Room Announcement

@caringPanda45

Well said, Panda.

@caringPanda45 Very well said Panda

@caringPanda45 Yes times infinify!! Its practically the SAME reason they dont have Adults and teens chatting together (but I heard that was legal stuff)

We the older people used 35+ to reminisce about old times. I went into the Support room and said I missed the 70s and 80s. All I got was 😳😳😳 reactions. Also I already got AGE SHAMED 5 minutes into being in one of the rooms. I cant go into what happened but it was pretty bad. Also, I got labeled :( "cishet" its nice to know that the LGBTQ has a label for me. I guess I'll have to make one for them!! What comes around goes around.

Unbelievable mess 7cups!

Hi, I believe we members are the real reason this site a place that can support all people. It's all us members who are all passionately sharing from our hearts, with deep empathy, and care. Many members work very hard choosing the right words to convey amazing encouragement and wisdom.

We all have eagarly contributed wonderful advice, kindness, and our intellectual gems of knowlege (giving up our intellectual property rights) to give the very best of ourselves in an attempt to help others have healing experiences, and as we honestly engauge in these great mutal conversations and joint efforts to find healing, we give it all freely!

If 7cups leaders dont stop the chaos, and quickly learn to respect all the unique fountain of member's gifts, efforts and value all this free wisdom it's members bring out of the kindness of their hearts for free; "then soon somebody will create some place that will"!

There is to much suffering and money should never be an issue!

One good complex algorithm programing process of calculations could make the feed work correctly and free forever, and all other problems could also be alieviated so this is an easy to use welcoming place of refuge.

Members come to this site suffering from many of life's deep disapointments and 7cups gains extremely valuable information in this process which they used to generate great income for 7cups. They use what they learn from us to fill their pockeys! And can be writing best seller self-help books, manuals, guides, and to train mental health and professionals, and so much more. Profits should be used to better help society - this should be the primary goal!

Members offer these gems freely and for free in an exchange for having a place to be mutually helpful for everyone. So they (7cups) need to step it up and make the fixes that enable member to member messages to be gauranteed of delivery, and a cutomizable feed each member can control, plus a system in place for quick problem solving when a member sees something important needing editing, repair, or is malfunctioning.

Lives are on the line here.

This is no joke!

The emotions and feelings of all members of a website like this are an absolute nessesity here.

Members should be happy, feel respected, and know they are important on any site that wants the responsibility of all of our lives!

I dont want to be here if the top people are going to neglect us in the many ways ive heard about, and am currently personally experiencing. Come on 7cups.

ALL OUR LIVES MATTER!!

@humorousDay8793 I can't agree enough. You put it so well.

@optimisticDreamer3906

Thank you, I had a feeling many of us see it like that and it had to be said in a nice but clear way. I hope the right people read it, and i hope more people push them to improve so i dont have to write the new programming and start my own peer to peer for all of us.

Lot of work😊

@humorousDay8793

@GlenM Hi there! i

Let me first start if by saying I feel like a change like this was needed. I have joined many chat rooms recently with a lot of unsopptive behaviour.

Saying that there have also been many rooms with supportive behaviour.

I personally think this has been rushed and because of that a lot of the community feels upset. I feel a major change like this should not be done within 1-2 days. It should of been given the opportunity for the communities feedback and worked with the community to make this change.

I know the goal is to make group support a supportive environment and that's what the goal should be and that goal should not be taken away by the communities ideas. Although I still think we should of been given a chance to talk about it.

Time will tell ❤️ And I do hope this is for the better.

@Peter1447

You said:

"I personally think this has been rushed and because of that a lot of the community feels upset. I feel a major change like this should not be done within 1-2 days."

I personally disagree with you 100% on that. I don't see anywhere that "a lot of the community feels upset" in such a brief period of time since GlenM, the founder and CEO of 7 Cups, made this announcement, as very few read the forum notifcations anyways nor care about it, and I strongly believe that changes should be made immediately if not sooner to put all but an end to the inane trolling going on lately, especially in the member hangout room. That room is the pits at times lately. :(

@Marcolite Perhaps you haven't read all the comments in the forum posts about this issue - most of the comments are negative/against it.

