@NadineH so many typos lol, I want to also add that the fact that the rooms now available for members who took the course and mods only didn't stop our lovely regular listeners from giving up and finding another room. Instead they all switched to members just for the sake of the room. All what is happening really did make all the regulars come together and fight for it, and I'm so glad you all did <3

@NadineH great post, I agree.

I noticed you said: "Yes a lot of wrong things happened and sometimes mistakes happen but that doesn't mean that it should be shut down completely."

^^^that has happened in every room!! 😀 Should they all be shut down? Should future rooms be shut down before they open, to uh, protect people?

Here's to embracing diversity and human nature. 😀

.~. stop following me. it makes me feel unsafe.

Hi everyone,

This is turning into a very heated debate. It is interesting to see all the differing opinions.

Thinking space is a good place to have discussions on various issues. We ve had some lovely discussions held by the moderators of thinking space about current affairs ethics and hobbies. The moderators sometimes hold quizzes in there too. Everyone is always welcome in thinking space. Please remember that everyone is entitled to have an opinion and it's important to respect everyone s opinion.

@ShyMap840

Unless your opinion goes against the mods'/admins'/random trolls' opinion. If it does then you're an awful person who needs to pass a compassion test and never speak of things you care about, and might need support for, again.

@House2011 - I get that you're feeling hurt and attacked but I feel like this way of complaining about it doesn't get us any closer to a solution, but instead tends to prolong or increase polarization.

conflict by itself is dramatic but it's not very constructive. instead of framing things in terms of how terrible and unfair they are and sort of loosely assuming people have bad motives and are against you, imagine if we got past that and looked for common interests and new ways to get more people what they want?

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn

Do i need to be more dramatic, is that the problem? There's not really any solution to be had in this, same as there was no real problem to begin with.

@House2011 - less drama would be better :)

i feel like we're getting somewhere. for you, there was no problem before. any complaints & any changes in rules etc to deal with a problem is therefore a bad idea, adn the actual problem. Is that a fair restatement of how you see it?

I don't want to dismiss alternate views out of hand. I'd really like to get differing interpretations of the same place out in the open to be understood better and discussed fairly.

Is there a way to bring out how what other people have seen as problems, how you think they are arising and could be handled better WITHOUT making it about individuals and what they did or didn't imply in some earlier exchange?

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn

That's exactly what was said over a week ago, very politely and calmly, by various ts regulars.

There's not really much else to be discussed honestly. You've made your decisions, you implemented your test for whatever purpose it was meant to serve, what else is there to be done at this point, besides just closing the room down entirely?

@House2011 - i think it's fair to say that your perspective hasn't gotten a fair shake but that's partly because it doesn't really explain the perceived problem except to say there is no problem.

i'm asking for a look at what is going on, from your point of view. any rule can be changed or evolved, etc. of course. this is all a work in progress.

but if there are two different, incompatible, views of what is going on we need to spell them both out and figure out what is possible.

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn

We described the dynamics rather well I'd say, early on in this thread. Those thoughts seem to have been met with nothing more than to say a problem is perceived, even with no actual claims besides calling the room negative and rude, and so something must be done, and something was done. What effect that action had i don't know since i haven't been in the room since, but i can't see it having done anything but keep new people out so they can't complain.

@House2011 - I think things we partly spelled out but if there is basic disagreement ("there is a problem" vs "no, there is no problem") then we need to explore further to find the commonality.

I hope you get back into the room soon and that we can find a way forward that preserves the unique value of the TS room while also making it less troublesome for those who find it hard to deal with.

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn

Do not complain about people like me.
I will take you to forums, and group chats, and self help guides, and upvote you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without thinking about me like blood in your mouth.
I will upvote you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why hurricanes are named after people.

@Versatchy - charming but I'm off this weekend

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn Hurricane Krink has blown out of town! Hahaha! Have a great weekend.

@ladylazarus1971 - our excitable friend does have a flair for the dramatic!

