Communities
Answers to common questions about creating and running community question pages, topic rotation, future questions, descriptions, live boards, and shareable group check-ins on How Are We All?.
Community owners and participants
Community FAQ
This page covers how communities work, what the links look like, how public, private, and protected visibility differ, how topic rotation and future questions work, where community descriptions appear, what shows on community streams, and how community participation relates to the main daily question. For broader site questions, read the main FAQ.
What is a How Are We All community?
A community gives a group its own shareable answer page and live board. It can follow today's main question, use a custom question chosen by that community's owner, or rotate through a topic.
A community can also have an optional description that shows on its answer page so people know what the group is for before they respond.
How is a community different from the main daily question?
The main site publishes one question of the day for everyone. A community gives a group its own branded path, shareable answer page, live stream, and owner controls. A community can follow today's main question, run its own custom question, or rotate through a topic, so the group can check in around a shared theme without mixing everything into the site-wide flow.
Why would a group use a community?
A community can be a useful way for a group to build a clearer picture of how everyone is feeling around one shared prompt. It can work well for live streamers checking in with their audience, Discord or Slack groups, book clubs, classrooms, volunteer groups, support circles, or other communities that want a lightweight pulse of the group.
If today's site-wide question is not the right fit, the owner can switch the community to a custom question for a community-specific topic, such as a stream check-in, a class reflection, or a group debrief.
What do community links look like?
Each community uses its community name in the URL in a shortened link-friendly form. Spaces are replaced with hyphens, letters are lowercase, and special characters are removed.
The answer page follows the format /c/your-community-name, the live board uses /c/your-community-name/stream, and the owner page uses /c/your-community-name/manage.
For example, a community named Book Night would use /c/book-night for the answer page and /c/book-night/stream for the live board.
Protected communities use the same links, but the answer and stream pages ask for the protected access key before loading. The owner page still uses the owner key.
What do public, private, and protected visibility mean?
Public communities can be browsed on the site.
Private communities stay out of public browse surfaces and work through shared links.
Protected communities add a separate access key for the community answer and stream pages, while the owner manage page still uses the owner key.
If the owner regenerates the protected access key, the old key stops working immediately.
Can a community use today's question, a custom question, or a topic?
Yes. Community owners can keep their community tied to the main daily question, switch it to a custom question they manage directly, or rotate the community through a topic.
Owners can also schedule future dated questions from the owner page, so the community can keep its usual setup while planning specific prompts ahead of time.
Can a community owner plan questions for future dates?
Yes. The owner page includes a future question list where you can save up to 120 dated prompts in advance.
A scheduled question replaces the usual question source for that date only. After that date passes, the community goes back to its normal daily, custom, or topic setup unless another future question is waiting.
When the current question changes, the stream resets to that question, old stream summaries no longer appear for the new one, and browser submission locks reset for the new question.
Can a community have its own description?
Yes. A community can have an optional description that appears on its answer page.
You can enter it when creating the community and edit it later from the owner manage page.
Are community responses anonymous?
Yes. Community responses are anonymous in the same general way as the main site. Community streams show aggregate patterns and pulse summaries, not a public feed of individual answers.
What does the community stream show?
The community stream shows aggregate rankings, shares, and live mix charts for the current question. It is meant to show the group's overall pattern, not to identify any one participant.
How do community pulse summaries work?
Pulse summaries are enabled by default for communities, but a summary is only generated when a five-minute window has at least five submissions. Until then, the stream shows the standard waiting message instead of a live pulse summary.
Can someone submit again after a community question changes?
Yes. Community submission limits are tied to the current question, so if the question changes the same browser can answer again for the new question.
If a community uses today's question, can that also count toward the main daily question?
Yes. If the community is using today's main question and the answer has not already been counted for that same question, it can roll into the main daily question too. If it was already counted for that browser and question, the main daily question still blocks a duplicate.
How do I create or manage a community?
Create a new one at /communities/new. Each community gets its own answer page, stream page, and owner management page for descriptions, question settings, future questions, and pulse summary controls.
Those links follow the format /c/your-community-name, /c/your-community-name/stream, and /c/your-community-name/manage, using a link-friendly version of the community name.
If you choose protected visibility when creating the community, you will also get a separate access key to copy and share for the answer and stream pages.
Need the general site answers too? Read the main FAQ, visit About, or email [email protected].