
July, 2023
fix
We've fixed a bug that had caused a rolled-up partnership opt-in checkbox to still be shown when petitions were accessed via the "promoted" URL path.
improvement
A member who indicates that they did not sign a petition and asks to remove their signature will now also be shown the option to unsubscribe from the organization's emails.
improvement
When a member writes a message to a campaigner, event host, or group organiser, we now screen that message for profanity. Messages with profanity will not be delivered to the intended recipient.
improvement
We've added a new region_from_postcode liquid variable to petition signatures, event RSVPs, and user accounts.

The variable returns the ISO 3166-2 region code associated with the postal code entered by members.

improvement
With the "Modern" email layout, it's now possible to specify a font that will be used in email clients that support custom fonts.
fix
We've fixed an error that caused the export button to disappear from the Members org admin page if the last report was generated by an admin user account that was later deleted.
June, 2023
feature
It's now possible to override the post-signing or post-RSVP experience with a URL parameter. This new feature can be configured from Settings > Post Action Flow.

After configuring a new post-action flow, it can be added to the URL using the after_action parameter. More information is available in our help center.

improvement
We've added support for enabling 'enhanced conversions' for the Google Tag Manager integration.

This is an option setting that can be toggled from the GTM integration’s settings page. When enabled, user’s email addresses will be added to the GTM data layer for use with Google Ads

fix
We fixed a bug that prevented the default signature/RSVP disclaimer from being shown on partnership/event petitions when the partner disclaimers were blank.
fix
We've made adjustments to prevent large exports from timing out.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the Member Activity JSON export that had caused an error if the member had ever unsubscribed from an event blast email.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the ActionKit sync that was preventing a small number of signatures from being synced to ActionKit. The affected signatures should be synced now.
improvement
We've updated the error message shown to users when a form cannot be submitted because of a network issue between the user's web browser and the reCAPTCHA service.
improvement
We've updated the platform to validate that organizations' hostnames are valid once per week, and we'll now notify the org's tech contact if any DNS problems are detected.
improvement
We've made some configuration changes to speed up page load times across the platform.
May, 2023
improvement
The sidebar map on the calendar hub page now has more consistent zoom behavior when members search for locations.
fix
We've fixed the "Display decision maker information on Organiser Instructions page" setting for calendars.
fix
We've fixed event creation in calendars associated with a point-location-based decision maker collection.
improvement
We've retired several obsolete URLs related to an old way of searching for events in a calendar. Members should visit the calendar hub page to search for events.
fix
We've improved the error message shown if a member's form submit fails due to a temporary network issue with reCAPTCHA.
fix
We've fixed an error that kept an event's full location hidden on emails using the {% event_details %} placeholder, when the event used a private location.
fix
We updated the sign-up form to correctly show a validation error during sign up if an organization is using radio buttons for email opt-in types and the user doesn't choose an option before attempting to save.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the admin search of customizable content that had prevented some default content from appearing in search results.
improvement
Any user who has not yet upgraded their two-factor authentication will now be unable to log in to the platform, and will see a message asking them to contact support.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented events with shifts happening over multiple days being synced to Every Action.
fix
We fixed an issue that, in rare cases, could allow a petition to be added to the same category multiple times.
fix
We fixed a bug that had prevented embedded lists of events and/or groups without a map from displaying correctly.
improvement
Users browsing ControlShift pages via certain mobile apps that have embedded browsers (e.g. Facebook Messenger) will no longer see the option to sign in with Google, since Google is tightening restrictions on where Google Sign-in can be used.

To sign in to ControlShift with Google on your phone, access the site via a regular browser app such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

improvement
Calendars can now be associated with multiple partnerships.

This unlocks new ways of organizing events with coalitions of partners. Events created in a multi-partnership calendar will be associated with multiple partners.

improvement
It's now possible to override the site title at the theme level.
improvement
We updated our ActionKit sync to use a more unique "short name" when it creates a new event campaign page for a ControlShift calendar, to avoid occasional naming conflicts that can prevent data from being synced.
April, 2023
improvement
Members visiting a partnership hub page and clicking through to a petition or event will have a matching partner URL parameter automatically set.
fix
We've updated the deliverability setup process to avoid failures in some specific cases.
improvement
We've implemented additional protections on the contact campaigner form.

As part of those updates, anyone trying to send a message to a petition creator, event host, or group organiser through the site will now need to confirm their email address before the message is sent.

fix
We've updated the partnership export to exclude unconfirmed RSVPs at organizations using email confirmations for actions.
improvement
When the platform is configured to collect implicit consent for data processing, it's now possible to specify whether the implicit consent message should be shown before or after the submit button on forms.
improvement
The settings for collecting members' consent to data processing can now be managed from Settings > Privacy.
improvement
Campaigners searching for an image via the free image library can now search for images using search terms in the same language they are using to view the site.
improvement
It's now possible to configure a partnership with a disclaimer that will be shown on RSVP forms.
feature
We've redesigned the public partnership's hub page. We're now displaying both events and petitions.

The events will be displayed on a partner-specific map. The petitions are now displayed in a swipeable carousel and successful petitions will be designated as such.

fix
We've fixed an issue that could, in rare cases, record the wrong map location when saving an in-person event.
improvement
For petitions configured to have signers write messages to the decision maker, each signature webhook now includes information about the signer's message.

Authenticated API responses that include signature information now also include information about messages to decision makers where appropriate.

improvement
The bulk data exports now include a new table `messages_to_target`. When petitions are set up for "letters to decision maker," the messages supporters submit are stored in this table.
fix
We've fixed an issue that had prevented moving an event into a calendar that asks event creators for a mailing address.

We’ve also fixed an issue that prevented making updates to events in certain calendars.

improvement
We improved the page load time of the signatures page for large efforts.
improvement
We've added additional platform protections against DoS attacks and spam.
improvement
We've updated the layout of the email sent to invited partnership admins.
improvement
We've reorganized the admin Partnership Settings page to make it easier to manage.

Partnership settings that used to be on the Edit page are now found in Settings > Basics.

March, 2023
feature
Users who are still relying on the deprecated Authy strategy for two-factor authentication will now be forced to upgrade their 2FA configuration next time they access the site.
improvement
When a member signs a petition or RSVPs to an event with a partner parameter in the URL, the partner parameter will also be included in the social sharing links on the page.
feature
It's now possible to associate a petition or event with multiple partnerships.

When a campaign is in multiple partnerships, the campaign page will show the titles and opt-ins for all its associated partnerships, and each partnership’s hub and admin pages will include the campaign. Options for showing signature opt-ins are available, and you can learn more in our help center.

fix
We've fixed a bug that caused an Oops page when an org admin tried to view details about an individual group member
improvement
In authenticated API calls and webhooks regarding signatures and attendees, join_partnership has been replaced with partnership_opt_ins
improvement
In CSV exports of signatures or attendees, the join_partnership column has been replaced with a new opted_in_partnerships column.
feature
We've added a new page for partnership admins to allow them to edit some of the partnership details.

This includes updating their partnership’s name, description, and logo.

fix
We've improved the way location queries work for overseas departments/territories on the effort lookup page.
improvement
Organisations can now choose between two layouts for emails sent by the platform.

The classic layout remains the same. The new option has a logo and background banner at the top of the email.

fix
We've fixed an issue where calendar events created by clicking on the header link while viewing a regional calendar page weren't assigned to the same region as the calendar.
fix
We fixed a bug that briefly caused errors for some members when unsubscribing, and when trying to update a member's email opt-in type via the API.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused problems starting to set up a new hostname if the DNS for that hostname had not yet been configured.
improvement
Banned members are now unable to send contact messages to petition creators, event hosts, and group organizers.

Org admins will be able to see a copy of the message in the organization’s inbox, but it will not be delivered to leaders.

fix
We've fixed an error that occurred when attempting to export a large partnership's members.

This error occurred when the partnerships had over 10k different actions from members.

February, 2023
improvement
We've updated how partnership, calendar, group, and petition information is displayed on event pages.

Event pages will now more closely resemble petition pages. Partner organization information will be show closer to the top of the event page while other associations have moved down.

feature
We've updated how partnership, effort, and group information is displayed on petition pages.

Previously, if a petition had multiple associations, we’d only show one link to site visitors. This would mean that users might, for example, only see information about an effort and not see info about a partner org or local group. With this change, all associations will be shown at the bottom of the page with partner organization information prominently featured near the top of the page.

feature
We've refreshed the partner admin UI for downloading member information. Partner admins can now filter the download by date and see more explanatory information about the export.
fix
We've fixed a bug that displayed a few map markers at incorrect coordinates on effort landing pages.
improvement
CSV exports of petitions and events no longer include a partnership_id column. Instead, the partnership slug (if any) can be found in a new partnerships column.
improvement
We've updated the Authenticated API endpoint for updating petition's and event's images to expect a multipart HTTP request with the image file included in a file field.
improvement
The export available to partnership admins now shows the "created at" date of each signature or RSVP, instead of the date the member first took action on the platform.

Also, it no longer includes the superfluous “id” column.

improvement
We've improved the error messaging when API calls for creating signatures or attendees include fields that are not allowed.
feature
The list of all partnerships can now be sorted and filtered.

