No longer fixing bugs with the Feed

@Ece7Cups

feed is my favorite place in this app , its sxactly where I feel Im not alone with my problems and thats where people really help each other

please don't take this feature down.

@Sheidaa99

The feed will still be available for use. However, we will not be repairing any bugs associated with the feed.

@7CupsCommunity so we can use the feed it just won't work? Ok...

@melliotm

We are certainly not doing anything to make it work less well or introduce new issues - but you are right that it's possible the existing bugs may get worse and the feed will get harder to use for more people.

I love the feed! It lets us connect with others. The hashtags help people find people who they can relate to. D: hopefully yall overturn this decision. You just need to put your tech brains Together ❤️@Ece7Cups

@Ece7Cups thanks for posting and letting the community know!

One of our values is to grow through the path of problems, I see this as an opportunity to share feedback on what would make a new feed better and more popular.

I have several ideas but look forward to hear what everyone else comes up with!

@Ece7Cups

thnx for posting.

The feeds lets me to connect with the followers or members of 7cups.

feeds is good option to connect with members. If it is use a separate parts mean if any one post a feed then it will show in the new section like "Feed " for today like whats app or facebook . it is very complicated due to duffrent hastag and many users but unfortunately it cant reached to many other members who is not follower.

So make a separate part like communities and connect every feed with that part. Then everyone will see feed posts.

Wow, this is some really hard news to hear. Out of all the updates this site has gone through since the start, this update will hit everyone the hardest. The feed is where so many of us teens connected with the adults who didnt have teen access but we wanted to keep up with. My feed holds the most memories for me, because through thick and thin, its easy to access and find. Birthday wishes, silly memories, inspirational posts, etc all housed via feed. The subcommunities rely heavily on the feed too— to promote hashtags. I know, all good things must come to an end, but this is one thing that isnt over yet for so many. I know the feed right now wasnt very fun to use because I couldnt see anything recent but during my long break, I always came and checked out the feed as its always been easier to follow compared to the forums. Moving forward, whats the plan? Is it possible to design something similar? A lot of other mental health sites use feed as the main part of the site so I was just curious if its possible to keep the concept of the feed and make something greater and better? I know theres many other things right now that are more of a concern to the site and growth, but the feed for a lot of people is their home.

Thank you for your constant hard work to improve the site and keep us in the loop with the updates. I look forward to the future.

@Erica what would you like to see? Anything you'd want to see if there was an updated version down the road?

@Erica - yes, we really do hope to figure out ways to bring out what the feed was going for and weaving that into the more stable aspects of our codebase, around things like communities, forums, and group chats.

The code that powers the feed is now some of the oldest on our site -

I find this a bit odd, as 1-1s, group chat, forums, Q&A, growth path all existed before the feed. I can't think of an actual part of the site that's newer than the feed unless we consider the community page to be a component on it's own of the site. Why was such an old code choosen for the feed?

WIthout the feed I would like to see the search feature on the forums be improved. One of the nice things about the feed was the hashtags allowed previous things to be found easily (when the hasthtag worked properly and feed posts weren't lost completelu).

I did also the feed to be a way to find listeners or learn more about them. I think the forums could serve a similar purpose, but a better search feature is needed for it to serve this purpose just as easily. Ie. let me see all the posts started by a listener, let me be able to search titles, when doing a search of multiple words that should show less posts than just one word. Ie. Searching Growth Path currently results in more results than just Growth, as Growth Path will bring up all threads with just the term growth, just the term path and both.

@AffyAvo I also think one of the things where other options will not be a replacement is being able to communicate with others (teens & adults, members with members). There are times I will use the feed to do this, when it's intended for one person, wouldn't pertain to others, and wouldn't have enough back and forth to make a forum thread worthwhile.

If the feed is scrapped, I would like that to be replaced at least with a simple messaging system, could be text only similar to what exists in group chat that goes to each others profiles.

@AffyAvo - the issue is that the feed required a different database model to handle distributing ("fanning out") posts to followers, much like the way email servers deliver messages. Almost all the legacy code of the rest of the site has been touched or improved or even refactored in the meantime while sadly the cumbersome feed code has rusted in place. :(

@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn Thanks for explaning.

I would like to see a bit more thought going forward with new ideas. I'm not sure where the feed falls into this, but it does seem like there were lots of issues with it (ie. I don't think any forum posts went missing due to a server issue, only if deleted or caught in the spam filter). I actually think the feed was fairly successful, but it does sound like the resources to go along with it weren't there to start with or for some reason it ended up neglected.

