Frequently asked questions

An intentional community is a group of people who share a common way of living. That shared way of living might involve housing, land, meals, work, care, decision-making, faith, ecology, or simply being dependable neighbors. Every group chooses its own shape.

No. A commune is one kind of community, often with more shared money, property, or work. Other kinds, such as cohousing, housing cooperatives, ecovillages, and shared city homes, can work very differently.

Not necessarily. Some groups form around a worldview; others form around housing, mutual aid, ecology, family life, affordability, or shared facilities. Common Ground compares how people say they want to live, not which identity label they use.

Most do not. Finances can remain private, partially shared, cooperatively owned, or extensively pooled. Property and exit terms should be understood in writing before commitment.

Yes. People can share an apartment building, live in nearby homes, or share a property in a city. What matters is choosing a way of life together, not living far from other people.

No. Common Ground helps people find, start, and welcome new members to intentional communities.

Yes. You can browse, compare ways of living, talk with people, and explore a Planning Circle before deciding where to live. Communities may also offer visits or online introductions on their profiles. Be clear about your plans and take things at a pace that suits you. Creating a profile or joining a Circle does not commit you to moving.

It helps you find people and communities who want a similar everyday life, then gives you a place to talk and plan together. Start with a small step, such as an introduction or a community visit. The site cannot promise friendship or remove loneliness; connection depends on people showing up for one another over time.

Yes. Anyone can view public community listings and profiles whose owners turned on public visibility.

An account lets you create and edit a profile, answer the questionnaire, receive personalized comparisons, send private contact notes, and manage a community listing.

No. You can look for a community to join, meet people to start one with, or manage a listing for an existing group.

Choose the path that best describes what you want to do now. The current profile editor focuses on joining an existing community or starting one; you can change that choice later. You can still browse both people and communities. Some older profiles may show both.

One. A profile is meant to represent one real person consistently across matching and contact.

You can own one independent community listing. The community switcher may also show listings you help manage or listings run by your Planning Circles. What you can edit depends on your role in each group.

Choose Sign in, then continue with Google or ask for an email sign-in link. Use the same email to return to your workspace, whichever method you choose. Email links expire after 15 minutes and work once. No separate password is needed.

Open our-commonground.com directly in an up-to-date regular browser and try Sign in there. Google may block embedded or automated browser sign-in. Do not disable account protection or share a password with support. You can also use the email sign-in option. If it still fails, use Message the team without signing in.

Check that you used the same email address as before, whether you signed in with Google or an email link. Different email addresses have separate profiles and workspaces. Do not recreate private records until you have checked. The team can investigate, but must verify ownership before discussing account information.

Use the sign-out control in your workspace. This ends your Common Ground session; it does not necessarily sign you out of Google or other websites. Sign out on shared devices.

No. You can browse public profiles without an account. To publish your own profile, complete its required essentials. You can then send messages before finishing the questionnaire. A match percentage appears when both people have shared enough relevant writing and background processing has finished.

Yes. Public pages share the same menu, directories and maps have mobile layouts, and profile galleries support touch navigation. If something blocks you, tell the team which page, browser, and device you were using. Please omit private information from screenshots.

Start with the required essentials: your name, preferred area, and what you are looking for. You can add an introduction, budget, skills, and photos if you like. Then browse profiles and send an introduction. Use Your Way of Life to describe your way of living. All writing prompts are optional, including the prompts about your story, interests, experience, and everyday life.

No. Public visibility is a separate opt-in. Compatibility matching, the signed-in member directory, and the public directory are distinct choices.

Your chosen name, broad location, description, contribution skills, personal links, and any media you add. Questionnaire answers, shared-living experience, budget, and shared-work limits are visible with your profile. Do not enter a precise residential address in public text.

No. Public browsing and private conversations never add your email address. You may choose to type contact details into a message, but Common Ground does not reveal them automatically.

Yes. Edit your profile at any time. Answers are visible to anyone who can view your profile. Edits refresh affected comparisons. Your profile can remain published even when there is not enough information for a score. Control visibility in Profile → Visibility.

Yes. Go to Edit your profile → Account settings. You can download a ZIP of your records and available profile or cover images. Before deleting your site data, you will see what will happen and be asked to confirm. Deletion ends contact, removes content you own, and closes Circles you facilitated. Some safety records may be kept without your direct account details, and some shared community records may remain. The preview explains these exceptions.

No. Anything marked as a fictional demo is an example. The photos, stories, records, and conversations show how the site works; they are not real people or places you can contact or join.

