Qn'A/ AMA Session w/ Group Support Manager

Hello, 7Cuppers,

I hope you feeling like a sunny day at the beach.

As you might be aware of our weekly group support chat with me every Sunday. I am thankful to all who able to join this chat and represent the community to share concerns, suggestions and problem-solving. It inspires me how you all work together as a team and up to problem-solve and discuss everything and anything in between.

But, as we are unable to have all thoughts and views from different time zones in live chat, I am starting this thread to discuss any questions, concerns, suggestions to problem solve and troubleshoot the challenges we have. I know we have a lot to improve and work and we will do it to keep progressing.

I need your help!! - I know forum posts can be lost in so many posts and it becomes difficult to keep track of it. Also, many members do not have even an idea that we have these updates. So I need your help to share and spread the information to all who are unaware of it so they also learn about it and make better use of the site to seek and provide support. I believe we cannot reach everyone but everyone can reach out to someone to help.

Speaking of that, I want to share answers to some questions that popped up during yesterday's chat and in the comments in a different forum post in the last week.

1. After new criteria changes, I am unable to join rooms?

As per our observation, many of us are missing a common badge i.e. Listener Oath for listener account and Member Oath for the member account.

Take the pledge/ oath by checking these threads and posting your oath as well in the same thread- Listener Oath here (only for listeners) and Member Oath here (only for members). (All the blue links are hyperlinked and clickable)

But if you are still unable to join rooms, you can check here and ensure you have all the three badges in your account.

2. What's with the Oath pledge taking? Will it end up in a cult?

I know the term "Oath" sounds quite formal. I understand your thoughts on it and I know many of us are uncomfortable taking it. The purpose of it is just a friendly reminder of what we do here and the same we expect you to do. We are in a community set up where we not only take care and love ourselves but for others as well who join us.

I know many of us are already doing what mentioned in the Oath statements. So, it is simply a reminder of "Why are we here?"

So, I ask you all to take the oath, have the badge to access rooms while remembering that your contributions will make a difference in improving the community to provide better support and user experience.

3. We need additional support rooms to get support. The one support room isn't enough.

I totally hear you and we will consider it to figure out if it is feasible for us. In the meantime, I request you to utilize all the rooms available to get support.

• To do this, the better way is to set a boundary - Use Support Room 24/7 for support purposes while Community Room for the lighthearted chats. If you find anyone crossing this boundary, remind them of the purpose of the room and ask them to switch to another room.
• Secondly, when you find a room crowded (15-20 participants) where you cannot keep up with the chat and are able to share your thoughts and concerns, switch to another room which probably is slow (0-10 participants) to engage.

Reminder, resources are a big constraint we all have. So, ensure to optimize the resources we already have while we figure out new ways to acquire better resources to meet our needs.

4. Open more rooms or make them regular like earlier.

We are trying all the alternatives to provide the best experience to you. But, we cannot make rooms regular as we want to ensure a safe and moderated space for all. Also, our resources are limited.

I believe we are opening more rooms right now. All the leaders open different rooms at a different time and host guided discussions, open chats, etc. So, I think we better optimize these rooms to participate and have support or casual chats.

5. I wasnt active on 7cups for months and re-joined a few days ago. I feel lost. What should I do?

I understand how one feels lost after being away for some time. To stay tuned with what happened during your absence, you can do two key things-

• Reach out to someone you know already and ask them to give a briefing of what happened when you were away.
• Ensure to check all your notifications and you might be likely to catch up on some of the new updates and then going backward, you may be able to connect the dots. Though, it will require a bit of time and effort.

Also, it doesnt mean you shouldnt take self-care. We encourage self-care and real-life priorities. So, have it and when you need it. To update what happened here, we all are here to help.

Please feel free to post all your doubts, questions, concerns here! I'll try my best to answer it to help you out. We are here with you. Thank you for all your great work and support. I appreciate your contributions and patience.

Info you might find helpful!

• FAQs
• Stars of the Week!
• More Group Support Updates!

@GlenM @Heather225 @Hope @WendyBird15 @BrilliantTurtle89 @KindSoul10