The wiki (actually something I didn't think of with my first post in this thread, that's a new component added in after the feed) is something that currently I see as a failure, it was confusing from the start, when asking around no one seems to be aware of who is in charge, content I have written for members was moved to the listeners only section and I still cannot access it despite asking multiple times for it to be moved back, editting access was changed with little information, and information is already quite out of date. The growth path I also feel has been a bit neglected too - although I consider it successful too and it's not too buggy as far as I can tell from a user experience - new content would be appreciated. I often ignore it for long periods as I find it has lost it's appeal and often times I don't notice steps like I used to from doing things like a 1-1 chat or discussion.

@AffyAvo - sorry for the late reply.

Yes, I agree that the wiki -- like the feed -- hasn't lived up to its potential, is buggy and difficult to maintain, and also was never completely rolled out successfully.

The growth path is long overdue for attention, fresh content, and technical improvement and we feel this is a much more "core" service to focus on and improve in the near term.

@Ece7Cups I personally do not use it. my question would wonder if it would be possible to decommisions the feed?

Gee, I had no idea that the feed was buggy. I seldom used the feed, and when I have, I've since deleted the few posts. I [have] noticed though, that a rather strange bug, which appeared at the same time as the now resolved emoji bug, still persists, at least when using a computer, in which, when you first put a message through in a 1-on-1 chat, there is no spacing between paragraphs (as visible to me after sending) unless you refresh the chat and then the spacing appears as it normally should.

@Ece7Cups Ece 💖 Thank you for this!

If you use the feed, what do you value about it? How would you complete the sentence "The feed lets me.....?"

Ece, the feeds help me go through the day, as a listener and a member. My bug is that I cannot see other's feed, I gotta open their profile to see them. So what's the point following them? I want to see their feeds without having to click on their profile. The 'My Feed' Feature in Cups is the best thing ever for me. 🌹

@Ece7Cups

the feed is very important to me.. i can vent, i can express myself, i can get in touch with another members who think alike .. i can feel im not alone in a broader way than by listening a listener tell me so.. i like to talk to my listeners very much but i also really like the feed. The feed keeps me company when no one does.. the chat groups are full or pre established groups and its hard for me to use it because of the dialogues speed and the times people log in.. theres a lot of arguing and i usually dont feel comfortable, maybe another time it will work for me.. i didnt quit the chat rooms yet. Thank you for listening.. I understand the reasons you numbered, and I also understand it is a free service. So I appreciate the effort to put it together.

@Ece7Cups

I don't use it regularly. This will not impact me much.

@Ece7Cups I need this feature to complete part of my internship requirements, which is one reason I would like it to work. But, I think it's also helpful to see more about the people I talk to on this site, like a personal blog. I like posting on my feed even though few people see it.

It's a little bugged, but I've not been using it long so I don't know how bad it has been before.

Thanks for the work you guys do on the site!!

I don't use the feed regularly, but I do appreciate that it makes some things (more) possible than other areas on the site:

- It lets me see users I might not otherwise interact with when something gets reposted

- As much as it pains my little forum heart to say this, I think it's less daunting to new users as a way to start engaging

- It has a viral nature when something comes up that can benefit many people (e.g., a little gif or motivational picture that might not ever be seen in a forum post)

- It is a way to access a large group of users without having to tag - opt in because they have to be reading the feed to see it, but accessible quickly to more people (e.g., anyone who follows me has an opportunity to see something I post without me having to tag them directly)

- It works well as a 'status update' since we don't have another one - e.g., I will post when I will be away for a while so someone wondering why I'm not responding can quickly see what I've posted, and I check other people's feeds when I am wondering if they're away

As for why I don't use it more, mostly it's just a time and focus thing - 1-1s and forums take most of my time, so I don't frequently go into other features like group support or feed

@Ece7Cups

If you use the feed, what do you value about it? How would you complete the sentence "The feed lets me.....?"

I use the feed and I love that it lets you post pictures of things and as a way to gain attention for different communities as well as raise awareness about things.

"The feed lets me..." raise awareness and show positive things to others and to support whoever looks at the messages.

An idea I have for the feed to make it more popular could be changing formatting or the software 7cups uses to reduce cost. I would also suggest creating a gofundme page if that wouldn't break the no offsite contact guideline.

@Ece7Cups

Thank you for the update Ece! Honestly the feed turned out to be much more useful than I ever could have imagined. When it was first announced, I didn't really get it and thought it would just be used for stalking. However, it ended up being an incredibly useful way to be connected. Moving forward, my recommendation would be this:

Take the aspects of the feed we liked and make improvements to the forum.

