Room Announcement
Hello everyone! I have an important update to make on group rooms.
Did you know that the first room opened at 7 Cups was a waiting room for members to wait for an available listener? Things have come a long way since then. Just as we did then we are always looking for ways to improve the support we provide. We have been investigating what parts of the group support model works and what does not through usage, moderation statistics, and general room health. What weve found is that having moderated discussions and open chats are the most supportive and safe opportunities, while unmoderated 24/7 chatting results in increased safety and experience issues.
As we move forward as a company with a free emotional support service we have decided on some big changes to elevate our group support experience for everyone who wants a safe and kind experience. Our intention is to do a few things well and focus on emotional support.
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.
Listener badges: Tick Tock ( For reaching Ten 1-1 chats), Thankful Heart (For receiving 5 positive text reviews)
Member badges: Strong Bond 1 (5 chats with 5 Listeners, i.e. 1 chat per listener, 5 total chats), Helpful heart ( 50 Compassion Hearts)
Listener rooms:
In the adult listener community we will continue to have two rooms, Listener Support Room and Listener Community Room. Teens will have Teen Listener Room. The adult Listener Community Room will require the Verified Listener badge. The Listener Support Rooms will be open to all listeners, but will only be used for active chat support.
Timeline:
This change is anticipated to happen in the next couple of days. However if some rooms become unsafe and volatile we may choose to close them early or remove them all together.
Our goal is to focus on emotional support. We are aligning our community features to help us better achieve this. We realize this is a big change that may not suit your preferences. We know you may have questions, especially if you are on a volunteer support team (group support teams read more here). We understand if you decide our free services no longer fit your needs and we wish you the best. However you are feeling please keep our Community Guidelines in mind as you process and move forward with your day. While we always welcome feedback, we expect discussions to not only be civil but also on-topic.
I know dealing with change can be challenging. I appreciate the flexibility as we move things forward. As a quick aside, Im visiting my grandmother (she has been ill) so Ill respond, but might be a bit delayed. The community team will chime in and answer questions as well.
Thank you!
[MonBon added link]
[Jill replaced badge name for members- it is Strong Bond 1 and not 7 day streak)
[Lorraine added badge requirements]
[Tazzie replaced the second badge name for members. It is Helpful Heart]
[MonBon replaced badge name for Listeners. It is Thankful Heart]
[7CupsCommunity modified description of Strong Bond 1 for clarity]
@GlenM
I don't understand how someone who started this site for the purpose of helping people (I would assume), could pull the rug out from under a vulnerable population of people so suddenly.
As a psychologist, you must know how devastating that can be for people who are already on the edge.
For many people, the chat rooms here are all they have for support. It has been heartbreaking to go into the remaining rooms and watch people arrive and be crushed by the news that their room is gone and their friends are missing.
I wonder how many people have come here ready to give up on life, only to find their support system gone.
So much for providing a safer, more supportive environment.
@DarkSquirrel
Lol u took the words right out of my mouth. This just happened to me. I only talk to ppl on the chat, rarely in life. I come on 7 cups, and now its gone. I guess nothing good lasts forever, egh?
@Redheadbaker7206
Interesting. I did not get a notification that I was tagged. Just decided to look here again.
In the future I plan on using more than one site. This is the second time a support site has let me down in a big way.
What I have learned in life is that most people abandon their conscience once they attain enough power. Sad but true.
Oh, and your Community Mods are still allowing people to be nasty in the rooms. (I would report one in particular, but what would the point of that be? You clearly don't care.)
If you ever truly cared about creating a supportive environment, you have failed.
Just wanted to thank the genius who initiated the new room changes on 7cups, people i looked forward to talking with an could rely on to be around for support are no longer here, and since there is no way to contact them because there is one on one email feature i am left in the wind on if i will see them again. Thanks for throwing the baby out with the bath water. real smart move. Rule of thumb when dealing with people that need a reliable place to go to for their mental health is that sudden and abrupt changes are not smart moves. Also the two rooms that are left, are now giant cluster bombs during peek hours full of random conversations that can not be properly moderated , and the moderators just sit there looking for bad behavior instead. What is funny is that they do special keys now for the LGBTQ and Disability room, as if there was some giant fear of litigation or being ripped on by those two communities as being insensitive . Where as the one good room, that had zero issues and was able to self moderate and care for each other as friends, and welcome people who really needed help ( 35+ ) just gets tossed into the wind.
So instead of making it easier for moderators to moderate by changing the insane moderator rules, lets just screw up the chat rooms instead. Perhaps when the donations stop flowing in, the mistake will be realized an things will go back to normal. Literally a wet noodle, could of made a better decision for 7cups than what has been done.
@aVeryoriginalScreenname
I AGREE
..i feel it is very important for everybody to feel they are an important part of something wonderful. I needed purpose in my life but I didnt know it was the main cause of my feeling empty inside. When two people talk, it doesnt matter who is who, as members and listeners both contribute on the site.
