This chapter outlines the five core affordances that define casual democracy: algorithmic logic, epistemological and ethical relativism, informal power structures, hidden agendas, and civic disengagement. Tracing Ringwood’s transformation from an institutionally anchored town to a platform-driven community, it shows how the decline of journalism and local governance created an institutional vacuum now filled by digital intermediaries and social media groups. Facebook’s evolution into a de facto public sphere exemplifies how algorithms, opaque moderation, and unaccountable administrators shape local discourse. The chapter argues that these affordances both enable participation and erode democratic norms, producing environments where visibility, truth, and engagement are governed by platform logics rather than civic values. Together, they form the conceptual foundation for analysing democracy’s reconfiguration in the platformised local sphere.