@fearlessWriter78

Still, even hours later now at this time since Glen's post, regardless of the negative comments, I am overjoyed and exuberant that the changes went through so fast. It's now a sheer pleasure to see fresh new names in the Member Community (yay no more "hangout" connotation attached to it) room that previously was beyond stale and stagnant with the same old members, and a few of them being the same old trolls too. It's truly a great and momentous day at 7 Cups. Thank you GlenM.

@GlenM

Could you possible elaborate on the reasoning behind the group chat changes?
I know in the 35+ room, people are very worried. I've noticed that that's the only room I'm comfortable in, and I was happy that I had found a room that fits me. I'd hate to see it go.

@Envisage Hey there! The changes have come about to ensure our rooms are safe and supportive. There have been new requirements added so that we will experience less trouble. The rooms will also be moderated when they do open. We are not deleting chatrooms but instead requiering a moderator to be present. This means there is still an opportunity for mods to open rooms and member to gain that support and connection as much as possible. Hope that makes sense.

The badge requirements sound nice :) I don't think confident voice is really an appropriate one though since a lot of people go to the chatrooms so they don't have to talk 1 on 1. It's a big reason people find safety in the group discussions; because they have other members to look to. Making them confront 5 listeners alone is kinda a big ask for someone who struggles with that sort of close interaction. Participating in group chats is easy. It helps us feel safe knowing that we're not being spoken directly to most of the time. It lets us learn the community quickly and settle in.

I know security of chatrooms is important. I'd love to see better verification and permanent bans to those who aren't here to construct anything for the community. I'd like to see some sort of moderation to take care of dangerous topics and users. But with this move I see the isolation of a large count of members.

On a bit of a more bitter note, it'd be nice if the development and changes team were to discuss potential updates with a decent notice. Both this and the last notice regarding feeds being removed overnight have been handled poorly in my opinion. Near zero suggestion or warning that this was coming. Zero discussion. We're part of the community and we're invested into its future. It would be nice to have a some input, rather than having to voice our grievances to a thread that will be met with " Sorry to hear you're upset" or something similar. It's frustrating and this creating a rift between designers of this space and users of this space.

@MountainBubble

Ive tried the rooms and hated them, felt like there are clicks that dominate them and felt very uncomfortable each time so i dont plan on ever trying them again. F the badges, im not here for notority, just some safe help.

@humorousDay8793 I completely agree about cliques and closed conversation in group chats. When this gets going the chat is often centred about a couple people and very uninviting for newcomers. Definitely a point that I think needs to be adressed via moderators as it's hard to make an automated solution to this; it's just unfortunately the way of lot of friend circles develop and that's not the environment I'm looking to forward in anyway.

Boundaries need to be set so people who are new do not feel lightyears behind everyone else in terms of connections and in turn, isolated. I'm happy this behaviour is one of the things they mentioned

What I'm trying to say with badges is that sealing off a form of support to people who are uncomfortable with talking to listeners shouldn't be a by-product of security

@MountainBubble

I totally agree, ive only been welcomed to a room once. Very much felt like the new kid in school in the middle of the school year.

Uncomfortable!

They can keep their useless badges.

Badges are just a way they can blow smoke right up our a $$es

it's quite impossible to speak for months and not get 'familiar' with one another.
it's quite difficult to start collecting names "all over again" if you already know 50 users from Cups, and have to know new users. Im not here to make friends. Knowing 50 lives is already too much. Sometimes we dont speak to new people because WE HAVE A LOT OF 'PEOPLE' in our head!

Just want to provide some vantage from the position of those who have been here for a while. We are not cliquish.

@GlenM Coincidentally (I assume), about an hour after this announcement Tumblr announced that they now support unlimited group chats for all their users: Oh, no. Oh, dear. We have awful news. We accidentally added group chats to Tumblr.

Charlie

@RarelyCharlie Really? That sounds very coincidental.

@RarelyCharlie

Whats tumbr?

Thanks

@humorousDay8793 A sort of social networking site.

@optimisticDreamer3906

Oh, thanks. This (7cups) is as close to social media as ill get.

