manipulative chats

I like your idea! It's important to not immediately label a person or person's behavior as "troll(ish)," but rather trying to treat it as seriously as you're able to, similar to other chats. If the chat topic is something that you're uncomfortable with, you can summarize the chat with 5 words or less in a listener room, and if no one can take it, you can refer them to browse listeners so they're able to select a listener of their choosing. If you think they are a "troll," you can politely end the chat and let them know that you're uncomfortable with their chat topic, as your self-care is #1

As Emily has just pointed out, there is already a protocol for any chats that you don't feel you want to continue.

I'm not sure how you would define "manipulative" though. Is it, perhaps. that you mean the member or guest is trying to manipulate you, but you don't want to end the chat—you want a protocol that will allow you to continue providing emotional support?

This is a topic well worth discussing, because people who suffer from mental disorders or other issues that affect their ability to relate to listeners can find it difficult to get support here. To some extent we are best at supporting the people who need it least.

The listener-only area of the forums might be a better place to discuss this kind of topic, I suppose.

@0118

So what are the rules? I don't want to be hurt further by trolls since I am already down. Are there tons of trolls on group chats? I don't want to get into a trap.

i know there are quidlines, but people do abuse the service, i just think there should be some training on what to do when that happens. so everyone can handle the type of manipulative chats the same,

for example, how to deal with sexual chats, how to deal with abusive chats