@House2011

hi house,

thankyou for telling me that

What I find sad is:

1. There isn't any proof that there is a serious problem or a serious problem that is unique to Thinking Space. I'm not saying there isn't a problem, but it's just not clear yet.

2. The causes of all the phenomena that could occur in Thinking Space have been discussed with some explainations I think seeming to be pretty clear and unchallenged so far.

3. Reasonable solutions have been given and bad solutions have been ridiculed.

4. A weird solution was used that doesn't make much sense, a compassion test and no access for listeners.

5. @Laura @Heather @Glen haven't said anything. They haven't given any thoughts on what they think is happening in Thinking Space, if they see a problem, haven't put forth evidence for a problem, haven't given any thoughts about what could be a solution. They haven't even released the results of the survey they did about what people wanted Thinking Space to be about, in terms of intellectual discussions vs. casual chat.

I don't believe in democracy either, but I find it a bit lame to make people think it's a democracy, ask for their input, and then do the complete opposite. At this point I don't see why we should continue this thread, or any thread in which they ask for feedback or solutions, except just for fun.

Okay, it's been 11 days since the last post I believe, but I still felt the need to give my input, as I have a strong (and radical, seeing the opinions here) opinion about this matter.

Returning to 7Cups, I had a very impartial, unprejudiced opinion about the group chats of 7Cups. Never had I ever been in a group chat on the adult side before, but it seemed nice enough.
First thing; every chatroom has a community. That's psychologically logical behaviour; Of course people tend to stick together when they have problems that have similar grounds and experiences. Some chatrooms are harder to fit in with - others are much easier. This is based on your character, whatever you are dealing with and... Practically everything.

Anyway, back to the point. I checked around for a bit, but finally found a connection in Thinking Space. In this moment of time, I want to remind everyone that I was a newcomer, without any connection to members that were 'regulars' or anything. More than in the other chatrooms, I found a nice conversation that took my mind off of things. To put it in a more compact conclusion: in Thinking Space I found exactly that what I was looking for. People with a sense of sarcastic comedy and chatter that could both be laughable and serious at the same time.

Quickly after that, Thinking Space dissapeared from my chatroomlist and I asked around where it went. In other chatrooms I did not find the sense of compassion mixed with mockery that I liked so very much.
In addition, I often found that the cliques were very tight and I barely got answers to my questions. This, I found important to say, because many of problematics stated above, are not Thinking-Space-horros only.

Anyway, the compassion test was... Okay to do. It was hard to find for someone who had just joined the renovated site, but I passed and got back into 'the game'.

From now on, I'm doing my best not to fall into cheesy cliché's, but here I go. The people in Thinking Space are some of the funniest people I've met and sincerely made me laugh out loud. I get that it's not for everyone though - the humour can be dark as the night sky and the subject can be a little controversial. But overall the crowd is nice and also to me, 'the newcomer'.
It hasn't been months or something - I think I joined about three weeks ago - and I don't even feel like 'the newcomer' anymore. That air is absent, although I do think that's common for chat rooms as the internet tends to move fast.
What I mean with this, is that the 'abusive, unsupportive and harrassing behaviour' seems kind of overdone.

Why does it not seem so to me, and very much so to some others? I can't think of a proper reason, really. But in the same way I can't imagine seeing someone being 'bullied' away. It's not that I don't believe that people had negative responses in that room and might even have felt harrassed, but today, I can barely imagine it.
Although the chat does tend to move quickly sometimes; at busy hours it's chaotic and some newcomers don't get greeted in the rush of it all.

Lately, people talked how it was a shame that there were so little new people in the room. It's fun to get to know more people that have similar interests and likings, but the compassion test sets the bar high as it already has this reputation.
Not that I'm fundamentally against the compassion test, it's just that in my opinion, it also makes this room an exclusion.

