What are badges and cheers / growth points?

Badges & Cheers / Growth Points

Starting out at 7 Cups can be confusing, especially when you stumble across different features and struggle to understand their purpose/meaning. We're going to hopefully help combat an element of that confusion by discussing with you cheers/growth points and badges.

Note: you can access a site page outlining much of this information by clicking here or pressing the "training" button in the top left hand corner of the site.

Part 1 - Cheers / Growth Points
Cheers (listeners) and Growth Points (members) are a measurement of a users commitment to 7 Cups and are awarded both automatically and manually. They help calculate your user level and enables others to recognise and appreciate your hard work. You can view someone's cheers/growth points by visiting their profile.

Here are some ways you can earn cheers or growth points:
[A] - Automatically by the system, [M] - Manually given by an admin/ambassador
• [A] Replying to a thread
• [A] Taking part in chats (either 1:1 or in group support)
• [A] Listeners receiving positive text reviews
• [A] Receiving a forum upvote or message heart
• [M] Taking part in selected events (these will be specified on the event announcement)
• [M] Taking part in leadership roles (sometimes awarded cheers/growth points as a recognition/thank you for quotas)
• [M] Taking part in/supporting projects such as the rising star program

For a full list of automated cheers/points, please visit this page. Manual cheers/growth points are issued on a case-by-case basis and can be found on individual project/information threads.

A user's level is dependent on the number of growth points or cheers they have. This is a great way to recognise achievements and is a nice incentive for community users to involve themselves more within the community. 

Note: points will never be taken away. If you experience any issues with cheers or growth points, please contact the Help Desk.

Part 2 - Badges
Badges help the site run effectively! There are two elements to badges; to show recognition and to give access/privileges to different aspects of the site. Similarly to growth points and cheers, badges can be awarded manually or automatically. 

Automatic Badges 
The system will automatically reward you badges for completing various milestones across the site. Here are some examples:
• For making a certain number of forum posts
• For completing a certain number of group support chats 
• For joining the community or for completing your first chat
• Listeners who complete trainings

Manual Badges
Admins and ambassadors will award manual badges to users for a number of different reasons:
• To grant you access to perform a role once onboarded (e.g. editing or removing forum posts, moderating chatrooms)
• To increase visibility of your role to others (e.g. so your role may show up in chat rooms as Community Leader, Mod, so it shows on your profile and browse listeners etc)
• To allow you access to support other community users (e.g. supporting in group huddles or listeners being granted access to supporting teens once vetted)
• To recognise your hard work after being nominated (e.g. being issued a badge to show you have done something amazing for the community or after you've taken part in a community initiative/event).