For personal writing, choose Share on my profile or Only me on each answer. Only me answers can inform matching, but their words and explanations are not shared. Section privacy also controls who can read your shared writing.

Usually not. People provide their own skills, stories, photos, and videos. If a claim matters to your decision, ask for something that helps you check it.

Yes, use the media manager’s Remove control and confirm. This removes it from the site, but cannot recall screenshots or copies someone already saved. Obtain consent before uploading people.

No. The account-erasure flow concerns Common Ground data, not your Google account. Read its preview for records that are deleted, withdrawn, retained in pseudonymized form, or left with a jointly managed community.

Both profiles must complete the 12 marked core questions to unlock compatibility. The remaining questions are optional and help us assess your fit more accurately. Scores appear after the saved answers are processed. You can match with another person or a community. AI compares the meaning of your original answers to each current question. Agreement counts as 1 point, mixed as half a point, and disagreement as zero. Unclear comparisons, missing answers, and inconsistent judgments are left out. The estimate is the average of the comparable questions, shown alongside the assessed-question count. Each completed comparison is saved and reused. It is not a percentile rank, a probability, or a promise of a successful community.

Your Way of Life starts with 12 core questions, followed by optional written questions. The progress bar shows what remains, and each core question is marked “Core · Required for compatibility.” Write a short response or a list. We read your saved answers together in the background and update your matches automatically. You can edit your words any time. Question order guides you through the topics; it is not a set of scientifically validated scoring weights.

A difference affects the questions and living needs it concerns. The breakdown shows incompatible stated arrangements as conflicts, alongside the overall estimate. Questions with insufficient information are excluded, and evidence coverage is shown separately. If a question fails to process, completed work is saved and only the failed part needs retrying. An unfinished comparison does not receive a final score.

Only the 12 core questions are required to unlock compatibility. The other questions are optional and give the AI more context. You can also add your own question. Browsing and contact are available before completion.

Yes. Describe your preferred arrangements, comfortable alternatives, limits, and exceptions in your own words. Edit your writing whenever you want to clarify your meaning.

Yes. Every current answer and clarification can change the findings for its related living need. More detail can raise or lower the estimated fit, or leave it unchanged. Retired answers remain available for profile viewing when shared, but never enter compatibility.

Yes. You can compare your personal profile with another person or with a community’s stated arrangements. A person-to-community score uses the community’s own questionnaire, not an average of member scores.

The written questionnaire compares requested care and help with willing, sustainable offers. Collective needs are not assigned entirely to one person, and capacity is not a measure of personal worth.

No. Search and compatibility focus on practical needs and ways of living. Shared spiritual practice describes the role of practice in community life, not a requirement that someone possess a particular identity.

No. The score follows fixed rules based on your questionnaire answers. You can read each other’s answers and see where you agree or differ. A percentage appears when the processed writing supports a meaningful comparison.

No. It can help you decide whom to talk with. You still need to check honesty, power, legal terms, real behavior, and how people handle conflict.

Yes. People can lie online. Read documents, ask for references, talk more than once, visit carefully, and try small steps you can leave before making a major commitment.

Yes, after both profiles complete their 12 core questions. The remaining questions are optional. Supported needs can produce a score while unanswered needs remain unassessed, with evidence coverage shown separately.

A match compares two profiles. Your match with someone may differ from another person’s match with them. It is not an overall rating of that person or community.

Not automatically. Housing budgets are shown separately from the score. The questionnaire compares the shared spending choices and expense rules you selected. Discuss actual costs together, including the currency, how often you pay, and whether the amount is per person or household.

A percentage uses written answers about the life a person wants to share with another person or a community. Optional prompts can stay blank; unanswered information is not assumed.

No. Explain which arrangements you accept and any conditions or limits in your own words. Listing an option does not mean accepting every version of it.

The examples illustrate how shared enjoyment and everyday expectations can fit or differ. Fictional examples do not establish a real person’s score.

No. Use it to choose questions and conversations. Verify facts, meet carefully, understand written commitments, and preserve a realistic exit before deciding.

Different preferences can coexist when both people explicitly accept the arrangement. One person may cook while another gardens, or people with different diets may share meals with suitable options. The comparison looks at stated needs and accepted differences, not identical wording.

Open the full profile or listing and send a private note. Sign-in and a personal profile are required for real contact requests.

They see your profile and the first message you sent. They can accept, decline, mute, or report the request. Your email and other private contact details are not included.

