Rumor Spreading & information about rumors
Hello community!
I am writing about an important topic: Rumors.
At some point in our lives, we've all been told something that cannot be verified as true, this is a rumor.
A rumor is: a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.
When you spread a story about someone or something that is not true you are acting similar to how a bully would. You are perpetuating false information which is incredibly hurtful to the individuals involved. Additionally, you are brining down the culture of 7 Cups.
If you hear a rumor, please keep it to yourself. Be the reason the rumor stops spreading. And remind the person who told you that their actions are very hurtful.
If someone comes on to 7 Cups using a guest account to spread a rumor, please ban these accounts immediately. These are people who are going out of their way to inject harmful, misinformation into our community. In this post on mutual responsibility, I talk about the importance of removing bad actors as a community. It is everyone's responsibility to remove bad actors when we see them and report bad behaviors when we encounter them. If you do not report them, you are contributing to a culture of dishonesty, rumor spreading and harmful behavior.
This post is especially important for our teen community. As young adults, you are more susceptible to these behaviors. Teens, please carefully review this post, report any necessary behaviors and stop rumors in their tracks.
@iara will be posting on this topic in more depth shortly.
Thank you for the post @Laura. It's kind of true, rumors happen now or then - especially in the Teen community. I can totally understand how hurtful it can be to hear false information from people who should help and support us, and I hope this post will make everyone feel safer.
I've got a few questions, but I'll wait for Iara's post (:
Thank you SO much for this amazing post, @Laura. It was really, really needed. Having been moderating the group support chats for a while, I have noticed so many rumors being spread not only amongst listeners, but amongst members too. There is no purpose of this meaningless gossip and it only leads to hurting someone else. I've had numerous hurt listeners and members PM me for support and as happy as I am to help them, it breaks my heart to see how our loving community can have people like this. I try my best to stop this from spreading in the chatroom and try to steer the discussion towards a better track. However, it is really saddening to see the involvement of some listeners which is really unprofessional on their part.
I do agree that it might be a bigger problem on the teens side, but it is not really that small a problem on the adults side as well. I really hope we can work as a community to eliminate this and spread positivity :D
Thank you for this post. Im so glad that someone could shed light on this topic. ~ Rumors are super harmful and hopefully this will provide others some insight.
@heartsNcupcakes I agree with your comments.
something that cannot be verified as true, this is a rumor.
A rumor is: a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.
You mean like when guests press the "report" button for non-reportable offenses ? Those cannot be verified as true, but whe we complain about them, we're told to just be cool about it, accept our "coaching" email (even though we dont need one) and just let it roll off our backs.
Easy to say when it doesn't happen to *you*, but now it sounds like something has struck a nerve with you. Just like you have said, if we hear something, doesn't matter if it was a "reported" violation or something that was said here, we can't be sure if it's true or not. So let's not rush to judgement, as you are suggesting we do. Judgement is harmful, and only leads to conflict. If I hear something from anyone on this site, member, guest, etc, even from you, I'm going to have to take it seriously. Just like your report policy. If the rules are good enough for you to follow with regard to us, they are certainly good enough for us to follow with you. :)
Hi there, @wonderfulEyes36 !
I think there may need to be some clarification regarding this. Spread of rumors is a huge problem as our CM, Laura, is posting about. If someone tells us something, it's our responsibility to make sure it gets to the right place, not to spread it to someone else. A rumor is when information passes between individuals who are not involved in the situation and trying to spread it or just tell their friends.
For hypothetical purposes, let's say a member talks to listener B about something another listener A did. If Listener B goes and tells someone else, they are contributing to spreading rumors. What Listener B should be doing is encouraging the member to report Listener A. At some point, that telephone chain needs to end and go straight to a CM in order for it to be addressed.
If someone hits report on someone, that is not a rumor. Rather, that is a report, true or false. If a guest or member reports something that isn't true, those flags can be removed. However, the staff won't know if they need to be removed unless a listener lets them know the context of them. The same can be done for reporting.
> Spread of rumors is a huge problem
So is falsely reporting people. I'm just saying why should there be this unanimous response for one, but not the other ? You aren't suggestion that a problem is more severe just by who it affects, are you ? We all feel emotions equally.
Spread of rumors is vastly different than false reporting in just the nature of what is going on.
Spreading rumors are situations that cannot be verified as truth or created specifically with the intention of spreading inaccurate information. A good example of this is the recent situation where there was the rumor that mute logs could be accessed and shared by "hackers." Another example is if listeners tell each other to avoid someone based on hearsay. If someone is creating accounts to go to all the listeners they can reach and say "7 Cups will ban you if you don't give me money" or "Laura is going to ban your account because you don't verify your account on this website (provides fake link)," that's an example where they should be banned from the site because those are obviously untrue statements.
False reporting is the action of reporting an individual for something that is not true. If someone has a false report, then the individual can talk to the staff to clarify the situation and let them know that it was not a fair report or the result of a member who is intentionally trying to hurt someone by getting their account rejected. However, I do want to add that not every coaching email is going to be the result of a fake review. This does happen, but if we receive coaching emails and automatically say "This is bullocks. I don't need to work on professionalism," we are limiting our options for growth and improvement. There are times where it is completely obvious that a disgruntled member, a member who is purposely trying to harm someone files a fake review, or a situation where the member is consistently harassing a listener. Those need to be raised to the attention of the staff and reported so that it can be handled appropriately.
I'm not saying that false reporting doesn't happen or is not a problem, but it is different than the spread of rumors.
@wonderfuleyes36
I would like to expand briefly on what @Kane has just said on the subject of false reporting and remind the community too that with L-L behaviour reporting it is important that listeners only report behaviour that they come into contact with first hand. If a listener comes to me and tells me a story about something someone else has said to them, or something someone else has apparently witnessed in the chat room, and I then file a report, that becomes hearsay and it will be treated as such. This is nothing more than reporting a rumor.
L-L behaviour reporting however is our official process at 7cups for reporting hurtful or inappropriate behaviour that is harmful to our community and @Laura has a duty of care to read, respond and a give feedback for each report submitted. Through this process it will become very clear whether this is hearsay or a rumour and the report will for the most part be disregarded and you will be given the benefit of the doubt.
It is important though, that even if one feels they have been reported unfairly that one remains respectful and professional throughout the process should @Laura contact you to discuss this. Sure it can feel awful to be falsely reported for something but we are here to support you if that is the case.
Thank you for this post Laura! Im glad this is being looked into <3
Hey lovelies! Just wanted to say my post about how to address rumors/gossip is up and readable!
@Laura thanks for all your brilliant words! We really appreciate you doing your best for the community!
Fortunately I have not had to deal with this yet since I am just starting to go into forums now, but I am hoping my reading all of these posts that I will be better prepared to do a good job and not incite conflict or negativity. I realize that those feelings will exist but I hope that I can be a calming factor while learning how to moderate discussions and participate in all aspects of 7 Cups of Tea. I am reading and taking all suggestions to heart before I start this new journey.
I appreciate everyone's comments and opinions, they are very helpful to those of us just beginning.
We are here to protect each other and be nothing but uplifting. The information here is vital.
@Laura
@avaboo