Furthermore, about the discussions. It's true that there aren't often any 'intellectual discussions'. But many take it very far and say that serious conversation is impossible. Here, I take an obvious stance on the other side of the line. Serious conversation does happen, but less than in other rooms that are based on fighting depression, anxiety and other subjects.
To make it even more radical: twice, I have asked people what their opinions were on very exceptional matters. It wasn't bad, but I suppose it couldn't have been spoken about in other chatrooms. In Thinking Space, my points were considered and answered to in a serious way.

About the moderators: I agree with what someone said just up here. You have moderators that mix in the conversations and clearly show respect for the individual members and you have moderators who watch and mute whenever is needed. Not to attack anyone, it's an observation without opinion. Of course both ways have their qualities and flaws and with this in mind, I think extra monitoring wouldn't do any good to either parties. Members would (I think) become rather aggravated with this disrespect, moderators would have to deal with unnecessary resistance.

Furthermore, and I don't mean to be aggressive, I find it very hard to see how others think they deserve respect when they go around calling people 'viruses'. How they can call a group poisonous and then expect to not have reactions that go against them. Not even harrassing reactions, but reactions that clearly disagree. No one likes to be called that way and I think it's very foreign that it's used in a discussion.
There are reactions that I find unprofessional, unneeded, overly rude and downright childish and that's just as ''bad'' as how people claim Thinking Space to be.

You might find my opinion too subjective and very unstable because of that, but hating the room is the same. One has seen the other, negative end of Thinking Space, but I have seen mostly good. In this thread, I think it's not needless to add my experiences to the equation. It's easy to burn something down, after all.
It may not have been the most useful anecdote and I probably will remember tons of things I forgot to say in a few minutes, but here is a baseground.

Now I'm going to sleep, as it's about 2AM - I beforehand apologize for any grammar mistakes as I'm not native and very sleepy, but I felt the need to say this. Hope it helps.

So good night everyone, hope you folks dream well.

@ReliableJarAnonyCat

Thanks for sharing your experience:)

@ReliableJarAnonyCat Thank you very much for your input! It's much appreciated! :)

I've been in TS maybe twice -- once or twice when it was unoccupied, then again after taking the Compassion Course, where I rode the wild merry-go-round ride that it is! It lifted my spirits being in there, and when i gather more courage (for I'm a slow typist) I'll go back! :D It sure beats the usually low energy of the Depression rooms for lifting spirits with high energy. I totally get why people polarize over what goes on in the room. Either you love or hate it. You can't remain indifferent. It's keep up or get ignored; join in or get left behind. Really the same thing as in other rooms, just at a faster pace, if we are honest about how the chat rooms really work. I think modding is necessary there, but not strict repressive modding. How do you mod maenads and madmen having a blast? And really, why would you? But why not rename it? Maybe Blinking Space. Or Bouncing Space. Or Outer Space, etc. Or ask the TSers to rename themselves. Let them be who they are, and let all of us who wish to join in, or join them as a regular, do so. Make another room for thoughtful, intellectual convos. Such is my two cents. :) Thanks.

@redKite4725 - makes a lot of sense to me.

would there be any harm to this?

hi

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

How can I access it?

@willingWater3004

Search for the thread, type 'thinking space' then just post on the thread, then you will see it in your chatroom list !!

Oh my goodness people have so much time on there hands they are on here whining and complaining about every little detail that they can find dont like the TS room don't look at it don't read it don't like what people say or do on there simple ignore it and do ya own thing its that easy they ain't in your private message chat box thing annoying you every second of the day are they there leaving you alone aren't they well then you do what you want to do on 7 cups and they do what they want to do on here they can't be monitoring every single message that pops up on here they are not doing any harm to you personally and besides every one can stand up for them self's they have a brain and a mouth if someone is bothering them they can tell the other person what for in a polite way and leave the thinking space room for good people just have way to much time on there hands and like to complain about everyone else Instead of thinking about what you are all doing yourself you obliviously came to 7 cups for something not to come here and complain about every tiny thing that you see don't like it ignore it don't look at it don't go Into the forum topic than simple and easy as that.....

Thinking space