Lesson 3: Capacity protection

PulseChecks + privacy rules

This is the part most communities avoid until it’s too late. NeighborNet assumes a blunt truth: If you don’t protect capacity, the most generous people become the most damaged people. So we treat capacity as a first-class signal.

A) PulseChecks (private, weekly)

PulseChecks are short weekly signals from members (or at minimum, stewards and frequent helpers). Typical fields:

• week start date
• capacity state (Open / Limited / AtCapacity / Overloaded)
• preferred domains (optional)
• notes (optional)
• needs follow-up (checkbox)

Rule: PulseChecks are never used as gossip material. Why: Capacity honesty collapses if people fear judgment.

B) ContributionLedger (private, pattern-only)

The ledger is not a scoreboard. It is for pattern detection:

• chronic overgiving
• chronic receiving without reciprocity
• domain imbalance (one domain draining the same people)
• silent resentment risk

This stays steward-only/admin-only.

C) Privacy rules (non-negotiable)

1. PulseChecks are private
2. ContributionLedger is private
3. Pattern conversations happen privately
4. No public callouts or “you should be doing more” culture
5. If someone is overloaded, we reduce commitments first, analyze later

This is how you keep good people from leaving quietly.

D) What stewards do when someone is overloaded

1. Private check-in
2. Reduce scope
3. Pause new matches for them
4. Offer a smaller support alternative
5. If needed, create a tension record (private governance lane)

Care Steward script: “Saw your pulse. No fixing needed. What would help you feel resourced this week? We can reduce commitments and close anything cleanly.”

E) Domain capacity limits (prevent the week 3–6 collapse)

Each domain has a weekly capacity limit. If capacity is reached:

• pause matching in that domain
• or only accept small, low-load requests
• or shift to “needs clarification next week” mode

Domains being paused is a sign the system is working.