Profanity in the Forums
This post is to clarify when profanity (swearing, cursing) is allowed in the forums.
Profanity is not allowed in thread titles, in any form. Users must be respectful of one another, so it cannot be used against other users. Some communities may choose to not allow it at all, please check the individual community guidelines by looking under About on that community page.
Profanity may be used to express yourself when seeking support in forum posts. Be considerate when posting to a thread started by someone else, not everyone is comfortable having profanity in a thread. You may get around the censor in the forums so the entire word doesn’t appear as *** but please add a trigger warning if you do this. Do not use profanity excessively. (Note using profanity and avoiding the censor is prohibited in the group chatrooms).
To summarize, you may use profanity if you are doing all of the below:
Using a member account
Being respectful of other 7 Cups users
Posting to a community that doesn’t prohibit profanity
It is not in a thread title
If you get around the censor you add a trigger warning [TW] in the Title
Not using it excessively
You can read the 7 Cups Guidelines Here, profanity in the forums is covered under Excessive Inappropriate and Graphic Language of the forum guidelines.
For listeners:
Cursing is not considered professional behavior for a listener and would not be acting in the listener role. Rules in other areas of the site specify that listeners should always behave in a professional manner, and that graphic language should be avoided, particularly in public spaces (e.g., username, bio, or picture).
With the censor, when *** appears in a post of yours it may be assumed profanity was used even if it was not. Please reach out, you can flag your post and make an edit request in the additional details or you can reach out to a forum team member, community mentor, or community mentor leader to have it edited.
@AffyAvo Yes, thanks for reminding everyone.
There is also this part that I want to emphasize from the expanded guidelines:-
[on listener account] [any amount of cursing] Cursing is not considered professional behavior for a listener and would not be acting in the listener role. Rules in other areas of the site specify that listeners should always behave in a professional manner, and that graphic language should be avoided, particularly in public spaces (e.g., username, bio, or picture).
The problems may come when there are *** in a post and how to differentiate between the censor, or the user actually typing the *** but, either way, this should be deemed to be cursing. If a user notices that their choice of a word has been censored they can message one of the forum team, community mentor, or community mentor leader who can edit their post.
This is the form to recommend a word be added or removed from the censor > Click Here <
Listening - One Step At A Time!
@AffyAvo
Hi Affy! 😊❤️ Many thanks for this great forum post!
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
Just wondering how to know whether something gets through the censor before posting - or how to add the tw after the fact... Sounds impossible to me, unless he censor block list is public? Or will it stop people from posting, instead of just adding asterisks?
@cloudySummer Pretend for a minute book is a curse word. If I were to write book and if it was in the censor it would appear as *** if I write b00k though or b*ok I would be choosing to get around the censor and that's when we ask a trigger warning to be added.
@AffyAvo Heh, no - I was asking about the order. How could I know which word I'm trying to write is in the list before I have posted something already? And how would I add a trigger warning before that, if I hadn't known it? It seems like I'd need to be able to time travel to fulfill that requirement.
@cloudySummer If you're unaware something is on the list you probably wouldn't be altering characters of that word to avoid the censor. So you might just write book and then it would appear as *** and there would be no need for a TW. If you already added a TW that is ok too.
If someone wants their post changed, they can reach out, including by flagging and describing it in additional details. For example something comes out as *** but they want it to look like b*ok (and the requirements mentioned in the opening post are met), the forum team can make that edit.
@AffyAvo Thanks, I get it now!
@AffyAvo
ty i didnt know this :)
@AffyAvo
One thing I do appreciate about 7 Cups of Tea is that there is much swearing profanity. At least from what I have seen.
@LovingPeacefulHeart Yes, I think there's a pretty good balance between allowing people to express themselves while keeping it from being excessive!
@AffyAvo exactly! Moderation is also considerate for folks so may be offended or triggered my (excessive) profanity (like myself).
I understand that it gets censored and it doesn't bother me. I've made the mistake of cursing before in posts and felt guilty when expressing my frustrations. It's good that it isn't an outright punishable offense though except I'm sure in extreme circumstances.
I realize the intent and the fact that being a Listener is a professional role and must be handled professionally. One of my areas of specialty is sexual issues, problems, or complaints. I must admit that it's frustrating to try to determine what someone is talking about when most of their discussion includes *** *** *** **** and **** but **** and **** of course, ****.
Annoying. I cannot even use words to reframe what they said to gain clarity either because even my words are censored. At that point, we are FAILING to communicate.
I get it; we want to create a safe space for everyone. We want to prevent 7 Cups from becoming a sewer of filthy language which can lead to inappropriate behaviors.
Yet, I also think about the nature of what we do at 7 Cups. We listen. Life is not always rosy and pretty, and certainly, we all know that - but sometimes, words we use to convey emotions on an electronic platform are difficult and require the right swear words to get an emotional position across the right way. That is what we encourage members to do, right? Communicate, VENT, and air out their frustrations - pretty hard to do when you're censored to death.
Oh, and thank whoever posted the link for adding/removing words that are censored.
I will only point out that I always work hard to never swear as a Listener. However, I will sometimes match the member's temperament - because in many cases, they are looking for an ally, someone that truly listens to them, meets them at their level, and sometimes swearing to get that connection is very necessary to gain unity.
@Sventek
I agree with you life is hard and you can't paint a different picture of life by censorship of a person who is trying to express themselves at the time they are needing to express themselves and to be heard by someone. I understand the concept of moderation and trying to avoid hurting someone. But when a person needs to vent and it involves the use of profanity to express themselves then should be allowed. Especially in the areas in you are a listener and trying to help someone. I have felt that frustrated when I have been trying to express myself in a listening session. When I try to express myself or vent to a listener I don't think I get my myself across to the Listener. I know profanity is not used in a professional setting but I am not in a professional role when I talk to a listener I am there for help, express myself, and to vent to someone who wants to listen. It helps to be able to fully express yourself with the fear of being censored. Life is not easy and reality is hard and being able to vent and fully express yourself on site meant to help those of with mental health issues find support is not easy with the stigma against people who want help for themselves. That is why I am here for the protection of the anonymity of the 7 Cups format that allows me to avoid the stigma that society puts upon people that come to seek professional help for our issues. But of a tangent there but my point is censorship of expressions don't help us to get that help. Thank you for the love and listening and help you give us.
@Sventek Hi there. I gave the link to the censor.
I just wanted to make it clear that this particular thread is about swearing in the forums, especially swearing in the Title. For 1-1 pm's there appear to be different censor words. Which makes sense as 1-1 is private, personal, and not permanently on view to thousands of users some as young as 13.
This is the form to recommend a word be added or removed from the censor > Click Here <
Listening - One Step At A Time!
@AffyAvo
thank you so much for this informative and helpful post, i think that by setting boundaries in 7 Cups, everyone is guaranteed to benefit from this!
@AffyAvo thank you so much for the clarification and information!♥
