Forum Guidelines Expanded: 4. Confidentiality

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 confidentiality. What does that mean?

3. 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.

Purpose of rule: To protect anonymity and maintain a safe environment for people to give and seek support. The purpose of this rule is to prevent rumors, gossip, and hearsay and direct individual feedback to the appropriate channels where it can be reviewed and actions taken as needed.

Examples: @username did this in 1-on-1 with me i had a chat with a person with [description of issue in extreme detail] @username was modding and muted me unfairly

Explanation: What people share with us in 1-1 or group chats is confidential and privileged information. While they may choose to disclose to us, they havent chosen to disclose publicly and we cant make that decision for them. Its okay to seek support on a chat or to express confusion, displeasure, etc. with how something went, but not to publicly share someone elses name or details.

Appropriate Action: If at all possible, the forum moderator should remove the offending content while retaining the post - this may include summarizing the detail into something more concise / less personal so that the nature of the question or comment can remain without breaking a users confidentiality. A key question to ask yourself when editing for confidentiality is "Would I be able to identify who they are talking about with the details shared?"

All edits should include the forum moderators name and the reason for editing (e.g. confidentiality / chat details). 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.

Clarifications:

- Hey @username, based on our chat I think you might think this was super helpful with your self harm urges!

Its a good instinct to want to tag someone into a thread that can help them and that is allowed, but that user might feel uncomfortable with it being revealed they have self harm issues if they havent disclosed that in the forums themselves. In this instance, it may be best to either edit to remove the references to a chat / their urges, or to reach out the the author of the post, explain, and then delete so they can repost in a vaguer way (e.g., @username - thought this might be interesting or [generic comment on the post, tagging @username in small print]

- [in Listener forums] I had a chat today where the member told me their friends have been ignoring their texts and their parents are yelling at them about school and that they feel really alone and want to self harm but when I asked about other alternatives they said nothing works and I dont know how to help them now

While putting this topic in the Listener forums is a good start to maintaining confidentiality, many users have both L and M accounts and this is still a public forum where we cannot share details about someone else. To seek help with a chat, you can share an overall theme without the detail so that no individual could be identified through it (e.g., I had a chat today about self harm and not finding alternatives helpful - does anyone have tips on how to support in those situations?)

- @Username really helped me with my eating disorder by telling me about what worked for them when they were struggling - thank you!!!

Shoutouts are great, but the listener may not have been comfortable sharing their personal history publicly. Instead, could read @Username really helped me with my eating disorder - thank you!!!

Do you have questions about what is or isnt okay or need further clarification on examples? Post below and we will problem solve together!

updated by Anomalia 8/30/18