Also, on filterable lists of events, petitions, and groups, the sort options are now alphabetized correctly for the user’s language

improvement
The admin view of a partnership's petitions now allows filtering and includes stats on petition sources.
improvement
The screen for moderating a forum message now better identifies the message being moderated and has better formatting of the message thread.
fix
We've fixed an error that in some cases caused the "please confirm your signature" message to be displayed for members who clicked on the confirmation email's links after having already confirmed their signature.
improvement
We've added timestamp and moderation related fields to webhook notifications
January, 2023
improvement
On admin petition pages, some information about petition events has moved from the Associations section to the Events tab.

Team members who can “admin view” events can now see the Associations section on admin event pages, even if they do not have permission to change the associations.

improvement
We've added support for setting stock images while moderating petitions and events.

Petition and event image can also be uploaded during moderation. We’ve also fixed an error that froze the browser tab while attempting to crop petition and event images while moderating.

improvement
Email reminders sent to the host and attendees of virtual events are now sent two hours before the event starts instead of one day before.

If you’ve customized the reminder templates (Settings > Content > Events), you may need to update the template’s text to reflect this change.

fix
We've fixed errors while rendering content referencing petition campaigner's attributes when the petition is leaderless.
improvement
When embedding a map or list of events, it's now possible to turn off the location search field.
fix
We've fixed "Remove from group" toggle for forum message moderation.
improvement
We've updated the new members to the list stats to include new members from event RSVPs and group memberships for CRMs that support syncing these.
improvement
We've added the partnership association widget on an event's org admin page. This allows moving the event in and out of a partnership.

We’ve also fixed petitions’ and events’ associations widgets layout to improve how they’re displayed in different screen sizes.

improvement
We've added support for the host variable for event email templates.

This change allows organizations to use host variables in the: - Attendee confirmation email - Thank Attendee RSVP Email - Promoted from Waitlist to Attending Email - Approaching Event Email Reminder for Attendees This applies to organization default templates, custom calendar templates and custom event templates. Valid attributes for the host are: first_name, last_name, full_name, email, postcode, phone_number, locale, and country.

improvement
We've added clearer labels to a couple of fields in the admin Petition > Settings > Social Media and Event > Settings > Social Media sections.
fix
We've fixed an issue that, in rare cases, caused technical error information to be included in certain emails.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had caused rendering errors in some emails when the active Theme is associated with a hostname.
improvement
We've updated the petition blast email's footer to display a different text without referencing the campaigner's name if it's not available for displaying.
fix
We've fixed invitation emails sent to new petition, event, and partnership admins to avoid extra whitespace in the greeting line
improvement
We've added calendar, petition, partnership, and/or group associations to event webhook payloads
improvement
We've updated the admin omnisearch (in the header org admin pages) in to remove extra spaces and avoid casing mismatches to improve search results.
December, 2022
improvement
On the admin homepage, we've replaced the platform status widget with a link to the status page.
feature
We've added support for searching and using stock images from an image library for petition and event images.

This should improve the appearance of campaign and event pages, while also avoiding copyright infringement on member-led campaigns.

improvement
We've improved the error messaging on the signature/attendee CSV upload pages if a CSV with invalid syntax is uploaded.
improvement
Users logging in with two-factor authentication will no longer need to click into the token field before entering their TOTP or Authy tokens.
improvement
We've updated the confirmation process for archiving a group. Admins will need to type the name of the group as an extra safeguard.
improvement
We've updated our webhook endpoints developers documentation to include missing fields on example payloads.
improvement
We've removed the deprecated /api/graph/me.json endpoint. Anything that was trying to call that endpoint should be updated.
fix
We've updated the region field in the moderation queue so that when editing, the dropdown will auto-select the current region instead of "no region."
fix
We've fixed an issue that prevented petition and event images from being displayed when using Facebook's browser.
improvement
We've added more consistent error messaging when a user's action is blocked by bot detection.
November, 2022
fix
We fixed the "show password" button on the form for changing your password in My Account > Password & Security.
improvement
The setup process for reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha now includes an extra step to ensure the integration is correctly configured before enabling it on member-facing forms.
improvement
Petition creators viewing their ended petitions will no longer be prompted to choose an image or take other actions on their campaigns.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had caused errors for some API calls related to events.
improvement
We've fixed a bug that had sometimes prevented new petitions from being created in efforts.
improvement
We've increased the minimum password length to eight characters.

Our previous minimum requirement was six characters. Existing passwords that are 6-7 characters will remain valid, but we’ll require more than eight characters for new accounts and for users changing their password.

improvement
The public JSON endpoint for a petition now includes the `successful` and `ended` status of the petition, and the `ended_story` if the petition has been marked as successful or ended.

The public JSON endpoint for an effort now includes the ended_story for all petitions marked as ended, not just petitions marked as successful.

fix
We've fixed a bug that sometimes caused errors when uploading a file with an extremely long filename.
fix
We've updated API responses to include relative paths instead of full URLs for images.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused errors when uploading a new image for an event.
fix
We've fixed an issue that sometimes caused broken event images on My Campaigns, group pages, and certain other pages.
improvement
We've improved the selection of featured petitions that are shown if a member of the public searches for a petition and gets no results.
fix
We've fixed an issue when attempting to sign up on sites with reCAPTCHA enabled
improvement
We're implementing a new style for the location maps on petition pages.

This will be phased in for newly-used locations first. This change includes using localized map labels, not just labels in English.

improvement
We've updated the petition blast email banner to show the number of signatures for the last goal the petition has reached (instead of always showing 25).
feature
We've added support for hCaptcha to protect forms from bots and reduce spam.

The hCaptcha integration is available in Settings > Integrations. This is a third-party integration, and requires an hCaptcha account. The integration will work with both visible and invisible challenges, depending on the settings in your hCaptcha account. More information

fix
We've fixed a bug that had prevented the signature form embed snippet from displaying properly on petitions' settings pages.
feature
It is now possible to disable the contact campaigner feature for all petitions and events.

This new toggle is available in Settings > Privacy.

October, 2022
fix
We fixed a bug on the petition creator view of the petition page that, on mobile, sometimes hid part of the "Upload image" or "Select categories" modal behind the Sign button.

We fixed a similar bug for admins viewing the event page that, on mobile, sometimes hid part of the “Upload image” modal behind the RSVP button.

improvement
Updating a previously-moderated petition's text fields or image via the authenticated API will no longer send that petition back to the moderation queue.
improvement
The admin homepage now includes information on upcoming ControlShift office hours events.
feature
Event hosts now have a "Training" tab on their event pages, showing advice for a successful event.

This content and the “Training” label can be customized under Settings > Content > Events.

feature
Petition starters now have a "Training" tab on their petition pages, showing advice for a successful campaign.

This content and the “Training” label can be customized under Settings > Content > Petition Manage.

fix
We fixed an issue that could, in rare cases, cause duplicate event reminder emails to be sent.
feature
The petition creator view of the petition page now includes a banner showing a prompt to add an update if the petition has more than 100 signatures and no new updates have been posted in the past 2 weeks.
feature
For petitions that are eligible to have associated events, petition creators visiting the petition page will now see a banner prompting them to organise an event.
feature
Hosts of recently concluded events will now see a banner on the event page encouraging them to send a "report back" email to attendees.
feature
The petition creator view of the petition page now includes a banner showing a prompt to send an email to their supporters after reaching 25 subscribed signatures.
feature
For upcoming events that have at least a few attendees who have opted in to emails, hosts now see a banner prompting them to send an email to their attendees.
feature
The host view of the event page now includes a "to-do list" banner reminding the user to add an image and share the event on social media, if they have not already done so.

For events that have no image or default image to display, the host view of the event page also now includes a large prompt asking the host to upload an image.

feature
The petition creator view of the petition page now includes a "to-do list" banner reminding the user to set categories, add an image, and share the petition on social media, if they have not already done so.

This banner will be shown after the user dismisses the “just launched” social sharing banner and will persist until the items are completed. The banner will not show for petitions moderated to suppressed or below.

feature
We've added support for embedding a no-map, list-only version of events and groups.

This may be useful for organizations supporting primarily virtual events. The list-only embed option is available under Settings > Local Map.

improvement
We've improved our event import validations so that only specific locations, with a street name and address or a well known venue, are accepted for in-person events.
improvement
We've added support for importing virtual events with a specific audience location.
improvement
We're no longer showing attendee counts for events with fewer than 5 attendees.

This matches the behavior we use on event lookup pages and petition signature pages. Once an event reaches 5 attendees, the attendee count will be publicly visible.

September, 2022
fix
We've fixed a bug that had caused broken links in the "To" section when viewing the org admin page for some blast emails.
fix
We've fixed an error that caused timeline posts' images not to be displayed.
improvement
For organizations using Engaging Networks, we've added information on the IP addresses that need to be safe listed (which are included on the Settings > Integrations page).
improvement
We've updated the moderation modal to allow editing an event's date and time while moderating.
improvement
Where members are asked to enter postcodes, we now check the format of those postcodes in more countries.

The new additions include: Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, and Romania.

improvement
For some CRM integrations, we now have a button that allows an admin to verify that the CRM is successfully connected.

This button is available for some CRMs under Settings > Integrations.

improvement
It's now possible to translate a calendar's title, description, organiser instructions, host address explanation, and customized emails.
improvement
The Google Analytics integration can now be used with Google Analytics 4 or with Universal Analytics.

