Expanded Forum Guidelines Masterpost
Expanded Forum Guidelines
Hi 7 Cups Community!
We strive to create a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for all to participate in. To help us achieve this, we have a set of robust guidelines in which all site users must abide by. You can find these in a number of places: this thread, under the forum section of community guidelines here, or as a pop-up when creating new posts.
If you notice a post which goes against a forum guideline, please flag it by pressing the flag report button. Any questions or queries relating to the forum guidelines or forum post modifications should be directed to forum@7cups.com.
Guideline 1 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
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.
Guideline 2 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
For moderation and inclusive participation, we ask you to please use English in the forum space.
Guideline 3 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Unsupportive content including targeting or attacking other users in the community is not allowed. Disagreements may happen, but always maintain a respectful tone and try to move the conversation forward in an on-topic and constructive way. Sometimes this means agreeing to disagree.
Guideline 4 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Confidential information shared in a one-on-one or group chat is not allowed. This includes negative reviews of listeners or group mods. Ex: If someone can identify who you are referring to, it is probably not a good idea to post it.
Guideline 5 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Personal Contact Information, such as Social Media Handles, Email Accounts, Phone Numbers, or other 7 cups accounts (e.g. posting your listener account name from your member account or vice versa) is not allowed. This includes links to surveys or pages that contain either personal contact information or a private messaging system.
Guideline 6 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Excessive Inappropriate or Graphic Language is not allowed, including cursing in thread titles, cursing at others, and cursing in excess within a post. Trigger warnings should be included in thread titles or beginning of body content where appropriate.
Guideline 7 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Giving medical advice is not permitted. Medication and drug names may be shared, but precise dosages or suggestions to take specific medications may not.
Guideline 8 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Users are expected to maintain a listener role if on a listener account. This includes not seeking emotional or personal support and following the expectations of a listener outlined in active listening. Please switch to a member account if necessary.
Guideline 9 - Click here the for expanded guideline post
Duplicate posts and threads, including posting the same thread in multiple categories, are not allowed. Please reach out to a forum mentor if you accidentally post multiple times or if you are unsure if your thread already exists somewhere else.
Guideline 10 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Spam (posting multiple times, mass-tagging, posting about non 7 cups related topics such as surveys or for advertising purposes, making posts that are largely unreadable, etc.) is not allowed.
Guideline 11 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
Refer to any additional guidelines that may apply to specific communities. These can be found by clicking "Guidelines" within a community.
Guideline 12 - Click here for expanded guideline post
In order to maintain a therapeutic space, we delete forum posts that take away from a supportive forum environment. If a forum post is not helpful nor positive then it will be deleted.
Guideline 13 - Click here for the expanded guideline post
The excessive use of artificial intelligence when creating forum content is not allowed. This includes the use of other software and using content from other sites without citing the original author or creator.
For information on how guideline violations are processed, please review this post.
[MonBon updated to reflect new medication guideline 15Nov2018]
[Hope updated to reflect new forum post guideline on Sep 21, 2020]
[tommy updated to reflect new guidance #2 on June 4th, 2023]
[tommy reformatted and updated on Nov 5, 2023]
[tommy updated to reflect new guidance #13 on Apr 6, 2024]
This is going to make things much more easier and clear for everyone! Thank you Mon for posting this and always working for the forum team! I
Thanks for the updated version!
@MonBon Thank you for this!
@MonBon thanks for the update
Yay, thanks for the update Mon! This really clears up a lot. :) Keep up the excellent work!
Forum Guidelines Expanded: 2. Unsupportive Content has been posted! Link added to the main post
Thank you for explaining those guidelines and expectations in such detailed and understandable ways. I am new to 7cuos and I look forward to learning how to better navigate the site and how to continue advancing my skills in communicating in a productive, compassionate way. I appreciate the dillegnce and thought that is behind this beautiful site and It brings me great joy and hope to have found this goodness amongst the turbulence of the world.
@Kdlove Welcome to 7Cups! We are happy to have you here with us. I'm glad you found this post useful. If you have any questions/concerns, feel free to reach out. Thanks for all your hard work and support! :)
@lovelyWhisper66
@Anomalia, @MelAllyouneedislove @MonBon
These are great, and no pressure but I do look forward to the update to rule 6 now that the guideline has officially been changed!
@Mel Sometimes I see listeners sharing sexual preferences/fetishes not as a way to support members, and I find it inappropriate. It does appear they could be fishing to have an inappropriate chat in private. Members could share similar posts (without being excessively detailed) and I would say it's ok. I'm unsure of what rule this would fall under though. 5? 7?
Note - I do think it's appropriate for listeners to share an identity or even community. Stating something like I am gay is
different than describing a body type that someone finds attractive.
@Asher since you're working on community guidelines in one place I'm tagging you too.This may be useful to just clarify professionalism rules for listeners overall?
@AffyAvo if they're using that to vent about their own experience going further than using it to relate to a member's comment then it'd have to be rule #7 and they need to log back in as a member for support
@Mel Thanks Mel!
@AffyAvo I don't think I've ever noticed this kind of thing myself, but to conclude that a listener's disclosure of their lived experience is "not as a way to support members" seems like it could be a difficult judgement to make. If it's clearly unsupportive, then that's Rule 2, of course, "Unsupportive content…is not allowed."
Fetishistic disorder (DSM-5) or Fetishism (ICD-10) is a real disorder, and it seems to me that even listeners whose lived experience fails to meet the full criteria for diagnosis might reasonably expect to be able to mention it.
Deciding what kind of chat is "an inappropriate chat" would be another difficult judgement, I think. If a member feels concerned about some harmless habit or preference, and a listener with appropriate lived experience is able to be supportive, I'm not sure we should think of this differently depending on what the harmless habit or preference happens to be.
Charlie