Common Ground does not reveal email addresses when a message request is accepted. Acceptance opens the in-site conversation. Either person may intentionally share contact details in a message.

A decline closes the request. Ignoring a request does not accept it or open an ordinary conversation. Treat a decline as a complete answer and do not repeat unwanted contact. Circle members may have a separate shared-circle messaging permission.

Yes, while it is pending. Withdrawal closes that request, but cannot erase information the recipient has already read. For an unwanted ongoing conversation, use the available block or report controls.

Signed-in members can block accounts and report suspected harassment, discrimination, spam, misrepresentation, or safety concerns. A report asks for a review; it does not prove wrongdoing by itself. Moderators document actions, and affected members can submit a correction or appeal without seeing the reporter's private account.

No. A community may optionally link a public Discord invitation for informal conversation, events, and culture. Discord is an external service with separate accounts and moderation; it does not verify a listing, replace Common Ground's mutual-contact process, or become part of compatibility scoring.

Browse people or communities and open a profile that interests you. Use its contact control to send a short introduction. Mention what you have in common and ask one question you would like to discuss. You can track the request in Inbox & contacts; once it is accepted, you can continue talking there.

Keep it short and personal. Mention something from their profile, explain what you are looking for, and ask an easy question. For example: “I liked what you wrote about shared meals and having your own space. What does a normal week together look like?” You do not need to share your phone number or make a commitment.

People may need time, may be busy, or may not be interested. A pending request is not an accepted conversation. You can withdraw it from Inbox & contacts and explore other profiles. Do not pressure someone to respond; respect a decline and any boundary they set.

No. A community profile can show that its representative completed account sign-in, but that confirms only the managing account—not the person’s identity, background, character, or every statement on the profile. Background-check services are not built into the product.

Each label describes a specific check. Self-reported means the community supplied the information. Member-confirmed means at least two members, other than the representative, confirmed that they belong and that the representative can manage the listing. Document-verified means an administrator checked documents for a particular property or organization claim. Check which claim was reviewed. None of these labels guarantees safety, honesty, financial health, or future behavior.

Forming means the group is still taking shape. Established means members already live or work together as a community. The person managing the listing chooses the stage. Either stage can publish a listing; the label does not mean the group has been verified.

No. Verification is always optional and never required for publishing. Forming groups are not asked for community-level documents. They should clearly distinguish current arrangements from plans.

An Established community representative can invite accepted contacts to confirm one narrow statement: “I am currently part of this community, and I consider this person authorized to represent it on Common Ground.” The representative does not count. Two distinct confirmations produce the public Member-confirmed signal. Fewer than two displays the neutral wording Membership not yet confirmed. Declining is not shown as a public negative claim.

Only a specific property-control or legal-organization claim. A property review may support a claim of ownership, lease, management, or authorized use. An organization review may support the stated legal name or type. The profile explains the claim and review scope; the status does not extend to other profile details.

No. If a background check is appropriate and lawful, the parties must arrange it transparently and with consent. A clean report would still not establish compatibility or good character.

Ask how decisions are made, who owns or rents the property, what members pay and do, and what happens when someone leaves. Read the written terms, speak with current members, and ask how disagreements are handled. Check any insurance or other documents relevant to your plans.

Be cautious if leaders are above the rules, people rush you to join, money has no written records, or you are discouraged from seeing friends outside the group. Other warning signs include control over food or sleep, demands to hand over personal documents, punishment for disagreeing, or making it costly or unsafe to leave.

Meet in public first. Tell someone you trust where you are going, keep your own transport and documents, and take your time deciding what to do next.

Only after identities, authority, written terms, debts, refund or equity rules, and exit consequences have been independently reviewed. Large irreversible commitments deserve professional legal and financial advice.

No. Reports require review and can be mistaken or malicious. Multiple independent, specific, and well-supported reports carry more weight than one vague allegation.

Someone the community has authorized to manage its listing and keep it up to date. Do not list a group or property without permission.

Explain what is available now, what it costs, what work members do, and how decisions are made. Describe daily life, housing, joining and leaving, and how disagreements are handled. Share records or examples that help people check the details.

Yes, as long as you clearly call them plans. Keep what exists today separate from what the founders hope to build later.

Mark it Currently full. The site shows no current openings for a full listing and does not allow new contact requests to it. Close or pause individual active openings and clear the available-housing flag before saving that status. Old inconsistent records are displayed conservatively instead of advertising an opening.