When creating or updating the Google Analytics integration, please choose either GA4 or UA from the Settings > Integrations > Google Analytics page.

improvement
We've updated the automatic event reminder emails to include the Add to Calendar buttons in the email's footer.
improvement
Currently running events are now displayed in all public listings. They were previously removed from public listings immediately following the event's start time.

For events that don’t have an end time set, we’ll keep the event in public listings until 2 hours after the event began.

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented some custom fonts from loading properly on non-primary hostnames.
improvement
We've updated how custom fonts in themes are served and now use the user's default sans serif browser font while the custom font is being loaded.
improvement
We've added tracking of the user's browser agent for RSVPs and petition flags.
improvement
The JSON API response for a single petition now indicates whether the "what" and "why" fields use Markdown syntax.
improvement
For users who have two-factor authentication enabled with TOTP, we've added additional security measures to protect against brute-force attempts to guess tokens.
improvement
Improved the display of the local map when embedded on an external site and viewed on mobile. The map and sidebar will now stack.
improvement
Event CSV uploads can now specify event end times in an end_at column.
fix
We've fixed an error where valid domain names were sometimes not accepted when setting up email deliverability.
fix
We've fixed an error that prevented certain events from being synced to ActionKit.
fix
We've fixed a styling issue on the date and location section of emails sent to members RSVPing to events with overridden email content.
improvement
We've implemented a process for migrating 2FA from our soon-to-be deprecated Authy API implementation to TOTP.

More information about this change is available.

August, 2022
feature
It's now possible to set up a CRM integration directly from Settings > Integrations.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had prevented updating the "Signatures to add to petition" setting on petitions in efforts or landing pages.
improvement
When "utm_medium for sharing links" is set, if {% petition_url %} is used in the forwardable part of the Thanks For Signing email, the generated URL will now include the utm_medium.
improvement
The Settings > Integrations page now includes information about all supported integrations, even if they cannot be added currently or require contacting Support.
improvement
We've added new validations to the thank you for signing emails.

In particular: - When a petition has custom “Thanks for signing” email content, we’ll now check the syntax of any Liquid markup in the custom content. - When a partnership customizes the “Thanks for signing petition email”, “Thank Signer Forward to Friends Email”, or “Share By Email body text”, we’ll now check the syntax of any Liquid markup in the custom content.

improvement
For organizations enforcing two-factor authentication for admins, partner admins will now also be prompted to configure 2FA.

We’ve also tightened the enforce 2FA setting. Previously, we were prompting users to set up 2FA during log-in, but they could navigate to another page if needed. Now all admins (org admins and partners) will be unable to navigate away without configuring 2FA.

improvement
We've updated the signature progress bar on the petition page. Now, when a visitor lands on the petition page, they'll see the signature bar filling up to match its current level.

We made this update following an a/b test of static vs. animated progress bars, where the animated version increased conversions.

improvement
In the sidebar on the public-facing calendar hub page, the displayed description now includes any line breaks that are in the content.
improvement
Two-factor authentication is now available to all users, not just admins. Any user can now enable two-factor auth from My Account > Password & Security.
improvement
When SMS opt-in collection is enabled, members creating new user accounts will be prompted to opt in to SMS.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had sometimes caused the "Insert social share buttons" option to disappear after saving changes to a blast email in the moderation queue.
improvement
We've added recovery codes for users setting up two-factor authentication via TOTP.
improvement
We've implemented a new TOTP-based backend for two-factor authentication.

Users newly enabling two-factor authentication will experience the TOTP method of two-factor authentication.

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented users from signing in/up using Facebook or Google SSO when browsing the platform on a secondary hostname.
fix
We've fixed an error that prevented the loading of petition and event pages after publishing a new locale and not providing translations for the email and SMS opt-in types.
improvement
We've added new webhook notifications when assigning and removing a mentor from petitions, events, and groups.
improvement
We've added support for setting an event's region while it creating via the REST API.
improvement
We've added a new authenticated REST API endpoint for retrieving the list of existing event types.
fix
Fixed an issue that prevented from revoking cookies consent on specific scenarios where the hostname was very short.
improvement
On the My Account page, the UI for changing your password or enabling two-factor authentication has moved to a new tab, Password & Security.
July, 2022
feature
When the cookies-consent banner is in use, it's now possible for a member who has previously consented to cookies to revoke that consent by visiting a specific URL.

After providing cookies consent, users can navigate to /member/revoke_cookies_consent to revoke their consent.

improvement
For objectives-based efforts, you can now click on individual objective names from the Effort > Objectives page to see the full details stored for each objective.
feature
It's now possible to create a petition in an effort or landing page via the authenticated API.
improvement
We've added validations to ensure that when a Salesforce integration is being configured, the host field has the correct format.
feature
We added API support for creating an event in a calendar.
improvement
We've added a tracking event that will be sent when a petition signer clicks the "Show me another petition" button on the promoted petition modal.

The new event is Loaded another promoted petition. You can find all platform events in our help center.

improvement
The authenticated API endpoint for petition creation now supports associating the petition with a user.
fix
We've fixed a bug in the event creation API that set English, not the selected default language, as the event language if no language was specified.
feature
It's now possible to create a petition via the authenticated REST API.
fix
We fixed a bug in the EveryAction/VAN events ingest, so certain imported events will no longer be deleted and re-created every hour.
feature
We've updated the promoted petition post-signature modal to allow members to see up to 5 petitions.

The other rules of promoted petitions will still apply, but a user is able to click “Show me another petition” if there are additional campaigns that they could sign.

feature
Admins can now use labels to refine which petitions are shown in the promoted petition post-signature modal.

When a petition is added to the promoted petitions list, admins can now add label restrictions. When set, the promoted petition will only be used if the petition the member just signed includes all the labels in the restriction. This can be helpful in more closely targeting what petitions signers see after taking action. The other rules for promoted petitions will still apply.

feature
Organizations with custom domains can now migrate their ControlShift sites to Cloudflare.

ControlShift now includes Cloudflare proxying for your ControlShift site. Because we’re managing the Cloudflare configurations, you’re able to benefit from Cloudflare’s features without having to deal with the technical details. Cloudflare is an industry leader in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and malicious bot protection. Cloudflare uses sophisticated machine learning to protect sites from malicious activity, while also accelerating the delivery of page content.

improvement
We've fixed an issue that prevented EveryAction events from being automatically imported if the end time was the same as the start time.
feature
It is now possible to create an event via the authenticated REST API.
fix
We've updated the help text for the Image Description field on the admin petition settings page, to more accurately describe how the field is used.
improvement
We've updated the ActionKit sync to use the correct language identifier when syncing data associated with the default ControlShift language, even if that language differs from the default ActionKit language.
improvement
API endpoints that accept JSON data will now return a more helpful error message if the JSON request is malformed.
improvement
We've added a new public JSON API endpoint that lists all efforts and landing pages.

We’ve fixed an issue with the public JSON API for listing petitions in an effort, that could sometimes cause extra petitions to be erroneously included.

improvement
We've added support for linking directly to a section of a settings page.
fix
We've fixed an error that prevented, under certain circumstances, EveryAction events from syncing to the platform.
improvement
We've updated the partnership data export to exclude members who opted in to join the partnership email list but who unsubscribed afterwards to make it easier for partner organization to keep external mailing lists up to date.
fix
We've fixed a bug that reported Google Tag Manager's container IDs as incorrectly formatted.
improvement
We've enabled Cloudflare protection for all ControlShift instances using controlshift.app or eucontrolshift.app hostnames.

Also, when new non-ControlShift hostnames are added, traffic on those domains will now be protected by Cloudflare proxying. ControlShift manages this proxying automatically, so no extra steps are needed.

June, 2022
fix
We fixed a bug that occurred when navigating back during moderation while the Reviewer / Mentor was being edited.

We also improved UX for the moderation modal close button when a field is being edited.

fix
We fixed a bug that caused the SMS opt-in field to be displayed in the signature form even when the phone number field is hidden for signatures.
fix
We've fixed an edge case that could cause some data exports to time out.
improvement
We've added clarification text to the Google Analytics integration page to explain that the current integration supports UA only.

We plan to release an update supporting GA4 in the future.

improvement
We've updated the display of event locations so that an event without a specific venue name doesn't use the street address as the venue, causing the street address to be duplicated.
improvement
We've removed the field-by-field help popovers from the Edit Petition page, to reduce distractions and fix UI issues on some screen sizes.
fix
We've fixed a timing issue that occasionally prevented the location autocomplete dropdown from working properly when an option was clicked.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented customized Country field labels from being used on signature forms.
fix
We fixed a bug that prevented admins from uploading a CSV of attendees to existing events.
May, 2022
improvement
We've made several improvements to the offline petition signature entry tool.

