New Forum Moderation Policy 2023 (Updated Repost)

Hi everyone!

This post is an update regarding how forum moderation will be handled going forward.

Previously, we were ultilizing a ‘Communicating Forum Post Deletions’ thread which was a place for those with forum deleting privileges to help us achieves better communication of guidelines and actions, accountability and transparency in the community by informing users as to why their post was removed. This was mainly tailored towards forum posts that violate guidelines. However, we have decided to step away from that and will be using the Forum Moderation System that was mentioned back in 2020.

Whenever a post is edited, you will be notified privately on why a part of your post was modified or deleted by either the 7CupsForum Account or a moderator (it is the moderators decision on how they notify you). 

The 7CupsForums account will message the user directly and mention the guideline(s) that were violated and a brief explanation. They will stick to saying what is necessary regarding your post and nothing else. All actions are logged and monitored by forum ambassadors/admins and persistently breaking the forum guidelines may result in behaviour points being issued. 

It is mandatory for any forum deletions to be communicated to the respective owners of the posts except on these grounds when the posts fall under –
• Requested Deletions,
• Duplicate Content (guideline 8),
• Spam (guideline 9),
• Graphic, Racist or Sexual Content that is clearly Inappropriate (guidelines 1, 5). (Only when the intentions of the user are clear to use the site for non-permissible reasons or violate guidelines.)
• When a reply is removed as part of a thread deletion (e.g. your post reply was only removed as a result of a rule break of another person's original thread and your post itself did not break any guidelines)

A few Scenarios/Examples for Forum Moderators
Please also refer to the Expanded Forum Guidelines Posts in case of any confusion and see if it is cleared there or flag it.
• User posts a behavior report about another user talking at length about the issue including usernames, etc.: -- Delete the post and direct them to the behavioral report forms thread.
• Unsupportive Content that is targeting another user, causing conflict, etc:-- Delete and inform the user posting unsupportive content that this is not tolerated.
• Listener is seeking personal support in their Listener account itself:-- Post will be removed as it is recommended that listeners switch to a member account or create one to seek personal support or share personal stories. Listener will be informed about the deletion of their post. Please see number 7 of the forum guidelines and the expanded version here.
• Posts seeking crisis support:-- Please remove post and direct them to crisis resources in 1-1 chats.
• An entire thread is to be deleted:-- Inform the user(s) about the deletion.
• Multiple posts within a thread of multiple users are to be deleted:-- only users who have broken the forum guidelines are required to be notified. Others can be directed to the forum@7cups.com email.
• Posts which comply with the guidelines but you simply do not agree with:-- Please do not delete these.

These answers are just one of the ways of dealing with the deletions, we trust your judgment in different contexts. We are here to support you should you need any help or guidance on specific circumstances.

Users may continue to email forum@7cups.com to report any violations of guidelines in the forums. No reporting or gossiping via the means of this thread is acceptable - it is only to be used for logging and communicating deletions.

Please note that all deletions except for the exceptions would have to be notified to the owners of those posts clearly. Hence, users can reach out to the forum moderator who has taken any action on their posts for clarifications. There is also an option to email forum@7cups.com to ask about edited or deleted posts.

Thank you!

Please do not edit this post.

Updated by @CheeryMango to remove requirements of Community Mentors + mention the 7cupsForum account that will be handling all forum modification and deletion communication - 1/24/2023.
Updated by @tommy to add clarification on removals for thread repliers -- 19 Nov 2023.