After a community profile is created, its owner can publish online events, in-person visits, or open houses from Community Profile. Each event can have a capacity, RSVP deadline, reminder timing, broad public location, and private joining details for confirmed attendees. Full events use a first-in waitlist. Organizers can edit, pause, or cancel an event; affected people see changes in Alerts and My events, and a larger capacity promotes waiting guests in order.

Update it whenever availability, costs, or arrangements change. Freshness reminders begin around 75 days after a community was last checked; after 90 days it is considered stale. Review the reconfirmation date yourself before making plans. Reconfirmation is an owner’s update, not independent verification.

No. The $12 monthly listing subscription pays for publication. It does not buy a higher ranking, a better compatibility score, verification, inquiries, or members. It does not override your Circle’s publishing decision or the site’s listing rules.

Draft is for preparation and is free. Published makes an eligible listing publicly browsable; non-demo listings also need an active paid subscription. Paused and archived listings are removed from normal public discovery while authorized managers may still access them. Review the billing panel separately: changing a status is not a refund request.

Yes. You can give people permission to help with the listing or its supporting records. Planning Circles can also manage a listing together. Use those roles instead of sharing your sign-in details.

Show the place and daily life honestly. You can combine photos with a short video in the same carousel. Describe what each item shows, distinguish plans from existing facilities, obtain consent, and avoid exposing private addresses or documents.

No. Uploading a document only shares information from the community. Document-verified appears after an administrator reviews a specific property or organization claim. Read what was checked and when; the label does not cover the whole listing.

Browsing, personal profiles, private community drafts, and Planning Circles are free. Publishing a non-demo community listing costs $12 USD per month, per community. The subscription renews monthly until its payer cancels renewal. Checkout shows the amount due before you pay. Rent, deposits, membership fees, and other costs charged by a community are separate; confirm those directly with the community.

Yes. Personal and community profile carousels can mix photos with one short video. Personal galleries allow up to six additional photos; the main profile photo is separate. Community galleries can have more photos. Videos must be MP4 or WebM, no longer than 30 seconds and no larger than 20 MB. Add a useful description to every upload. Community representatives can also upload supporting documents. Photos are resized and re-encoded; videos are stored as uploaded and may retain metadata. Media follows the profile’s visibility.

Open Profile → Email updates to check the live delivery status and choose contact requests, messages, events, or other categories. Email requires a connected provider, your opt-in, and the relevant category. Scheduled checks can process reminders and discoveries without you opening the site, but email is not delivered until the provider is connected. In-app Alerts remain available. Push notifications and SMS are not supported. An email provider accepting a message does not guarantee it reaches your inbox.

No. When both sides separately allow private location matching, the match uses straight-line miles between their saved coordinates and explains that method in the result. Otherwise it falls back to the written city or region. A public map marker is a separate choice and is rounded. None of these methods estimates roads, drive time, or transit.

Named saved searches are not currently available. In Profile → Alerts, you can separately enable Community matches and People matches, then choose checks as soon as possible, daily, or weekly. Personal match alerts use finalized new compatibility results of at least 65% and respect access restrictions. Checks run in the background; as soon as possible is usually checked about every five minutes, not instantly. Alerts always appear in your private Alerts. Email also requires a connected provider, your global email opt-in, and the New match notifications category. Matching is a compatibility signal—not verification, a safety finding, or a promise that joining will work. Directory filters can be restored on the same device, but they are not cross-device saved searches.

No. Outcome records and safety reports are separate from public ratings. Any future review system would need protections against retaliation, gaming, and unsupported accusations.

No. Common Ground is an early-stage discovery and communication service. Its matching explanations, evidence records, reports, and planning tools help you ask better questions; they do not replace independent advice, inspections, or emergency services. The Privacy Notice and Terms explain the current limits.

No. Private community drafts and Planning Circles are free. The $12 monthly charge applies when publishing a non-demo community listing, not when you start planning or create a personal profile.

It keeps one eligible community listing public on Common Ground. Each published community needs its own subscription. Payment does not guarantee visitors, inquiries, members, verification, ranking, or a particular compatibility score.

An authorized payer with a U.S. billing address can subscribe through the listing’s billing panel. Checkout shows the amount due before payment. Paying makes that person responsible for the subscription; it does not give them ownership of the community or an extra vote in its Circle.

Prepare the Community Profile and meet the publishing requirements. For a Circle-managed profile, the group must approve publication under its governance rules. An authorized payer then needs to arrange an active $12-per-month subscription through the billing controls. Check the listing’s status afterward to confirm that it is public.