These improvements include support for organization-wide and per-petition custom fields and consistency between the fields displayed on the web form and in the bulk entry tool.

fix
We've added extra checks to event CSV imports so that extra spaces or capitalization in the host_email column will no longer cause errors.
fix
We've adjusted our configuration to avoid console errors on admin pages when Google Analytics is enabled.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused the sidebar sharing prompt to be displayed for suppressed petitions.
April, 2022
improvement
We've implemented additional measures to avoid signatures to be created by automated bot attacks.
fix
We've fixed an issue which could cause events to be imported without an associated user, if the same host was listed for multiple events in the upload.
fix
We fixed a bug that prevented users with existing accounts from logging in during the petition creation process.
fix
We've fixed a bug that had caused broken images on some partnership and group resource pages.
improvement
We've added text to the image upload module to remind campaigners that they should only upload images that are copyright free or that they have permission to use.
fix
We've fixed phone number requiredness display (marked with an *) on petitions and events forms for organizations collecting SMS opt-ins that require phone number information on actions.
improvement
We've adjusted the EveryAction/VAN integration to avoid errors in event sync when the same EveryAction/VAN role is configured for both hosts and attendees.
improvement
Dropdown custom fields now have a maximum length set for each dropdown option, to prevent admins from adding dropdown options that are truncated by browser.
improvement
We now show a more helpful error message to a member who tries to start a petition with a title that would be too short except for extra spaces at the end.
improvement
We've restored (and reimplemented) Facebook Messenger share buttons in emails (if the organisation has the Facebook Messenger integration enabled).

The links for messenger sharing were being stripped out of emails by certain email providers, including gmail and outlook. We’ve reimplemented this sharing channel to first send users to the ControlShift platform before sending them on to messenger.

fix
We've fixed an error that prevented admins of a single partnership from creating a new petition in an effort.
fix
We've released an update that allows action pages to continue working in older browsers, like Internet Explorer 11 and Safari 12.

We still strongly recommend that all users keep their browsers (and operating systems) up to date to ensure reliable performance and timely access to security updates.

feature
We added support for Piwik Pro tracking integration.

Please note that this integration option will only appear in Settings > Integrations if other analytics tools have not already been configured.

improvement
We brought back the ability to set up an Optimizely integration.

We still recommend that organizations be mindful of the integration’s impact on page load speeds and performance.

fix
We've fixed a bug that caused some custom fields on the account signup form to be prefilled with the word "false."
fix
We've fixed the display of petition/event address and map previews in the moderation queue in Google Chrome.
fix
We've fixed a bug that made facebook messenger share buttons inoperable in emails.
fix
We've fixed an issue that prevented image uploads in the moderation queue.
improvement
The Edit Effort Defaults and Existing Petitions page within Efforts has been restyled.
fix
We've fixed the page that allows a user to direct link to a petition's reason for signing. We've also updated the display of that page.
fix
We've fixed a bug that could sometimes cause the email opt-in checkbox to be erroneously displayed or not displayed when the "defer opt-in to confirmation email" feature is in use.
March, 2022
fix
We've fixed a bug affecting email confirmation for signatures, that prevented the "Confirm Your Email" modal from being shown after a member signed via an embedded form.
improvement
We've modernized the display of recent signatures in petition signature sidebar.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented custom fields from being set for group memberships created implicitly via event RSVPs.
improvement
The style updates for the signature form on petition pages have now been applied to embedded signature forms.

Also, when a member is signing via an embedded signature form, validation errors will now be shown within the embedded form. The member will only be redirected to the petition page once their signature is successful.

fix
We're no longer reducing an effort's signature count when a signature in the effort is anonymized.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented org staff from seeing the details of blast emails.
feature
We've added support for one-click RSVP to events for those site visitors who have a CRM id (Identity or ActionKit) when they visit the event page, via their guid cookie (Identity) or a URL param (ActionKit).
fix
We've fixed a bug that performed a request to Google Fonts API to attempt to load custom fonts uploaded separately.
improvement
We've added SMS opt-in types to the petition signature and event RSVP webhooks.
fix
We've fixed a caching bug that had temporarily made action taking and certain other operations slower.
improvement
We fixed an issue where, when a user would sign an embedded petition, the page they were on after successfully signing would not be a shareable petition url unless they successfully signed (without validation errors) on the first try. Now, the page they end up on is always the shareable petition url.
improvement
We now allow organizations to create multiple SMS opt-in types. Orgs can also require a phone number for individual SMS opt-in types.

Organizations can choose which SMS opt-in a site visitor experiences by setting a sms_opt_in_type_id URL parameter by using the SMS opt-in type’s ID number.

fix
We've fixed a bug that could prevent the moderation queue from loading when there are edits to very old petitions (from 2016 or earlier).
improvement
We've improved delivery permissions for petition leaders.
feature
We've added support for mapping custom fields from the Identity CRM to ControlShift custom fields while signing with one-click.

This is not a self-service feature, so please contact us if you’re interested in setting up the one-click mapping feature.

improvement
When a member who is logged in or has recently taken action signs or RSVPs with errors on the one-click form, we'll now show the error messages without switching to the longer form.
fix
We've fixed a bug that could, in certain circumstances, prevent a member who had recently signed a petition from subsequently RSVPing to an event unless they clicked the "Not me?" link.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented the display of the asterisk next to an unverified signature count.
February, 2022
feature
We've added toggle to display the WhatsApp sharing button on all devices (i.e.: tablets and computers, not just mobile-sized screens).

To enable this setting, go to the org admin homepage > Settings > Social Media, click the pencil icon next to WhatsApp, and check the “Also enabled for non-mobile devices” checkbox.

improvement
We've completed our work to modernize the petition signature form, which required separate updates to various scenarios and signature states.

With this work:

  • All visitors to petition pages should now see the updated styling around the signature form.

  • We’ve also fixed a bug that could, in rare cases, prevent a logged-in user with invalid profile information from signing petitions

fix
We've fixed a bug that caused the promoted petition modal to be displayed incorrectly in some browsers.
feature
We've added "one-click RSVP from context" for events.

With this improvement, logged-in users and users with a “recent action” (a recent RSVP or signature) in their cookies can RSVP to additional events with one click.

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented signatures from being recorded when the organization was using the "no display" of action takers privacy setting.

We also fixed a related bug that caused an error when leaving a comment if the name privacy setting for action takers was set to “no display.”

improvement
We've updated the styling of social share buttons displayed in the sidebar for already-signed petitions in tablet-sized devices, for certain locales that made the content not fully visible.

We’ve also improved the the styling for the “Sign with Facebook” button on tablet-sized devices for certain locales that made the content not fully visible.

fix
We've fixed a bug that sometimes prevented effort-level field locking from updating properly.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented the signature form from using newly-customized labels for the Postcode field.
improvement
We've improved the appearance of the campaign page share button row on medium-width screens.

We’re now hiding sharing channel names (relying on icons instead) to preventing text wrapping.

improvement
We've updated Themes to allow adding a subtitle, per-locale, which appears in the public site navbar next to the logo.
improvement
The Sign With Facebook button, when in use, now has an updated style.
improvement
Petitions where signers send letters to the decision maker are now using the updated styling for the signature form.
improvement
We've refreshed the style of the petition page signature sidebar.
fix
We fixed a bug that showed the phone number field on the signature form when the "Hide phone number on signature form" toggle was enabled.
fix
We fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the "This campaign was successful" message from being displayed on successful petition pages.
fix
We've fixed a bug that briefly prevented custom fields from being displayed when the organization had a custom order for fields on the signature form.
improvement
We've added an envelope icon next to a petition creator or event host's name to make it clear that supporters can send them messages.

This icon will not be displayed if the organizer has messages from the public disabled.

improvement
On the Calendar Settings page > Emails section, saving new email content will automatically check for invalid Liquid template syntax.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented webhook notifications to be displayed on the webhook debug page.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented new RSVPs to events with a hidden address that were later updated to virtual events.
fix
We've fixed a bug that could cause an HTML variable, instead of the organization's name, to be displayed when a supporter RSVPed to a group event.
improvement
When a member arrives on an effort lookup page with UTM parameters or a bucket tracking parameter in the URL, then clicks a point on the map, we'll now pass those parameters along to the next page.
fix
We've fixed display of map markers for clusters on public Effort Lookup page.
improvement
We've restyled the warning shown to an attendee un-RSVPing from an event that is at capacity.
improvement
We've refreshed some of the styling on the event page sidebar.

This work also included restyling the message shown after RSVPing when email confirmation is required.

January, 2022
fix
We've fixed a bug that allowed users, in certain circumstances, to save in-person events with non-specific locations.

We’ve also improved the error messaging shown when a user tries to save an in-person event without entering a location.

improvement
We've restyled the message shown after RSVPing when email confirmation is required.
fix
We've fixed the "Read more" link for petition comments. This functionality was recently broken for some petitions.
fix
We've fixed a bug that briefly delayed Engaging Networks syncs.
improvement
We've retired the deprecated /explore and nearby petitions pages.
improvement
We've removed an unused feature that listed petitions by country.
improvement
We've added the compression format on webhook notifications for incremental and full table data exports.

See more details in our developer documents.

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented webhook notifications to be sent when removing labels.
fix
We've fixed an issue where the venue was in some cases not set when creating, updating, or moderating an event.
fix
We've fixed a bug with the blast email HTML editor that could sometimes cause large images to overflow the preview modal.
fix
We've fixed an issue that prevented members with some non-alphanumeric characters in their first name to be synced to EveryAction.
fix
We've fixed a bug on the Recruit Hosts page that prevented admins from saving an event with a private/hidden address.
fix
We've updated event and event moderation forms to ensure that locations are automatically geocoded, even when submitting the form without first selecting an option from the autocomplete field.
December, 2021
fix
We've fixed a bug that sometimes caused the "Your email has been approved" notification email to be sent in the wrong language.
improvement
We've updated the UI for configuring the `utm_source` used when members click on social sharing buttons.

