Roles within our community

The roles we have here and what they mean to us, is a point I have been wanting to discuss for a while.

In society we all have a number of roles; child, parent, sibling, employee, colleague, friend, volunteer, student….None of these roles make us a better person than anyone else, they are just different choices and paths we have taken and the relationships that we have with others on our journey through life. Similar to society we have different roles within our community, these roles describe different tasks, all of which need to be fulfilled in order for the site to function.

On 7 cups we are all on very different journeys, we each have different goals, aspirations, struggles and strengths. We cannot compare our journeys or judge them against each other. Instead I would much rather see us celebrating and encouraging each other.

There have been some debates about people bragging about badges, I have a perspective on this that I would love the community to share. Individuals set themselves goals, some may be awarded with a badge, a review, some feedback or even a feeling, all are valid and as personal achievements all should be celebrated. I have often seen people come into a chatroom full of excitement at being awarded a badge that they have been working on. I am so happy for that individual as it is apparent it is a personal achievement to them and it really means something. This does not reflect or impact on my own goals or sense of achievement as it may not be part of my path. That does not make it invalid nor does it alter anybodys status.

There have been a lot of ways to describe the paths on 7cups; these include phrases like levelling up, gaining status, accruing badges and many more. We all came to 7cups with different ideas and goals, I personally look at my path here as a journey of personal growth. I am happy with what I have achieved, skills I have gained and ideas I have managed to implement, at no point on my path do I compare myself to others, or question my worth. Some of us are great innovators, others are great emotional supporters, others excel in technical solutions and some are great leaders, we should all aim to be the best that we can be. I will never be great at IT, I have long accepted this and appreciate all those who do excel and can help me out, similarly not everyone is great at leadership or at developing ideas, but this does not take away from the strengths that they do have. Be the best you can be, at whatever it is you want to do.

I would really love if the whole community can start looking at each other as people first, on an individual journey where we all cross paths and ultimately pull together to make this site work.