Sign in with the account paying for the listing and open Your listing subscriptions at /billing, or the billing panel in your community workspace. Expand the plan and choose Update payment method to open Stripe securely. You can update your card and billing details there, then return to Common Ground. Only the payer can open these controls. If a renewal is overdue, update the payment method before the grace date shown in the panel. Never send card details in a support message.

The payer can stop renewal from Your listing subscriptions or Stripe’s billing portal. Cancelling renewal stops future monthly charges; it does not normally refund the current paid period. An eligible listing can remain public until its paid-through date. Your private saved profile remains available to its managers afterward.

Hiding or deleting the listing stops its public discovery and future renewal. It does not automatically refund unused days. Read the confirmation and the listing’s billing panel before acting. Request a billing review if a charge appears wrong.

The payer may request a full refund within seven days of a listing’s first-ever paid purchase. This one-time window does not restart on renewals. A full refund ends paid publication and stops that subscription. Duplicate or incorrect charges can be sent for a billing review. Refunds return to the original payment method; processing time varies. The Terms explain the full policy.

Check the listing status and billing panel, then contact Help & support with the listing name and a description of the problem. Do not send card details. If the first payment succeeds but the listing never becomes public within 24 hours, Common Ground will request a full refund and stop that subscription, as described in the Terms.

No. The listing subscription is a Common Ground publication charge. A community’s rent, deposits, membership fees, shared expenses, or event charges are separate arrangements with that community. Check what those payments cover and agree on the terms directly before paying.

The site is operated by the Common Ground team. Community listings are maintained by their own representatives, not by the platform team. Contact the team through Help & support in the corner of any page.

Open the chat in the corner and ask to speak to a person. Choose Message the Common Ground team, review your message and contact email, and press Send to the team. You do not need to sign in. Nothing is sent just because you ask the AI a question.

We’ll reply as soon as we can. The support inbox is not a live emergency service or a guaranteed response-time service. AI help can find published FAQ answers immediately, but cannot promise when a person will respond.

The AI assistant uses the site’s published FAQ information to give conversational answers and understand follow-up questions. It does not browse private profiles, read member conversations, change your account, or decide compatibility. If it cannot answer reliably, or you request human help, it offers a way to message the Common Ground team.

Yes. It can misunderstand a question or summarize information incorrectly. Check important details and ask the team when something is unclear. It cannot verify a particular community’s claims, make a reservation, guarantee safety, or give personal legal or financial advice.

No. Your question and a limited recent chat history are processed by the AI service to answer conversationally. Only the separate message you review and explicitly send to the team is saved in the support inbox. Do not put passwords, identity documents, payment details, or private addresses into the AI chat.

Open the chat and expand Team messages to see your submitted questions and team replies. This section appears once you have a support message. Signed-in requests follow your account. Signed-out requests use a secure browser cookie, so return using the same browser. Clearing cookies can remove access to guest replies. Your supplied contact email is private, but it is not proof of identity or a promise of automatic email delivery.

Send a new message from Help & support and include the earlier question’s reference if you saved it. Do not share your browser cookies. The team may need to verify ownership before helping with private account information.

If the assistant cannot answer reliably or is unavailable, it offers a button to message the Common Ground team. Review your message before sending. You can also ask for a person at any time. A failed AI answer does not mean your support message was sent; look for an explicit sent confirmation, then find it under Team messages.

Do not rely on this chat for urgent help. If there is immediate danger, contact appropriate local emergency services. Signed-in members can use the site’s report controls for account or listing issues; if you cannot sign in, describe the non-urgent issue to the team without unnecessary sensitive details.

A map marker requires a location and permission to show it. A visible listing can remain in the directory without appearing on the map. Filters and the selected people/community view also change the results.

Public markers use rounded coordinates, not an exact-address service. Written profile text, images, and external links may reveal more than a marker, so review everything you publish. Do not use a pin as travel directions.

Clear one filter at a time, widen the location range, or browse the other directory. No results means no currently visible records match that combination, not that no such community exists.

No. A community’s full status is not an automatic membership waitlist. Membership openings and event waitlists are separate. Do not assume a future place is reserved.

An opening describes a membership opportunity; available housing describes a place to stay. Neither is a guaranteed booking. Check the actual space, dates, cost, household size, and joining process directly. A full community should not advertise current openings or available housing.

The people or communities are sample data for exploring the product. They are not real housing opportunities or real people to contact. Demo interactions illustrate the flow and must not be treated as confirmed visits or reservations.

