Forum Guidelines Expanded: 5. Anonymity

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 anonymity. What does that mean?

4. 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.

Purpose of rule: to protect anonymity and maintain privacy and safety. The purpose of this rule is to help enforce boundaries and maintain a safe space through controlled interactions

Examples: what is your insta? my phone number is ####### I do not check 7 cups that often so you should email at email@domain [from member account] Message me on my listener account, @listenername

Explanation: Listeners and members on 7 cups are required to follow guidelines to maintain safety and a supportive environment. Offsite interactions are not constrained to the same restrictions, and 7 Cups is unable to ensure your safety offline. Additionally, revealing both a member and listener makes it more difficult to place adequate boundaries for those seeking support and increases the risk of stalking or bullying.

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. anonymity). 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:

[from a member account] If you need help with self harm urges, you can pm me on [listener account username]
While there is nothing wrong with offering to support those in need, offering 1-on-1 support as a listener should come from your listener account itself. If this is in a group support room or a forum, for instance, you can switch to your listener account and then offer the support from there.

This rule excludes posts and links regarding Social Soldiers / 7 Cups blog work. The Social Soldiers or 7 Cups blog are specific teams with very tight restrictions on offsite interactions and more details can be found on their respective team posts.

7 Cups does not control relationships of people who know each other in real life (i.e., met separately from 7 Cups), but 7 Cups interactions should not hint at or discuss an offsite contact relationship and having offsite contact with someone you met through 7 Cups is not permitted.

It is permitted to give links to 7 Cups to others (including your 7 Cups referral link, which directs to the main page) and you may discuss 7 cups in your real life (while maintaining confidentiality on member, guest, or listener chats and accounts).

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!

Last updated 11/6/18 to clarify language about offsite contact
Removed special character "�" by DayDreamWithYou 9/3/2021