Parliament's petition site lets any citizen post a question-shaped demand. The mechanic that made it matter: at 10,000 signatures the government is obligated to publish a response; at 100,000 the Petitions Committee considers it for a parliamentary debate — and usually holds one.
Millions participate because traction is convertible: a number of signatures becomes a guaranteed institutional act. The thresholds turn diffuse public feeling into a procedural event with a date and a record — even when the government's answer is no, the answer exists in public.
A county platform cannot obligate officials — and doesn't need to. It can obligate itself: at 100 responses, the result is printed, hand-delivered to the relevant body, and the delivery stamped publicly. Receipt is guaranteed by us; the response becomes part of the official's public record either way. That is the traction rule on the open questions page.
Westminster's thresholds bind because Parliament adopted them. Ours bind only the platform — which is honest, and also the only version that doesn't require permission to start.
Sources: How petitions work — UK Parliament · E-petitions — MPs' Guide to Procedure