This can now be configured in the Sharing Channels list for each channel.

fix
We've fixed a styling issue affecting the alerts displayed on the org admin home page.
improvement
We've clarified the UI for setting your organisation's Twitter account name and configuring whether it is included when members click Twitter share buttons.
feature
It's now possible to customize which social share buttons are shown in social share prompts, and the order in which they are shown.

The new settings are available by going to the admin homepage > Settings > Social Media. At the top of this page, you’ll see the social share options that are currently enabled and their current order. From there, admins can add and/or remove social media options or change the order in which these buttons are shown.

Updates to the order of the buttons will be reflected in the ‘share on’ box on petition and event pages, the post-action social share popups, and any emails using the {% social_share_buttons %} or {% blast_email_social_share_buttons %} variables.

fix
We've fixed display of the title/header of post-action social share modals for languages where these texts contain special characters like '.

Previously, we were showing the html for the character (e.g. ') instead of the character itself (e.g. ').

fix
We've fixed an issue where the decreased contrast between the background color and text color made certain emails difficult to read in Outlook.com when viewed in non-Dark Mode Chrome browser on Windows.
improvement
When a petition creator accesses an old draft petition, we now skip the old Launching step and launch the petition right away.

This will only affect petitions that were drafted, but not launched, before we updated the petition creation flow. This also does not affect effort petitions, where the Launching page is still part of the process.

improvement
We've changed the compression algorithm for incremental and nightly data exports from gzip to bzip to allow parallelizing their ingestion by AWS Glue.

More information about these bulk data exports is available in developer documentation.

November, 2021
feature
Organizations can now require admins to set up two-factor authentication.

We encourage all admins to enable two-factor authentication for their account. With this update, all admin accounts not secured with two-factor authentication will be shown a warning on the admin dashboard. Organizations can also update their settings (in Settings > Options) to require all admins to enable two-factor authentication.

improvement
The admin list of admins (available at Settings > Teams & Permissions) now indicates when each admin last signed in to the platform.
improvement
When a user with two-factor authentication resets their password, they will now be taken directly to the page where they can verify their 2FA token, instead of needing to re-enter their username and password.
improvement
Admins viewing the platform on phone-size screens will now be able to see the links on admin homepage warning messages.
feature
It's now possible to set up a Single Sign-On integration with Active Directory, replacing the normal login/signup process for both admins and campaign creators.
improvement
When a regional admin creates a campaign with a location, and we cannot infer the correct region based on the location, we'll now use the region from the admin's team, just like we do for location-less campaigns.
improvement
We now track UTM parameters from calendar/effort/landing page lookup pages through to eventual event/petition creation.

When sending users to calendar, effort, or landing page lookup pages, you can now include utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_medium, utm_source, and utm_term parameters in the URL. (Example) These parameters will then be included in the petition/events’s Admin > Tech Bits section and CSV exports from the admin petitions/events list pages. This can be useful for tracking activity from ads, emails, or other activities.

fix
We fixed a bug that prevented implicit data processing from being recorded correctly when users created accounts via Facebook or Google login.
fix
We fixed an issue where users with two-factor authentication set up, who need to supply missing information or consent to data processing, were not correctly prompted to do so after entering their tokens.
fix
We've fixed a bug where petitions would sometimes be duplicated on multiple pages of the all petitions admin list.
fix
We fixed a bug that sometimes prevented inviting people to groups based on the length of the invitation email content.
fix
We've fixed a bug that was preventing admins and hosts from updating whether an event has a private or public location.
improvement
We now allow moderators using the visual editor to insert social share buttons into emails while moderating.
fix
We've fixed an issue where an invalid image attachment in a blast email could prevent admins from moderating the email.
improvement
We've updated the default styles for the social share buttons used in blast emails.

Organizations using the old individually-styled social share buttons should have already been updated to use the new {% social_share_buttons %} variable. This variable can be used in any blast email template included in Settings > Content > Blast Emails, and will automatically insert Facebook, Twitter, and optionally, WhatsApp buttons.. We’ve also added social share prompts to our default content for the templates that didn’t have them previously.

improvement
When admins upload a CSV to perform a bulk upload to edit effort petition texts, we now display a more helpful error message when the CSV is malformed.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused errors in some searches from effort landing pages.
improvement
We've updated the UI for supplying missing user account info while signing in.
fix
Petition creators who log in during the campaign creation process and are missing some account information or data processing consent will now be prompted for that information.

This fixes an issue that could previously occur where the petition creation could get “stuck” and the first signature would not be created

fix
We've fixed an error that could occur on the petition page when the petition's image was invalid; now we'll simply omit the invalid image.
October, 2021
improvement
We've updated the content of our default blast email templates.

If your organization has not customized the text of the default blast email templates, you’ll see the updated template text automatically. If your organization has made customizations, but you’re interested in reviewing the updated text, just send us a support email.

improvement
On blast email composition pages, we've added a new modal that shows on page load and prompts the campaigner to select an email template.

This new experience makes it easier for campaigners to see the optional templates without needing to scroll to the bottom of the page.

improvement
We've updated our blast email editor UI for switching between HTML (expert) mode and visual editor (simple mode), so that the experience is more cohesive.
improvement
When customers upload a malformed CSV of signatures to add to a petition, we now show a more appropriate error message with details of the specific issue with the CSV file.
improvement
When users need to consent to data processing, we've updated the login process to check that the user's data processing consent is up to date.
fix
We've fixed an issue with the "Thanks for Creating Petition" email in some efforts that prevented the petition creator's name from displaying correctly at the end of the email.
improvement
It's now easy to insert Social Sharing buttons into any campaign blast email via the new "Insert Content" button.

Organizations can update their existing templates to use the {% social_share_buttons %} variable instead of separately styled buttons.

improvement
On the blast email composition page, we've updated the "expert" HTML editor to have syntax highlighting and some simple autocompletion features.
improvement
We've improved the reliability of our Action Network signature and attendee sync by recreating the associated petition or event if it was deleted after initial sync.
fix
We've fixed a bug on the admin partnerships list page that could cause the count of petitions in a partnership to be reported inconsistently after a spam attack.
improvement
We now allow organizations to use UTM parameters to track petition and event creation.

When sending users to event and petition creation pages, you can now include utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_medium, utm_source, and utm_term parameters in the URL (example). These parameters will then be included in the petition’s Tech Bits section and CSV exports from the admin petitions page. This can be useful for tracking activity from ads, emails, or other activities.

improvement
We've improved the styling of image captions in Local Group resource pages, so they are clearly captions.
improvement
We've updated the simple blast email editor to show basic styling similar to how the email will be sent, rather than a style from an organisation's theme.
fix
We fixed an issue that could cause the Deliverability settings to get stuck in an error state when an admin clicks "Remove."
September, 2021
improvement
We've updated the blast email editor, and it's now easy to include images in emails.
improvement
We made the EveryAction/VAN events ingest more robust so that if the ingest fails in one region, other regions' events are still ingested & updated.
improvement
We've updated our ActionKit petition sync so that we sync a tag for the petition's effort.
fix
We've fixed a typo in some calendar promoted-from-waitlist emails that prevented the web conference URL from rendering properly.
improvement
We've improved our ActionKit petition sync, so that if a petition is moved in/out of a partnership after initially being created, we update the ActionKit page to have the correct tags.
fix
We've fixed an issue that, under specific circumstances, prevented the deletion of user accounts with two factor authentication enabled.
improvement
When users supply first or last names that ActionKit will not accept as valid (for eg, if they "look" like a URL), we now sync those signature or attendee actions to ActionKit without the first or last name fields that ActionKit will not accept.
feature
We now allow org admins to associate a partner with a theme.

Associating a partner with a theme allows admins to control the look and feel of that partner’s hub page and event/petition pages. Previously these pages needed to match the rest of the ControlShift site, but now they can be customized to have their own colors/fonts/logos/links. This feature could be used to co-brand with a partner and to provide links to the partner’s main website on their ControlShift pages.

feature
We now allow org admins to associate a calendar with a theme.

Associating a calendar with a theme allows admins to control the look and feel of the calendar’s host recruitment and event pages. Previously these pages needed to match the rest of the ControlShift site, but now they can be customized to have their own colors/fonts/logos/links. This can be useful for days of action that have their own sub-brand that’s distinct from the organization’s main brand or for a calendar of events being cosponsored with a partner.

feature
We now allow org admins to associate an effort (or landing page) with a theme.

Associating an effort with a theme allows admins to control the look and feel of the effort’s recruitment and petition pages. Previously these pages needed to match the rest of the ControlShift site, but now they can be customized to have their own colors/fonts/logos/links. This can be useful for campaigns that have their own sub-brand that’s distinct from the organization’s main brand.

improvement
We've updated the moderation modal for events to always show the web conference url field, even if the event is not virtual.
fix
We've fixed bug that could prevent event/petition creation, for new users at organizations using radio buttons for email opt-ins, if the user did not manually select an option.
improvement
We've improved our ActionKit sync to update an event's record in ActionKit when it is moved in/out of a local group or petition.
fix
We've fixed a bug that could, rarely, cause a flash an alternate theme's colors when a member loaded a petition page.
fix
We've updated our signature.deleted webhook to appropriately send a notification for signatures deleted using the 'not sure what we're talking about?' link in the thank you for signing email's footer.
fix
We've fixed a bug where we were erroneously showing event details on the admin page for every event blast email, even if that blast email didn't actually include the event details after the body text.
improvement
We've made the blast email authoring experience more consistent across different types of blast emails.
improvement
We've improved the display of long webhook endpoint URLs on the Integrations > Webhooks admin page.
fix
We've fixed an issue with some older calendar-level custom email content that was preventing event dates and times from rendering correctly in some emails.
fix
We've updated our MobilizeAmerica integration to automatically update the sync settings if the MobilizeAmerica account is deleted.
fix
We've fixed a bug where users could attempt to delete their own member account via REST API leading to inconsistent data.
improvement
Users with the Configure Settings permission can now publish a preset filter to make it available for all of the organization's users.

