Circle Membership & Roles

Every Inner Circle has a small set of roles. They decide who can run the circle and who can do what inside it.

The roles

Owner

The person who created the circle. The owner can do everything an admin can, and is the only person who can:

• promote members to admin, or demote admins back to members;
• delete the circle.

The owner cannot leave the circle or be removed from it.

Admin

Admins help run the circle. They can:

• edit the circle's details and settings, including the entry mode;
• invite people (only admins can send invitations);
• review Join requests — accept or decline people who knocked;
• remove members;
• give or take away the critic role;
• act on posts in the circle: remove a post from the circle, take it down, or warn its author. The author is notified of any of these.

Member

Members can read everything in the circle, post to it, react, reply and take part. Members can leave at any time.

Critic

Critic is a role an admin can give to any member — including another admin, who then shows as Admin + Critic. It matters when the circle turns on Critics Only: then only members with the critic role can write critiques in the circle. Use it for workshops with designated respondents.

Managing members

Admins can see everyone in the circle, with their role. From a member's entry you can:

• Promote to admin or Demote from admin (owner only);
• Assign critic role or Remove critic role;
• Remove member — you will be asked to confirm.

Handling join requests

When someone knocks, admins are notified. Open Join requests to accept or decline. In a password-and-approval circle, requests only reach you after the person has entered the right password.

Good practice for running a circle

• Have more than one admin, so requests are not left waiting while you are away.
• Write down your circle's expectations in its description — for example, how often members should post or respond.
• Use the critic role deliberately for workshops where feedback should come from specific people.