Readers answering your pieces

Every article, zine, chapter and page you send shows up in your readers' Inbox, and each reader who received it can answer it from there, or by replying to its email. This page is about what you decide, and where you read the answers.

The Conversations block of the publish window

Open the publish window of an article, a zine, a chapter or a page. Below the selects for who can react, a muted Conversations block holds:

• Allow conversations. Off, the piece takes no answers (it reads "Disable answers" in settings). On, two more choices appear.
• Who can answer: Same as the publication (the default), Anyone sent it, Subscribers or Paid subscribers. It works like who can react, and the rule is enforced when a reader writes, not only shown: a reader who may not answer is told why and the Answer button is not offered to them.
• Conversation type: Group: readers read each other (the default) or Split: one private thread per reader.

Only readers the piece was sent to can answer it. A reader who unsubscribed can read what they already have but not write, and a reader you blocked or banned does not see your pieces in their Inbox.

The publication's default

To set the rule once for everything you publish, open your publication's Website settings, the Website tab, Comments and activity: Who can answer offers Anyone sent it can answer, Only subscribers can answer, Only paid subscribers can answer and Disable answers. A piece that chooses Same as the publication follows it.

Group or split

• Group puts all the readers who write about the piece in one shared conversation. They read each other, which suits a piece you want discussed. Readers are warned each time: "Everyone in this conversation reads what you write." appears above their answer box.
• Split gives each reader their own private thread with you, which nobody else reads. Choose it for a piece where answers should stay between you and the reader.

The type is read when the piece is published and again each time you publish changes. A thread that already exists keeps the type it had.

Email replies. A reader can reply to the newsletter email instead of using the app:

• On a split piece, the reply lands in that reader's private thread.
• On a group piece, the reply is published in the shared conversation. The email's footer tells the reader so: "Your reply to this email is shared with everyone in its conversation." A group conversation is read in Peakub only, so nothing is emailed back to everyone.

Read the answers in the Studio

Each piece has its own Conversation from the moment it is first published. It shows in Studio > Conversations, named after the piece, so the readers who answer it are under one entry. The tab's third select filters the list: All conversations, Started by you (the ones you opened) or About your pieces.

A piece's Conversation that no reader has written in yet is drawn with a dashed border. On a row you see:

• the piece's name, a lock when it is private, a dot when it has news you have not read, and N to answer for the threads waiting for your reply;
• the latest message and how long ago the latest reply came;
• its channels (chat, email), Group or Split, Who can write and its counts;
• the piece's cover on the right: a click on it opens the piece in a new tab.

A click on the row opens the conversation on the Conversations page, in another tab. You answer as in Read and answer replies. When your team answers a thread, the piece shows Answered in the Inbox of every reader on that thread. The Conversations entry's count in the Studio menu also counts unread threads about your pieces.

The Conversation follows the piece: renamed with it, hidden from the list while the piece is unpublished, and removed with it. It is also one of the piece's complements (the paperclip on its card). A piece published before this existed gets its Conversation the first time a reader writes about it.

The replies icon on a piece

On each piece's card in the Studio, a Replies icon (the Conversations send icon) opens the Conversations page, As a creator, narrowed to the conversations about that piece: "Replies to" followed by the piece's name. A number on the icon counts the readers who wrote at least once. Show all clears the filter.

What a reader sees

Readers answer from their Inbox with Answer, and from there on the conversation is in their chats. Read Answer a piece to see what they see.