Signed-in members can save people or communities to revisit in Shortlist & compare and inspect stated differences. Saving someone is a private planning step, not a message, invitation, application, or reservation.

Compatibility compares submitted answers. Readiness and freshness describe how usable and current a record is. Trust signals distinguish self-reported details, member confirmations, and narrow document reviews. None proves that a person or community is safe or that housing is available.

Open the community’s Events section, review the public details, and RSVP while signed in. Check whether your status is Going or Waitlisted. An event RSVP is not a housing application or membership acceptance.

Private joining details are available to organizers and confirmed attendees, not to public browsers or waitlisted visitors. Access is removed when an RSVP is withdrawn or the event is cancelled. Ask the host if instructions are missing.

When capacity is full, visitors can join the waitlist. Available places promote waiting guests in order. Check your current RSVP status before travelling; waitlisted does not mean confirmed.

Yes. Leave the event or waitlist from the event controls or My events. This releases your place and removes attendee-only joining details. Tell the organizer directly if you also made separate paid or travel arrangements.

Check the event page and My events for the latest details. Changes may also appear in Alerts and, if enabled and connected, email updates. Check again before travelling. A calendar file you downloaded earlier does not update itself.

Select Remind me for a confirmed RSVP, enable email updates in Profile, and select Event reminders & changes. The delivery-status message must say the provider is connected. Background checks prepare due reminders; without a connected provider there is no reliable off-site delivery.

Use the event’s calendar export when available. It is a snapshot, not a live calendar subscription, and excludes private joining details. Later edits or cancellation do not automatically update the imported copy.

Check Profile → Email updates, the connection status, your selected categories, and spam folders. Event reminders also require a confirmed RSVP and Remind me. Signing in does not automatically subscribe you. The service cannot guarantee delivery, and old notifications are not replayed indefinitely.

Notification emails use a generic update notice and link back to the site. They do not include private message bodies, names, or exact event addresses. Your email provider still handles the delivery. You can turn categories off or unsubscribe.

No. The current off-site delivery path is optional email when configured. Scheduled checks are periodic, and delivery can be delayed or fail. For an important visit, agree on a direct contact method with the organizer.

Yes, when the community offers a visit, open house, or online introduction. Look for events on its profile and read the event details before you RSVP. If no event is listed and the community is open to contact, send an introduction and ask how you can get to know them. An RSVP or visit is not an agreement to join.

A private space for people considering a community together. Circles help members discuss plans, record agreements, organize next steps, and work through shared decisions. Joining one does not create a tenancy, partnership, or legal commitment.

No. Only people with the right Circle access and site administrators can view them. A person’s role determines what they can see and do. Ask before sharing someone else’s private information.

Yes. Members work together on a private Community Profile in the Circle’s Community tab. Publishing is then decided through a proposal under the Circle’s governance type: consensus, majority vote, or defined leadership. The listing must also meet the publishing rules and have an active $12-per-month subscription. Publishing the profile does not make Circle chat, Discourse, votes, or private decision history public.

No. Saving a profile, accepting a message request, or recording a plan does not book anything or create a contract. Agree on dates, costs, responsibilities, and any binding terms directly with the people involved.

Review the confirmation and account-erasure preview before acting. Access and responsibilities can change. Account erasure closes circles you facilitated rather than silently transferring them, and some community records contributed under shared stewardship remain with that community.

Invite someone from your accepted person-to-person contacts using Members in your Circle. If the invite list is empty, browse people and send an introduction first. After that person accepts the contact request, you can invite them. They still choose whether to accept the Circle invitation.

Chat is for everyday conversation. Discourse compares members’ answers so you can discuss differences. Proposals let the group make a decision using its agreed rules. Approved agreement proposals are added to the Charter.

The Charter keeps the Circle’s approved agreements in one place. It is built from approved agreement proposals, so members can see what the group has actually decided. You can review it as plans develop and use proposals to change agreements. It is a shared planning record, not a legal contract by itself.

It is where members work together on the community they want to present to others: its purpose, location, costs, daily life, availability, and joining details. The profile starts as a private draft. When the group is ready, a publication proposal lets the Circle decide whether to make it public under its governance rules. Paid publication is a separate requirement.

Yes. Open your Circle and choose Join Voice. You join with your microphone muted; choose Unmute when you want to speak. Up to twelve active members can join, and you can keep talking while using the Circle’s other tabs. Calls end after two hours, and you can join again. Common Ground does not record or transcribe calls. Keep agreed decisions in Proposals and the Charter so everyone can refer back to them.