Preset filters are used on admin list pages (petitions, events, and groups) and can be useful if an admin is often adding the same set of filters to these lists. With this update, admins with Configure Settings can create preset filters and share them with the rest of the organization. Users can now also delete their preset filters.

fix
We've fixed issue where moving an event into a calendar after creation could cause future attendee syncs to ActionKit to fail.
improvement
We've improved the usability of the interface for managing Webhook API Integrations
improvement
We now allow entering relative URLs for home page redirects.

This is useful for organizations with more than one hostname, and it allows users to remain on the same hostname when being redirected to a new page.

fix
We've fixed a bug that skipped 2FA after resetting a password.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused "A new event needs to be moderated" emails and Slack messages to be erroneously sent for group events that do not require moderation.
improvement
We've updated the notification settings UI to remove the "Petition Created" and "Petition Updated" options, which did not correspond to a current notification.

To receive emails when a new or updated petition requires moderation, subscribe to the “Petition Created Requires Moderation” or “Petition Updated Requires Moderation” notifications.

fix
We've fixed an issue where users creating petitions and events that are automatically approved were still being shown the "awaiting approval" message when the organization had pre-moderation enabled.

Events and petitions are automatically approved if they’re created by a group organizer and associated with a group or if they’re created in a calendar that’s set to automatically approve events. Users creating these petitions and events will now be shown the ‘just launched’ screen instead.

fix
We've fixed a bug that caused the wrong number of signatures to be displayed when deleting unconfirmed signatures.
improvement
When the organiser of a group that belongs to a region creates a group petition, the new petition will now be assigned to the same region as the group (even if its location is outside of the region).
improvement
We now allow admins to set a custom search radius for event lookup pages.

Admins can specify the search radius (in km) for event pages from Settings > Options > Events.

improvement
It's now possible to customize header, footer, and home page links for each individual theme.
improvement
When a theme is associated with a specific hostname, automated emails about campaigns associated with that theme will use that hostname for links.
August, 2021
improvement
Favicons are now managed as part of themes, so each theme can have a favicon that matches its color scheme and branding.
fix
We've fixed an issue where an event's locale wasn't appropriately logged during the event creation process.
improvement
We've updated the platform's preferred locale dropdown to include the locale's full name, not just its ISO two letter code.
improvement
Admins are now able to see a list of the historic Blast Emails filtered to those that have been delivered to the attendees of a specific event.

Previously it was possible to view these messages, but not possible to filter them to a specific event. To view the list of emails for a specific event, go to the event’s Admin page > Blast Emails.

improvement
It's now possible to update the images associated with petitions or events via the authenticated API.
feature
For organizations using multiple hostnames, we've added the ability to associate a theme with a hostname, applying the styles from the theme to all the site pages when browsing the platform using that hostname.
improvement
We've updated the moderation status filter in events and petition list pages to allow selecting more than one status for filtering.
feature
It's now possible to configure a petition, event, or group to use a theme other than the default theme on member-facing pages.
improvement
The list of themes now includes color swatches to help quickly tell themes apart.
feature
We now support creating multiple Themes.

The Themes feature allows organizations to customize the fonts and colors used on the platform. Support for multiple themes will allow organizations to use different fonts and colors on specific parts of the platform, including things like partner/coalition campaigns and events, days of action, or other special campaigns.

fix
We've fixed a bug where updating an event's location during moderation didn't update the event's time zone to match.
improvement
The Theme page in settings now supports customizing the header logo, so it can coordinate with the rest of the branding for the Theme.
improvement
It's now possible to set assign a reviewer to a petition or event via the authenticated API.
improvement
We've updated our Action Network integration to sync users' Phone Number and Mobile Subscription fields.

(Phone number information was previously added to Action Network as a custom field on the user record, but we’re now syncing that information to the official phone number field.)

improvement
It's now possible to update a petition's delivery details and external links via the authenticated REST API.
improvement
It's now possible to assign a mentor to a petition, event, or group via the authenticated API.

When information is retrieved via the API about a petition, event, or group, it will now also include information about a mentor if one is assigned.

improvement
We've updated the message that is displayed when a domain's DNS has been pointed at the ControlShift platform but the hostname has not been properly set up.
improvement
We've re-styled the message shown to petition and event creators when pre-moderation is required and they must wait for approval.
improvement
It's now possible to update via REST API whether events are enabled for a petition.
improvement
It's now possible to lock petition fields via the authenticated API.
July, 2021
improvement
More fonts are now available to choose from when using Themes.
improvement
We now allow organizations to select a main effort for the organization.

When a main effort is set, new petition prompts in the platform will point to the effort’s new petition page.

improvement
It's now possible to update the content and settings of an event via the authenticated REST API.

More information is available in our developer documentation.

improvement
Our authenticated API now supports updating more petition fields.

More information is available in our developer documentation.

improvement
We now support using liquid tags in the Sample Petition Email and Sample Event Email templates.

This allows admins to add variables like: facebook_share_url, twitter_share_url, whatsapp_share_url, etc. to the default email that’s shown when a petition creator or event host goes to their email supporters page. The text of the default emails can be edited from Settings > Contents.

fix
We've fixed a bug that sometimes caused tracking events to be sent twice when Google Analytics was connected via the Google Tag Manager integration.
fix
We've fixed a timing issue on the Recruit Hosts page that could occasionally cause the location to save incorrectly when the form was filled out and saved quickly.
improvement
We've updated the petition and local chapter event creation process to fire an "Event Created" analytics tracking event.
fix
We've fixed an issue on the `/my-campaigns` and `/petition/foo/events` pages where too-long title or location text broke the layout.

We’re now truncating these too-long texts.

fix
We've fixed a bug where local group members could not leave the group if their data processing consent was out of date (for organisations that require data processing consent).
improvement
We've added more info to our `event.created` and `event.updated` webhooks.

More information is available in our developer documentation.

improvement
We'e added back the "Enter a Location" placeholder text for location fields.
improvement
We've improved the design of the location field autocomplete used throughout the platform.
improvement
We've changed the style of some date picker UI components to be more consistent throughout the app.
improvement
We've improved our event and petition creation UI to show a helpful error message when a user attempts to creates a petition or event that's invalid because the title/name contains only emojis.
fix
We've fixed a bug which prevented some event RSVPs from being synced to ActionKit.
fix
We've fixed a bug that could sometimes cause the audience location to be removed from virtual events.

We’ve also fixed a bug in event moderation that could, in rare cases, prevent an updated location or virtual event audience from being saved.

improvement
We've changed the URL formatting for the signature/attendee confirmation step.

For organizations using email confirmation for actins, members who click through a signature/attendee confirmation email, sign a petition via an embedded form, or sign using Facebook will now end up at a non-tokenized petition/event URL that is easier to copy/paste and share with others.

improvement
We've made various improvements for organizations using email confirmation for actions.

In particular: Members who have to confirm their email address after RSVPing to an event will now experience the post-RSVP daisy chain after clicking through the confirmation email. Also, we’ve fixed a bug where members who signed petitions with Facebook and did not need to provide additional information did not experience the post-signing daisy chain.

fix
We've fixed a bug where, when rolling back to a previous version of an edited petition in the moderation queue, the rollback would fail if the image was removed.

With this update, the image is simply not rolled back, but the rollback otherwise succeeds. Rolling back to an old version with no image also removes the image.

fix
We've fixed a bug affecting efforts with "region/state" search strategies so that postcodes work as expected.
fix
The ControlShift Slack integration now seamlessly does the right thing if one of the configured channels is archived or if the ControlShift app is removed directly from Slack.
improvement
We've improved the effort search by location flow by making the format of locations more consistent.
improvement
We've released various improvements to event creation.

In particular:

  • In event moderation, the Location field now uses the same Virtual/In-Person buttons as the event form

  • We’ve fixed a bug for in-person events where the state/region field was missing from the event form in some countries

  • The location field for in-person events will now use the country and/or bounding box configured in Settings > Time Zone & Locale to prioritize location suggestions.

  • We’ve fixed a timing issue that sometimes caused an incorrect time zone to be automatically chosen when setting the audience location for a virtual event.

improvement
We've expanded our new petition creation experience to include the partnership and local group petition creation paths.

More information about the new petition creation experience is available.

improvement
For virtual events, the selector for choosing a global or local audience now has improved formatting and design.
fix
We've fixed the flow for organizations requiring email confirmation for new users, where a new user creates an event.

Events will now will be correctly launched once the user confirms their account.

improvement
We've updated the UI for the location portion of the recruit hosts form.

We’ve also fixed a bug on the recruit hosts form that caused event timezones to sometimes be set incorrectly.

fix
We've fixed an issue with petition creation for organizations using email conformation for actions.

