Expanded Forum Guidelines: 1. Offensive Content

This post is a part of our series on expanded forum guidelines to help all users better understand the purpose of each guideline and for forum moderators to understand appropriate behavior and review examples of this rule in action.

My post was edited/deleted for offensive content. What does that mean?

1. Inflammatory, racist, sexist, offensive, homophobic, transphobic, etc. posts are not allowed. Posting about the impacts of abuse, racism, sexism, etc. or seeking support on these topics is allowed.

Purpose of rule: To create a supportive and safe environment for people to seek help and by preventing judgment, and unsupportive or invalidating comments.

Examples: your gender identity is not real; your struggles aren't as bad as others; you do not deserve help because you are x

Explanation: Posts that are edited or deleted or violating this guideline generally have a judgmental or discriminatory tone. On 7 Cups we try to support everyone in a kind and nonjudgmental manner. Things like invalidating someone else's feelings or experiences based on attributes such as sex, gender, religion, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. fall under this guideline. If you see something like this, please flag it!

Appropriate Action: If at all possible, the forum moderator should remove the offending content while retaining the post. All edits should include the forum moderator's name and the reason for editing (e.g. offensive content). In the event that the post cannot be retained, the forum moderator will delete the whole post. If you believe a forum moderator has edited or deleted your post in error, you can email forum@7cups.com and we will investigate.

For Forum Moderators:

Grey Areas:

I believe that men and women are inherently different when it comes to this stuff and women tend to be much more emotional

While this does present an argument that could feel sexist, it is also clear that it is presented as a belief, not as a fact. To some extent the context on this and the tone will matter significantly, in most cases this is likely fine and should not be edited.

I do not understand how you can say you are a boy if you were born a girl

This is a statement that could be read as very invalidating to a person who is transgender, but could in other contexts be actually seeking to understand as opposed to trying to invalidate. Again, context matters here! When in doubt, do not edit, but as a forum moderator, you can always seek a second opinion if you are unsure!

My Aunt always says that I am a no-good mixed race so I won't go anywhere

In this case, the poster is seeking support on this subject. We should not edit anything that would prevent the poster from conveying the full context of their situation.

Do you have questions about what is or is not okay or need further clarification on examples? Post below and we will problem solve together!

Removed special character "�" by DayDreamWithYou 9/3/2021