Everybody should understand the monitary value of these conversations;
Our conversations are analyzed and the most important information is regularlly bought sold and traded/shared. Money is genetated by our chats, posts, and insights: therefore we are all equal here.
We should all have been notified.
These changes affected moods, and emotions, and was intrusive and unexpected. That's why it bothered me and was upsetting and affected so many negatively.
I hope some good eventually happens on the site.
Im upset though because some lives are as fragile as one sentence delivered badly.
Research shows that huge numbers of the mental health community suffers from fears, and change.
I hope we didnt loose anybody for real, but we may never know for sure why so many people closed their accounts.
Thank you
@humorousDay8793
Especially sudden and drastic changes to their support systems.
Honestly, I've had a few days to think about it and on paper, the idea of requiring badges and the like to access the rooms isn't a bad one. It's the execution that's so problematic. Requiring over 100 messages to listeners who are VERY MUCH a mixed bag (see this thread, I talk about a few I've encountered), the fact that people who do qualifty for the bages still aren't able to access the rooms and the fact this was so sudden and seemingly unplanned (a head's up would've been nice) are what make this so awful.
I have managed to grab a bit of a support system outside of 7Cups, but others on here are no so fortunate. Some of those that used the Disabled support room, for instance may not be able to leave the house and gather a network. Some of those that used the LGBTQ room may not be able to find a network without being outed, which can have horrific consequences depending on where you live and who you live with. People have been killed after being outed, so it's not something to take lightly.
What about the Relationship Support room? I have talked to people in there who were living in abusive relationships and as such were cut off from support networks outside.
All in all, these changes (and how they were handled) outright tells me that those in charge of this website don't care about us.
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!😊
NOT TO WISE AT ALL
@aVeryoriginalScreenname
7CUPS STILL GAVE NO APPOLOGY
Percieving what we believe in is decieving and has no meaning as life's mistreating dishes out this beating leaving us bleeding but we cant see it if we close our minds and we cant think about this when we're blind, so walk away and you will find, a freind here waiting for a sign!
So take your time and organise whats on your mind and you'll find you're not really behind, so relax your eyes and realize you're fine, just the way you are. And you can reach for the stars, put cream on the scars, and healing transpires. The delusional parts only confuse our goals and corrupt our souls leaving us with a heart full of holes. Set goals now and your mind will see what closed eyes has failed to believe, don't let sight deceive keeping us on our knees; throwing logic into the breeze. Winds at your back excited, Winds of hope reignited me. Step by step confide so we can share secrets of life thinking "what could be" If we let it, if you hold back you'll regret it.
There, Now I've gone and said it!
We hold ourselves down; Dirty on the ground I've found myself tourmented and bound by invisibility. I've ignorged all possibility, so I must set myself free of a self-inflicted confined mystery.
Often times in the real world and in places such as this you can do only one thing really..
Abandon all hope and vote with your feet.. They can fight your arguments, they can ignore them, they can demonize you for resisting, but often they cannot do anything about people who abandon the process, the existing system and just walk away.
Sure it seems like giving up. But can you really have hope of winning in a rigged game ? Conserving your energy for stuff worth fighting for is often the pragmatic choice..
@SirJambabwe
I did take 2 24hr strike breaks and I felt I had to come back to support my freinds here. If i created a site, it would be owned and operated by ALL its members
@humorousDay8793 Krusty Krab Funfair? Where?
@SirPostaLot
@GlenM
I'm happy about this change. It makes it so much simpler and hopefully they can be better moderated! Thanks for paying attention to this site and making positive changes for a better experience here.
@MythologicalMayhem
Oooops appologies, i didnt see the gif had a message. I just asked @monbon to remove it
@humorousDay8793 What?
@GlenM
I'm all for improved experience and safety, but honestly, could you please provide a diagram of how this works? From your description it sounds like a change at intake level and also requiring more easily acquired connection to 7Cups as a member, but the protection of existing rooms and these "pop-ups" isn't clear to me and likely others as well. A real visual diagram or slideshow would make intelligible what is probably hard to describe with words alone.
It's over, folks. Go home. Hug your friends and family. Don't linger here.
So wait, are there group support chats or not? Are they all pop up now? Do you need those badges to join? I'm confused on how this works...
@GlenM
'Member badges: Strong Bond 1 (5 chats with 5 Listeners, i.e. 1 chat per listener, 5 total chats), Helpful heart ( 50 Compassion Hearts)'
If I'm understanding this correctly, I will be barred from chatting in any room forever as I have never once in all my time at 7 cups found a single Listener (let alone 5!!!) who actually wanted to chat with me. 
Really not sure how that's my fault, but ok then.
@creativeOak9590
you can message me for a chat if you want to
@creativeOak9590
hey oak, you can pm me too if you like, either for casual chat or listening is A-okay
@AddictedTealover98 and @jennysunrise8
Thanks so much for your kind offers. 
I kept meaning to respond but my mother in law was badly injured in a car accident and been in the hospital since Thursday and I've hardly had a moment to breathe since. I just wanted to let you both know I really do appreciate the offers.