Previously, if the petition creator opened a confirmation email from a different device than where they created their account, the context was lost about where the user should be redirected to after confirming their account, which may have resulted in petitions not ending up automatically launched after email confirmation.

fix
We've fixed a a bug where geography-bound decision makers/petitions were incorrectly displayed in an effort map.
feature
We've released an updated event creation form!

The redesigned form uses a mobile-first, modern aesthetic that matches the updated petition creation flow. Like the petition creation flow, we’ve also removed the review step for newly-created events – allowing your supporters to launch their events more quickly.

feature
We've added events to our Action Network sync!

Organizations using Action Network can now automatically sync event, host, and attendee data to their Action Network account. When a user creates or RSVPs to an event, that event will be added to their action history. Similarly, ControlShift calendars will be reflected as event campaigns in a user’s action history.

Creators or attendees of partnership events will be tagged with the partnership information. Finally, users will be tagged as a controlshift-event-creator and/or controlshift-event-attendee depending on their role. More information about the Action Network sync is available in our help center.

improvement
We've added an additional group name option for location-based groups.

Group collections where the groups are associated with point locations can now specify separate default group names depending on whether the group creator has already searched for a location or gone to the group creation form directly. The new settings are available in Local Groups > (your group collection) > Settings > Organiser Signup.

fix
We've fixed "click outside to close" behavior for multi-select dropdowns

In particular: this fixed a bug that preventing adding certain advanced filters on public-facing event listing pages, and on org admin lists, it’s now possible to close filter typeahead dropdowns by clicking outside them

improvement
Admins can now add a blast email's author name to certain messages, like the inappropriate email notification.
fix
Fixed the ability to submit the login, signup, and petition start forms by pressing the Enter key.
fix
We've fixed some bugs in the form where event attendees can edit their forum subscription settings
fix
We've fixed an issue that prevented some organizations using CloudFlare DNS from connecting new hostnames to the platform.
improvement
We've updated the recipients count on the email supporters page to match the event/petition's public signature count.

Especially for organizations using email confirmation, this should reduce petition leader/event host confusion.

June, 2021
improvement
We've changed the way request for help notifications are sent to admins at organizations participating in our A/B test.

The A/B test allows petition creators to request help if they get stuck during the creation process. Previously, these notifications were sent to the organization’s main contact email. Now, admins can subscribe to these notifications from My Account > Notifications.

improvement
We've made several changes to what happens when an event is deleted.

In particular:

  • Deleting an event will now cause attendee.deleted webhooks to be sent for the event’s attendees.

  • Deleting an event will now clean up any empty member records for the event’s attendees.

  • Deleting an event will no longer delete group memberships that originated with the event.

feature
We've added a Slack notification that can alert your team when a prospective campaign leader requests help during the petition creation process.
improvement
We've tightened the syntax validation used when editing content with Liquid tags in it, to help catch errors before your members see them.

We also fixed an error with the user account confirmation email that prevented the {{ organisation.name }} tag from being rendered properly

fix
We've fixed an error that could be seen by users who have two-factor authentication enabled and have selected the "Remember device" option after logging in with Google or Facebook.
improvement
We've retired the "pre-collect email address" option for efforts.
improvement
We've added new APIs for events and groups.

In particular, we added a REST API for adding labels to events and added a basic REST API for listing local groups and the people who have joined them. More details can be found in our developer documentation.

fix
We've fixed minor rendering errors in some emails sent to new petition creators.
fix
We've fixed a layout issue with the Google and Facebook login buttons on the login/signup form.
fix
We've fixed a typo in some calendar reminder emails that prevented the web conference URL from rendering properly.
improvement
We've updated tracking events on the platform.

For the Segment integration, all events are now sent from the client rather than the server, improving consistency and allowing all destinations to consume all the events. The “Petition Launched”, “Event Created”, and “Blast Email Authored” events are now sent to Google Analytics, Matomo, and Google Tag Manager when those integrations are in use. (Previously, those events were only available in Segment.)

fix
We've fixed an issue that caused errors when referencing event start and end times in some customized content.

Customized content for events can also now use {{ event.formatted_start_at_date_time }} and {{ formatted_end_at_date_time }}.

feature
We're A/B testing a new feature that allows petition starters to request help when they get stuck.

If your organization is running the platform in English, some of your petition starters may see this new flow. With the new flow, if the user tries to move to the next step in the petition creation process without entering any text, they’ll see a box that allows them to enter their email address and ask for help.

The request for help will send email notifications to the organization allowing staff to work with the petition creator. The petition creator will also receive a confirmation email that allows them to return to their incomplete petition to fully launch it. You can see this flow in our recording of our recent office hours.

feature
We've rolled out a new petition creation UI that helps members launch their petitions more effectively!

The new flow sends petition creators through a step-by-step petition creation process to provide more guidance and focus on each petition field. We’ve also streamlined the petition publication process to remove the ‘review’ step. In our testing, this flow increased conversions by 23%! Organizations who have not already done so can update the content used in this flow from Settings > Content > Start petition.

improvement
When members go through the new Petition Start workflow, more detailed tracking events will be sent to tracking integrations (e.g. Segment or Matomo).
improvement
Permanently deleting a group now also deletes any member records that have no data other than the group membership.
fix
We've fixed a bug with calendar emails that sometimes caused event hosts to receive default content in the wrong language.
improvement
Anonymizing a petition will now fully remove any member records whose only activity was a signature on that petition, to better preserve your members' privacy.
fix
We removed the extraneous horizontal line from the end of several emails automatically sent to petition creators.
improvement
We've updated attendee CSV exports to make them more useful for admins.

In particular, we’ve added several columns have been added to the all-attendees export (from the Members page). Also, the calendar attendees export has been expanded to include more columns, and several event location columns in this export have been renamed, to make it consistent with the all-attendees export.

fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented some members using the Edge browser from seeing the correct experience after signing a petition or RSVPing to an event.
fix
We've fixed a rare error that could occur when signing a petition with Facebook.
improvement
Users with two-factor authentication enabled will see a redesigned token verification form after entering their email and password.
fix
We've fixed a bug that caused users logging in with Authy to receive multiple copies of the Request to Login notification.
feature
There's a new Start Petition section in Settings > Content where you can customize the text for the petition creation workflow of the future.

If you’re interested in learning more, we’re also hosting an office hours focused on the upcoming workflow change.

improvement
We've improved the more details popups shown when clicking a location on the local organizing map.

On the local organizing map (/local), we’ve updated the details popup when there are multiple events in the same location, so that the events are ordered from soonest to farthest in the future. We’ve also fixed the layout so that popups with only one item have no scrollbar and popups with multiple items do not have horizontal scroll.

improvement
We've updated our content editor to allow admins to save blank content.

Previously there was a validation that the body was not empty, which prevented you from saving empty content even if the content wasn’t required.

improvement
We've released several subtle UI improvements for users creating new accounts in the new Petition Start workflow
improvement
We've updated the contents of the "event approved" and "petition approved" emails to link the petition/event creator to the "just_launched" version of campaign page.
fix
We've fixed errors that prevented some pages from loading correctly in Internet Explorer 11.
improvement
We've released a new 'just launched' banner for petitions and events.

We’ve been a/b testing a new design of the ‘just launched’ banner that prompts petition creators and event hosts to share their petition or event after its creation. The new design increased conversions by over 6%, so we’ve fully switched to the new designs.

feature
It's now possible for admins to edit campaigns from the petition's admin page.

We’ve added a Content tab to the petition’s admin tools. This page may include fields that are not available to supporters, and edits made from this admin-only page will not require moderation.

improvement
Calendar and effort attendee/signature exports now include custom field responses.

Calendar-wide attendees exports and effort-wide signatures exports will now include the custom fields that have been added to the events/petitions’ RSVP/signature forms.

May, 2021
improvement
For some sets of geographic shape filters, like US States, customers are now able to filter event and local group lists by a friendlier set of meaningful URL parameters (like US state abbreviation codes) rather than numeric IDs.

To use the filter, add ?filter[geography_slugs]=NY,DC to event lookup pages (/events, and calendar lookup pages) or the local organizing map (/local). For example: https://demo.controlshiftlabs.com/local?filter[geography_slugs]=NY,DC. Please note that the slugs are case sensitive. US and Australian state/territory abbreviations are supported when fully capitalized. (Western Australia is written as WAUS to not conflict with the US state of Washington.)

fix
We've fixed display of per-organization additional fields configured in code which are "hidden," so they are fully hidden.
fix
We've fixed the bug that prevented saving a webhook endpoint for a service that requires basic authentication.
improvement
It's now possible to use liquid template text to customize the Welcome Modal Donate Button URL.

Liquid variables can be used by customers to pass information about the supporter who just took action to your donation platform if that third-party software supports filling in donation form fields like name and email address via URL parameter. The variables should be wrapped in curly braces ({{foo}}) e.g. https://www.example.com?petition={{campaign.slug}}&email={{action.email}}&source={{action.utm_source}}.

The parameters that can be used are: action.email, action.first_name, action.last_name, action.postcode, action.source, action.utm_campaign, action.utm_content, action.utm_medium, action.utm_source, action.utm_term, and campaign.slug.

improvement
We've added a warning on the Member Admin page when a member's email address has bounced.
improvement
We've added the ability for an admin to re-send a user confirmation email and better documentation about the email confirmation process.
improvement
We've updated several org admin forms to replace the "shaking button" error indicator with a displayed message, which should be more accessible to screenreaders.
improvement
We've removed help popovers for email and SMS opt-ins.

