Common questions.

What's a Guilde?

The user-facing name for a group on the platform. The trailing -e is intentional — it's a brand mark and a small flag against tech-mall vocabulary. A Guilde could be a PTA, a neighborhood association, a garden club, a "Friends of" group, or anything similar.

What's a Council?

A Council is a peer network of related Guildes — say, "Virginia Historical Societies" or "Richmond Libraries." Joining one lets your Guilde be discovered alongside groups doing similar work and share a forum where you can compare notes. Councils are admin-curated; if you want one created, get in touch.

Is it free?

Yes for groups under 150 members. The free tier covers everything a small civic group needs — roster, wall, calendar, messages, documents, forum, mobile-friendly access. Paid tiers (for larger groups, dues collection, newsletters, custom domains, SMS) help fund the platform.

Public, private, or secret?

Each Guilde picks a visibility tier. Public Guildes are listed in the directory and have a public profile page. Private Guildes show only a small stub with the name and a contact form — membership is by approval. Secret Guildes have no public footprint at all and can only be joined via invite link with a verification code.

Do I have to pay to start a Guilde?

No. Start a Guilde free, run it free, stay free — if you're under 150 members and don't need dues collection, you don't pay.

Will my members' content be used to train AI?

No. This is the easiest no on the platform. Member content is never used to train AI models. Period.