The forum is an aspect of the site we already have and people use (I assume much more than the 2.5% of feed users). Some things I really liked about the feed were:

- Ability for adults and teens to interact in a safe place (similar to the forums!)
- Ability to search for posts by hashtags (please improve the search function for the forums :(
- Trending section
- Visibility on a user's profile

I think if we take the forums we have and start to make them more robust, it will vastly improve the site. Just my two cents <3

@MonBon love those ideas!

Ah, these are sad news.

When I was prompted by the Growth path to post things to the feed, and got feedback or support from others, even just a heart to say they read it, I found that helped me see I wasn't alone.

I also very much liked the many encouraging posts, and the ability to subscribe to specific persons, to get updates on quiz results and other info.

I also used the 'follow' button to 'bookmark' listeners who I might like to ask if they'd listen to me.

It would certainly be possible to replace (some of) the feature with the forums, but to achieve this, I agree that the search functionality must vastly be improved and - most importantly - be sped up. It's awfully slow!

In addition to that, the buggy feed should no longer then be the place where the growth path activities link to.

Hashtags for forum posts would be cool.

The regular posters who post encouraging things or pictures would need to move to the forums.

Add to this the other suggestions from previous posters :)

@cloudySummer Ooh yes to the slow forum search, it takes so long sometimes!

The feed lets me connect with all my regulars - I can post when I am going to be gone there instead of having to track every username down (often people disappear from the chat list and they have to find me to talk to me again). I also like being able to post uplifting or interesting or heck even funny things so when I'm not here people at least can see stuff I have posted and I can hope something inspires them or at least makes them smile. The feed also lets me connect with various groups here - like the 35+. I think it's awful to just basically stop caring about the feeds here. All the updates lately have made this website much worse, not better.

@Dawn04 Agreed. The feed was (past tense because it's effectively dead at this point even if admin technically isn't taking it off life support) a simple and effective means to network, explore the community, and engage, especially for new users not yet ready to navigate forum/group chat social dynamics. Keeping it up without maintenance is just cruel.

@melliotm

@melliotm

I don't feel the feed is a relic of the past yet. I post there regularly and link to several other feeds in other forums.

@Dawn04 Alas I'm among the abandoned cohort with a feed that hasn't updated in nearly two months (a group that will inevitably expand with backend neglect) and will never update again as a result of this decision. So I don't mean to discount your efforts. I just wish I could enjoy, amplify and engage like I used to.

To answer the question what do you value about the feed, as it was said by @Erica the feed I am a teen listener it allows me to connect with adult listeners who are not a "ATL" it is an easy way to communicate. I am on the official feed team to spread awareness does not updating the bugs on the feed mean that it will get so buggy that we will be unable to even use the feed? The feed also allows me to communicate to everyone about subcommittees help wanted post using the "buggy" hashtags, we are able to advertise all the subcommunities when they ask us to this I do through ETF on the help wanted area. You are saying a lot of people do not use the feed maybe the reason is that it might be too buggy or not simple enough to understand. This is devastating news to hear for me as mainly rn for me on 7cups it

@7CupsCommunity - just going to add you to this to see if you can answer this question. To add one other thing is what is being said that we are going to let the feed get worse to the point it isnt able to be used?

@KarrotCake as we explained above, we just aren't able to invest the time to fix feed bugs given the low usage. We are certainly not doing anything to make it work less well or introduce new issues - but you are right that it's possible the existing bugs may get worse & the feed will get harder to use for more people.

All the feedback coming in from the community is really helpful - it lets us hear directly from you what about the feed was most useful & important and it will help us figure out how to improve the product going forward!

@Ece7Cups

Thanks for replying so quickly yes I just saw what was explained above, hardly keeping my eyes open now, Just what this news will do to the subcommunities and the teams like ETF and feed team its going to put a drag on the leadership roles avalible, is what you are saying meaning that you guys are looking into another option other than the feed, yes Ik coding is annoying once it gets old with all the plugins I do I totally understand they get harder to fix. But will this result in something new its just feeling like the loss of hope for the feed what if we can get people more involved in using the feed would that help at all?

@KarrotCake

Don't worry! ETF will continue to function as it has been. We'll need to brainstorm how we want to move forward in the future, but for now the feed will still be operational (albeit buggy).

@MonBon Pstt mon can I boop into ur pms today?

@KarrotCake

yes of course! <3

@KarrotCake

We are going to use the time and resources we used to dedicate for fixing the feed toward creating a new feature. Ideally this new feature will retain the aspects of the feed we liked, while fixing the aspects we didn't, including a more sustainable and popular format.