In our testing, these popovers did not change conversion rates but added unnecessary complexity to the action forms.

fix
We've removed the "Include effort signature total on individual petition pages" option on efforts.
fix
We've fixed the "Mentor" filter on org admin filterable lists for petitions, events, and local chapters so that "Any" and "None" are options and work as expected.
improvement
When there is a Terms & Conditions checkbox on the account signup form, the Terms & Conditions link will now consistently open in a new tab, not in a modal.
fix
We've fixed a bug that prevented petition leaders from removing all categories from their petition.
fix
We've fixed the text color used on the image & category prompts for just-launched petitions when the accent color is very light.
improvement
For organizations using petition categories, we've improved the UI for petition leaders to add categories to their petition.
improvement
In the moderation queue for petitions, we'll now show a warning if you choose "Enter a location" in the Location field and then try to save without entering a location.
improvement
We've updated forms on member-facing pages to use a consistent style of rounded corners.
improvement
We've improved the text prompting petition creators to upload an image.
April, 2021
improvement
We've added a prominent button to the petition view page for users who can manage/organize a petition, so that it's easy to upload an image.

We also added information explaining why a campaign creator should upload an image. This work also replaced the design for the modal used to upload and crop images.

improvement
We've tightened the validation on custom content supplied by the staff at your organization. We're now restricting that custom markup to tags which are safe.
improvement
We've improved our error messaging when admins attempt to upload a list of events with incorrect timezone names.
improvement
It's now possible to search in the Settings > Content section to find content containing a word or phrase.
fix
The embed snippet for a calendar now correctly hides or shows the "Organise an Event" button based on the calendar's settings.
improvement
Admins can now include host address information in event uploads.
fix
Updated the event details section to prevent long links from stretching out the width of the page on smaller screens.
feature
Admins of organizations that have customized branding can now switch to using themes.

The theme feature allows organizations to control the branding of their site independently. Within themes, admins choose the fonts and colors that they’d like to use in various parts of the platform, and these selections can be updated whenever needed. Organizations currently using custom branding can now see the Theme option in their platform Settings page. At the top of the page is a toggle that allows organizations to switch between themed branding and custom branding.

fix
Fixed loading "time ago" translations for Serbian.
fix
Updated the form for users creating accounts through Facebook and Google, so that it shows the same fields as the regular user registration form.
fix
Fixed an issue preventing admins from sending test partnership blast emails to themselves.
fix
When syncing to Action Network, we now update the external id of the member from the up-to-date person id in Action Network, so that tagging the person in Action Network does not fail.
improvement
Converted a few remaining English admin strings to be translatable.
improvement
Improved our Upland Mobile Commons sync, including storing the profile ID in the action that caused us to sync to UMC.
fix
Fixed the layout for the lookup page that admins use to add decision makers to an effort.
improvement
Additional improvements to after action steps, including adding animation when the user transitions between steps and updates to the event welcome modal.
improvement
Redesigned the prompt shown to petition signers asking them to sign a promoted petition.
fix
Updated the error message returned by the authenticated API when an attempt to create a signature or attendee record is missing the relevant parameters.
fix
Fixed performance issues for organizations using email confirmation for actions.
improvement
Updated the partner-admin-facing list of partnership petitions for easier use.
improvement
We've added a progress bar indicator to the post-action modals to help motivate the action-taker to complete the additional steps.
improvement
The Effort daisy chain modals have a new design. 
improvement
When the "Share, then Event" daisy chain is configured for a petition, the event invitation step now uses a new design.
improvement
The message informing attendees of group-sponsored events that they have been subscribed to the group has been restyled.
improvement
The local group invitation modal that can be shown after signing has a new design.
improvement
The Welcome modal that can be shown after signing or RSVPing now has a new design.
improvement
Updated icons for social networks to be more consistent across the platform.
fix
Fixed a bug that caused incorrect hover text for some buttons in the social sharing modal shown after signing or RSVPing.
fix
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused admin search results not to appear when expired external events would have matched the search term.
improvement
When the "cookies consent" feature is in use, we now avoid sending member email addresses to tracking integrations after signing/RSVPing if the member has not consented to all cookies, to better respect the member's intentions around not consenting to tracking cookies.
improvement
The sharing prompt after signing a petition or RSVPing to an event has been redesigned.
fix
Fixed a bug in the moderation queue that caused the "notify the creator about inappropriate content" section to be formatted incorrectly.
improvement
Added copy URL option to post-action share modal.
fix
Fixed an issue with mobile page display when there are many links in the footer.
improvement
The success notifications about email confirmation and/or sending a message to a decision maker are now correctly displayed on the first step of the "Effort, then Share" daisy chain.
March, 2021
fix
Fixed an issue preventing admins from updating or adding Slack connections.
fix
Fixed some bugs with the display of recent shares when prompting members to share a petition or event.
fix
Fixed an issue with email confirmation for actions where certain daisy chain configurations would prevent members from being told to check for a confirmation email.
improvement
We've updated the post-action iframe code.

Organizations who are using the iframe step (to collect donations, for example) should see a better-sized iframe modal.

fix
Fixed the display of long contact messages in the admin Inbox.
improvement
It's now possible to customize the help text and example email shown on the Petition > Email Supporters and Event > Email Supporters pages. This text can be customized in Settings > Content > Email.
improvement
Improved the layout of bulk actions UI on Safari.
fix
When event creation is turned off for a calendar, the calendar lookup page will no longer prompt members to host a new event when their search yields no results.
fix
Fixed the sizing of the disclaimer and the width of the Sign button on embedded signature forms.
improvement
On the local organizing map (/local), the all events lookup page (/events), and calendar lookup pages (/calendars/foo), the pagination controls are now black instead of blue to better match with the organization colors.
improvement
Improved the styling of the header search field for organizations with customized header search colors.
fix
Fix for two bugs that occurred when switching between in-person and virtual events.
fix
For right-to-left languages, we've fixed the padding of content on petition and event pages.
improvement
We're now identifying the petition signer or event attendee who is in the process of unsubscribing in analytics events.
fix
Fixed an issue with pluralization that caused errors when using the Serbian locale.
fix
Fixed the spacing around the logo to be correct in right-to-left layout.
fix
Fixed success/failure messages that sometimes persisted too long after trying to remove a user from a team.
fix
Fixed a few right-to-left display bugs.
fix
Fixed a set of bugs that sometimes caused signature counts to erroneously decrease when member or petition data was deleted.
improvement
The deprecated Keyword Search filter option has been removed from admin petition and event lists.

You can use the admin header search instead to get petition and event results in a faster, easier to use workflow.

fix
Tweaked the error message that's shown when members don't choose an email opt-in option when the email opt-in is configured using radio buttons.
fix
Fixed the statistics panel borders on admin petition lists when viewing the site in right-to-left languages.
fix
Fixed a bug where the petition source chart didn't update when filters were added to the all petitions list. 
fix
Fixed a bug that had recently caused incorrect subtractions from signature counts on some older petitions.
fix
Fixed a bug where updating an effort's default content in a single field caused petitions in the effort to have content in all other fields updated too.
fix
Fixed bugs affecting location autocomplete fields.

This was preventing users from adding online conferencing links and extra location details to existing events without also updating the event’s location.

improvement
Released more helpful help text for org admins starting an effort, explaining the difference between decision makers and objectives. 
improvement
On public lookup pages, toggle controls now match the organization's accent color (instead of always being blue).

This includes toggles on the all events page (/events), calendar pages (/calendar/foo), and the local organizing map (/local).

improvement
When a member attempting to contact an organizer omits their email address, we will now show a less confusing error message.
improvement
Signatures that were marked as "logically deleted" when members clicked the "remove your signature" link in the Thanks For Signing email will now be fully removed from the database after 60 days.
February, 2021
fix
Fixed the moderation task item view for right-to-left languages (Arabic and Hebrew)
fix
We've fixed the admin header search loading indicator.
improvement
The count of remaining items pending moderation is now visible in the sidebar while viewing the moderation queue. 
improvement
Customers can now opt in to receive gzip compressed versions of the CSVs that are exposed by the Bulk Data API.
fix
Improved location lookup throughout the product for countries like the US and France that contain overseas territories.
fix
Fixed an issue where certain signups with unusual postcodes were not synchronized to Upland Mobile Commons
improvement
Users of the Freshchat integration can extend their settings with more advanced options.
improvement
Refreshed admin navigation and menus

We’ve updated the staff admin experience to be easier to navigate and more visually consistent. It’s even easier than ever to find things on your mobile device.

January, 2021
improvement
Redesigned the admin petition signature and event attendees lists

We’ve redesigned the admin petition signature page. The new page makes it easier to clearly see signature sources and makes the design consistent with other lists in the platform.

  • It’s now possible to export a CSV of all sources and buckets that have been used with a petition.
  • It’s now possible to export a Delivery PDF as an admin, even when this feature is disabled for petition creators.
  • We’ve improved the page’s mobile responsiveness.
improvement
Optimized share prompt text

Updated text displayed in share prompt after signing petitions based on an experiment that showed between 7% and 122% of increases in shares (varying by channel).

fix
We fixed a bug that caused the blast email form not to work in the Firefox browser.
improvement
We've updated the layout of partnership settings pages to make it easier for admins to find what they're looking for.
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Check out historical product updates on our legacy changelog.