😲 Im worried and have major trust issues

.....working on it though😊

Dear 7cup i'm not good at handeling changes ... even a little change can confuse me ... hope u think about people like us ♥

@SleepyHeart1

Thank you for saying that, its my worry as well that my life might mean nothing to 7cups (the business part) most members are wonderful people just trying to keep our boats floating in a sea of waves and gail force winds. 7cups is a life preserver and i pray they know how much we all need a site like this to work glitch free so we can lean on it when we have nothing else to hold us up.

@SleepyHeart1

We do understand and deeply sympathize with how difficult change can be. If you have questions about how to access the rooms or where you can get support, or just need to an ear while you process this, my PMs are open. ❤️ We (admin team) are here to help make this transition as easy as we can.

I need to say this I am devastated st the loss of 35+ it's not perfect now where is but the ppl there saved me. I am not exaggerating. I stood up to my husband in court because I had support. I can't tell ppl irl this but I have friends here and ppl I care deeply about. This is a tragic loss to ppl that can't take more loss.

@energeticDime8483

Im also extremly worried about the 35+ community (though Im a way younger person). Just 35+ is a very kind and loving place, filled by amazing people.Im so sad that this "change" will destroy so many lives and hurt so many people.

@energeticDime8483The main issue was apparently in groupchats some people are trolling and being a bully to others which isnt nice. The main purpose of this is for everyone to be supportive. We can adapt to this change and we will all work together <3

@GlenM

Honestly this is fukin bollox mate

Please don't close 35+ it's the first place I ever wasn't conttolled I was me. The ppl there saved my life and I am not exaggerating. I am devastated and can't take more loss

@energeticDime8483 It's gone now. :(

@energeticDime8483 The idea is not to close it and I know this community has a strong team behind it who will ensure that the room is open as much as possible. I understand that this is difficult and I know that this means a lot to many of us <3

I am confused as at this moment I cannot enter any group chats at all... How can I solve this?

@OpenWindow

Maybe message the admins?

I'm traveling back home now from seeing my grandmother. Thanks for all the well wishes. I think she is going to pull through! Appreciate the beams!

I was able to quickly read through the comments here and a few reactions:
-I appreciate that this is a change and that change can be challenging. Thank you for expressing your concerns, understanding things, and being willing to be flexible and supportive as we tighten things up.
-99.8% of what we do is at no cost. Only a very small portion 0.2% sign up for therapy. We are in this for the mission of scaling compassion and are always committed to all we can do for free.
-I just made another post that I worked on today that provides more context titled "update"
-Thank you for hanging in there as we figure things out. This is a step in the process. We listen and iterate based on data. This will continue to evolve as we learn.

A reminder - we are all in this together and we weill continue to figure it out. I know there are challenges we have to solve along the way. I firmly believe that we get stronger through those challenges.

Thank you!

@GlenM "We listen and iterate based on data."

How about also listening to the community members and listeners along with data?

@GlenM

Perhaps an innovative solution is to
HOURLY ROTATE THE TOPICS COVERED IN THE NEW REDUCED SET OF ROOMS
(SO HAVE REGULARLY SCHEDULED TOPICS, NOT RANDOM POP-UP).

That way you give people what they had before,
except they wouldn't get full-time rooms.

Instead they would get part-time rooms at set times in the day, multiple times per day.

All will have to share the new fewer rooms during the day
per a rotating schedule.

So if the new situation is:

"Member rooms:

We will have two adult member rooms and two teen member rooms open 24/7 for moderated support.
One general support room and one community room.
All other rooms will be pop-up discussion rooms.
These rooms will all be badge locked to both listeners and members."

Then for example, create a schedule so
the eliminated 35+Community Room would be covered by one of the rooms every 3 hours for 1 hour,
and so on and so on, to cover the other eliminated rooms.

Post the schedule so people know when to join.

The moderator controls the topic of the room for the hour.

Then after the hour is over,
the room topic changes,
and other people join like LGBT+ next,
then Depression next, etc..
repeat.

Maybe people could be happy with that solution rather than losing what they had ocmpletely.
Is my rotating scheule idea sort of like what you had in mind for the Pop-Up rooms?

@7motivation Each community schedules when and where they will have their events/discussions and lists it on our community calendar. Many of these are the same time and day every week. allowing members to attend. The hope is that we can build strong support teams to have these rooms and topics available as much as possible but still ensuring they are safe. Does that make sense?