Why did I get this warning?

Feeling confused about a chat room warning?
Check out the possible reasons below.

1. Please be kind, supportive and respectful to every participant of the chat, including Moderators, at all times. You can view our Rules of Engagement.
You may receive this warning if you were speaking to or about another member of the chat room in an unsupportive or unkind manner, including moderators. E.g:
♦ Youre really annoying/stupid/pathetic.
♦ Why dont you just get over it?
♦ Your moderating sucks. Im going to report you.

2. Please do not use language that is graphic, inappropriate, flirtatious or sexually suggestive. Additionally, refrain from sharing links of this nature.
You may receive this warning for any of the following:
♦ Swearing in a way that bypasses the censoring. E.g. adding extra letters or spaces so the word still appears. Censored messages will not receive warnings unless they violate another rule.
♦ Chatting in a way that appears to be flirting. E.g. Youre so hot! It doesnt matter if youre joking - if it appears as flirting, you can still receive a warning.
♦ Sexually suggestive comments.
♦ Graphic language. E.g. describing events or injuries in detail.
♦ Sharing links to inappropriate websites, images or videos.

3. If you are in a crisis, please visit this page to find the appropriate resource. 7 Cups is not a crisis resource. If you feel a participant is in a crisis, click Refer on one of their messages.
7 Cups is unable to offer support to individuals who are experiencing suicidal thoughts. If you express a desire or intention to seriously harm yourself, you may receive this warning. Please seek appropriate help immediately. You can find resources here.

4. If you are overwhelmed, anxious, or do not feel that the group support environment is aiding in your personal healing, please visit our Browse Listeners page to connect with a Listener one-on-one.
You may receive this warning if it seems that group support is making you feel worse rather than better and the moderator believes that the room is contributing to your upset or anxiety. E.g.

♦ Sharing that youre triggered by something specific that is not a violation of another rule (i.e. not graphic or inappropriate). Check out this post for more information on triggers in support rooms.
♦ Appearing to be highly upset or distressed by anything else in the support room. If this is the case for you, we ask that you connect with a listener 1-1 or take some time out.

5. Please refrain from sharing personal contact details or social media on 7 Cups.
This one is pretty self-explanatory! Your message will be deleted and you will be warned for sharing any personal contact details (phone number, email address, Kik/Skype/other social media handles etc).

6. For moderation purposes, please only use English in this space.
This rule is in place for moderation and safety reasons. At this time, we do not have the moderator capacity to moderate different languages. If you are having a conversation in another language, you will receive this warning.

7. If you find that another participant is not following one of these rules, please use the mute button to hide their messages from you rather than engaging in conflict of any sort.
Muting someone who is bothering you tends to be the most helpful course of action - its only fun to annoy someone if theyre responding! You can also report the person responsible by clicking the mute/report button in their messages.

You may receive this warning if youre arguing back with someone who is upsetting you. When you argue, it becomes more difficult for a moderator to figure out who is the root cause of the problem. By muting the person and ceasing to engage, the moderator will be able to identify them more easily as the person causing trouble.

8. Please do not share the name of any Listener, Member or Guest that you have had a one-on-one chat with, or any details from these chats.
E.g.
♦ I was chatting with listenerX about this earlier.
♦ MemberZ told me about a similar problem in 1-1 chat.
♦ I hate PersonY. Im glad theyre not here.

9. Please refrain from revealing any other Listener, Member or Guest account that you own other than the one you are currently using.
E.g.
♦ My member name is XX, but this is my listener account!
♦ Ill just login to my listener account. One moment. ….. Okay, Im back on my listener account now!

10. Please do not share names of drugs or medication with others.
This is again, for safety reasons. You can discuss being on medication, or problems with drugs/addiction, but if you share the actual name of the drug or medication you may receive a warning.

11. If you are in the wrong age group, please log out and create an account using your correct date of birth.
You can receive this warning if you share that you are under 18 on the adult side, or 18+ on the teen side. Even if you claim you were only joking afterwards, you may still receive warnings if the moderator believes your original comment to be accurate. Take care not to joke about your age.

12. If you are a listener, please behave professionally at all times. Use your member account if you wish to seek support. Learn more about the role of a listener in group support or listener rooms.
Listeners may receive this warning if they are using the rooms to seek support for themselves on a listener account, or behaving unprofessionally. You can view the forum posts linked in the rule on the role of a listener in the chat rooms.

13. Regular support sessions and events are held in these rooms and will sometimes take priority over general chat. Please be respectful to the leaders and participants. These will last for one hour only. You can check the calendar to see what's on and learn more about discussions in this forum post.
You may receive this warning if you appear to be intentionally disrupting a support session or event. E.g.
♦ Talking about an unrelated topic.
♦ Engaging in any type of behaviour that ruins to discussion for other participants.

14. Please refrain from initiating or participating in discussion about religion or politics.
You would receive a warning for comments such as:
♦ Do you think God even exists?
♦ Who would you vote for in the next election?
♦ I think religion is stupid.
Or responding to someone elses conversation starter about religion or politics with your own thoughts/opinions on the topic.

15. Please ensure you do not have a profile picture or username that is graphic, abusive or inappropriate in nature.
You might receive this warning if you profile picture is gory, frightening or upsetting in someway. If you receive this warning, please go to Settings to change your profile picture or username. E.g.
♦ Images that involving blood or injuries, scary faces, horror movie type material or anything sexual in nature.
♦ Usernames that include swear words, abusive language, triggering imagery.

16. The Guest Support room is a space for guests to receive support. Members may participate in the room if helping to welcome and support guests. If you are not member giving support or a guest receiving support, please move to a member room. Guests may need to create a member account.
You can read more about this rule here.

What if I didnt even receive a warning before I was muted?
If you are muted, but did not receive any warnings, you were likely muted for one of the following:

17. To ensure a positive environment in group support, all users must be sober to participate.
♦ If you mention that you are currently high or drunk in the support room, you may be instantly muted.

18. Sending SPAM messages or attempting to clog the room by over-posting is not allowed.
♦ In this case, you would be muted for sending the same word/message repeatedly in a way that disrupts the room/s.

19. Any attempt to bypass a mute or account ban will be subject to further sanctions.
You would be instantly muted if it came to a moderators attention that you were using another account to bypass a recent mute. E.g.
♦ Im using this account because my other account was just muted.
♦ I had to create a new account because I got banned on my other.

If you feel you received a warning in error, do not panic. The warning will expire from your account after 6 hours. Warnings are only problematic if you continue to accrue them without a 6 hours break.

If you are now muted and feel this was in error, please report via this form.