> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.crowdwork.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/the-crowd.md).

# The Crowd

The CrowdWork community, where theatres, performers, and patrons swap questions, ideas, and answers. How to join, who can see what you post, and how to control the emails.

**The Crowd** is a community built into CrowdWork, where theatre operators, performers, and patrons ask questions, share what's working, and answer each other. It's free, it's included with your account, and it's also where the CrowdWork team posts in-depth updates about new features.

You'll find it at [crowdwork.com/crowd](https://www.crowdwork.com/crowd), or as **The Crowd** in your Dashboard sidebar. It's also in the menu under your name, as **Crowd Community**.

{% hint style="info" %}
**The Crowd is in beta.** You'll see a **Beta** badge on the community home page. Things will keep changing — that's part of the point, and the fastest way to shape them is to post about it.
{% endhint %}

***

## Channels

The Crowd is organized into **channels**, each one a topic with its own posts and its own members. The community home page lists every channel you can see, with a short description, a member count, and a post count.

Some channels are open to everyone. Others are limited — either private (members only) or restricted to people who meet certain criteria, such as holding a staff role at a theatre. **A channel you can't join simply won't appear in your list**, so what you see is what's available to you.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Want a channel that doesn't exist?** Channels are created by the CrowdWork team. Post your idea in the **Channel Request** channel and we'll take a look.
{% endhint %}

***

## Setting Up Your Profile

Reading The Crowd takes no setup at all. To **post or reply**, you need two things:

1. A CrowdWork account with a **confirmed email address** — the same login you already use for your Dashboard
2. A **community profile**, which you'll be prompted to create the first time you try to write something

Your community profile is separate from your theatre's settings and follows you across every theatre you're part of. It has:

| Field                   | What it's for                                                                                                                                   |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Handle**              | Your unique **@name** across the community — 3–30 characters, letters, numbers, and underscores. This is what other people type to mention you. |
| **Display name**        | The name shown next to your posts. Up to 50 characters.                                                                                         |
| **Bio**                 | Optional — a sentence or two about you.                                                                                                         |
| **Avatar**              | Optional — a PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP up to 5 MB.                                                                                                |
| **Email notifications** | A single switch for all community email. See [Controlling the Emails](#controlling-the-emails).                                                 |

You can change any of it later from your profile page in The Crowd.

***

## Who Can See What You Post

**Posts in an open channel are public.** Anyone can read them — including people who aren't logged in and don't have a CrowdWork account, and search engines. Treat a post in an open channel the way you'd treat a post on any public forum: don't include patron names, order details, or anything else you wouldn't put on your own website.

Posts in a **private or restricted channel** are visible only to that channel's members. Those channels don't show up for anyone else at all.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Need to share account specifics?** The Crowd is the wrong place for anything tied to a real patron or a real order. [Contact support](https://docs.crowdwork.com/contacting-support) from your Dashboard instead — that conversation is private to your theatre.
{% endhint %}

***

## Posting and Replying

Open a channel and start a post with a title and a body. The composer supports **formatting and links**, and a YouTube link on its own line turns into an embedded video automatically.

The first time you post in an open channel you qualify for, **you join it automatically** — there's no separate step.

* **Replies** go under the post, and you can reply to a reply. Threads stay one level deep, so a reply to a reply attaches to the same thread rather than nesting further.
* **Mentions** — type **@** followed by someone's handle to notify them. You'll get suggestions as you type. People are only notified if they can already see the channel.
* **Reactions** let you respond to a post or reply without adding to the thread.
* **Editing and deleting** — you can edit or delete your own posts and replies at any time.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Looking for something?** Use the search in The Crowd to find posts across every channel you can see.
{% endhint %}

***

## Controlling the Emails

The Crowd emails you when someone **replies to your post** or a thread you're in, when someone **@mentions you**, and when someone **adds you to a channel**. You're never emailed about your own posts, and if a single reply both mentions you and lands in your thread, you get one email, not two.

There are three ways to turn email down, from broadest to narrowest:

| To silence…          | Do this                                                                                                                                                      |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Everything**       | Turn off **Email me about replies, mentions, and channel invites** on your community profile. Every community email also carries a one-click way to do this. |
| **One channel**      | Mute email for that channel from the channel itself.                                                                                                         |
| **One conversation** | Open the post's **three-dot menu** and choose **Mute Email Notifications**. The same menu turns them back on.                                                |

{% hint style="info" %}
**Muting only affects email.** Notifications keep arriving in The Crowd itself, on the bell icon — so nothing is lost, it just stops landing in your inbox.
{% endhint %}

***

## Keeping It a Good Place to Be

Posts and replies go up immediately and are reviewed automatically in the background.

If you see something that doesn't belong, open its **three-dot menu** and choose **Report**. Reports go to the CrowdWork team, and enough reports on one piece of content will hide it while we look. You can't report your own posts — delete those instead.

Each channel also has its own admins, who can remove posts and replies in that channel and manage who belongs to it.

***

## Related Tasks

| Task                                                   | Guide                                                                                      |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Get help with your own account or a patron's order** | [Contacting Support](https://docs.crowdwork.com/contacting-support)                        |
| **Ask for something CrowdWork doesn't do yet**         | [Request a Feature](https://docs.crowdwork.com/request-a-feature)                          |
| **Give a teammate their own Dashboard login**          | [Managing Staff & Users](https://docs.crowdwork.com/for-theatres/managing-staff-and-users) |

***

## Need Help?

If you run into a situation this guide doesn't cover, [contact our support team](https://docs.crowdwork.com/contacting-support) from your Dashboard. We're here to help!