How Circle 17 works

A private place to share with the people you choose. It works like a mailing list you can also browse: everything arrives by email, and you can reply from your inbox or use the site.

Circles

A Circle is a group, like “Camping Trip” or “Family”. Only its members can see it, and you only get posts from Circles you're in. You can be in as many as you like.

Start one with + New Circle above your home feed. You become its owner.
Invite people by email address from the Circle's Members page. They get a Join link; new people get an account automatically. Owners can limit invitations to owners only.
Mute a Circle to stop its email but keep reading it online, or leave it to stop seeing it altogether.
Each Circle has its own email address, e.g. camping-trip@soc.circle17.com. You'll find it at the top of the Circle's page, on the Circles page (+ New Circle on Home), and all together in Settings → Posting by email.

Your personal circle

Everyone also has a personal circle: “My posts” on the home page. Only you post there.

Public (the default): anyone signed in can read it, reply, and follow you. Private: only you see it, like a diary. Change it in Settings or on the page itself.
Following someone (from People or their page) puts their posts in your feed. Email for them is off unless you choose “Also email me”.
Pins and albums: pin up to 6 posts or galleries to the top of your page, and make albums others can add photos to if you allow it. “On this day” shows your photos from earlier years.

Posting

On the site: open a Circle (or your personal circle), choose New post, write, and attach pictures or video clips. Reply at the bottom of any thread.
By email: send to a Circle's address (listed in Settings) to start a thread there, or to post@soc.circle17.com to post in your personal circle. Send from the address you signed up with.
Links become clickable. YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo and Instagram links (up to 4 per post) become play buttons; nothing loads from those sites until you press play.
You can delete your own posts. Circle owners can remove any post in their Circle.

Email

By default every post in your Circles is emailed to you, so you never have to visit the site.

Just reply to a notification to answer everyone. Write above the “Reply above this line” marker; quoted text and signatures are removed automatically. Photos you attach are added to your reply.
Every email ends with one-click links: Mute that Circle (or stop emails from a person you follow), Turn off all email, and Leave. Each asks you to confirm, and muting or turning email off can be undone with one click.
Prefer the site? Turn off notification email in Settings. You can also ask for a copy of your own posts there.
Emails don't include video files: they show a preview picture with a “Watch” link.

Photos & videos

Attach up to 12 pictures per post (JPEG, PNG, GIF or WebP, up to 25 MB each). Location data is removed from every photo; the date it was taken is kept.
Video clips: MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 90 MB and 5 minutes. They're converted for smooth playback, so they show “processing” for a minute or two.
Galleries: every Circle, personal circle and thread has a “Photos” gallery. Click a picture to open the viewer, then use the arrow keys or swipe, and Escape to close. Sort by newest or by date taken.
Whoever posted a photo (or a Circle owner) can add a caption or hide it from the gallery; it stays in its post.
Download all on a thread or album prepares a zip of the originals and emails you a link that works for 7 days.

Your feed

The home page opens on New: conversations with posts you haven't seen, with “N new” on each. All shows everything, newest first.
A post counts as seen once it's been emailed to you, you open its thread, or you wrote it. Inside a thread, a line marks where the new posts begin.
Counts on the Circle buttons and beside the site name show what's waiting. Mark all as read clears them.

Calendar

Each Circle has a calendar, and My calendar shows all your Circles together with your private events.
Circle events are emailed to members with a calendar file your phone can add, plus a reminder 24 hours before (turn reminders off in Settings).
RSVP Attending, Maybe or Regrets on the event page or straight from the email, and change it any time. Counts appear once anyone has answered.
Private events are only for you. Tick “Just mark me busy” to block time without details.
“Mark this time as busy for me” on any Circle event blocks that time without RSVPing.

Proposing a date

Not sure when everyone's free? On a Circle's calendar, choose Propose a date.

Members vote by RSVP: Attending means yes, Regrets means no. It becomes a real event once enough people say Attending: everyone, unless you set a smaller minimum.
If the minimum can no longer be reached, it closes. Whoever proposed it can then propose a new date from the same page, and everyone votes again.
A time that clashes with the Circle's calendar or your own busy time can't be proposed. If it clashes with someone else's, you're told only that a conflict exists, never whose or what, and can propose it anyway.
Busy time means your private events, events you're Attending, and anything marked busy.
Each proposal has its own discussion; reply to its email to join in.

Signing in & settings

No password needed: enter your email on the Sign in page and use the link we send (it works once, for 20 minutes). You can set a password in Settings if you prefer.
Settings has your name and timezone, email choices, who you follow, your personal circle's visibility, calendar links, and “Sign out everywhere”.

Quick tips

Fastest way to post a photo: email it to a Circle's address from your phone.
Too much email? Mute busy Circles and read them on the site's New feed instead.
Planning something? Propose a date rather than asking in a thread: votes, reminders and calendar entries come for free.
Don't see a message? Check your spam folder and mark it “not spam” once.