Requesting Feedback: Chat request waiting times
EDIT: the survey is now closed - please see my last post in this thread. Thank you so so much for your feedback and responses!
Hello community! We are in need of getting your feedback and experiences with waiting times when requesting a chat with a listener. Please go to this survey and tell us what you think :) It will help us improve the overall experience in requesting a chat with a listener.
https://forms.gle/FftdMeUN71nRkEwR6
Thank you!
@Adam7CupsUX Unfortunately the questions in the survey are not precisely clear. Does "after requesting a chat" mean joining the general request queue? Or does it mean a personal request to a listener who is online? Or does it mean a message to a listener who is busy or offline? I'd imagine people might have different expectations those three different situations.
Also, "15 minutes, or 2 hours, or 1 day" anchors people's thinking towards longer times, which will bias the results. Anyone who wants to write 5 seconds, for example, might feel discouraged and quit the survey. 5 seconds might be the kind of waiting time people expect from a website.
Right now, as I type, the maximum wait in the general request queue is 18 minutes, but the request is for a less usual language, so that the majority of listeners may be avoiding it. I suppose this means you also need to know the language so that you can make sense of the survey results.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie Hey! Thank you for the feedback. I wish everyone knew the product as well as you do. For your first point, I do think it's valid, although the majority of people (in other various user research I do) don't fully understand the differences of general and personal requests - to them it's just making a chat request. So while the answers to this survey may vary based on the perspective of the user, it is OK in the context of this study and what I'm hoping to learn.
Your second point is a great one and I edited the survey to account for the bias. Thank you so much!
Your third point is actually OK in the context of this study. If someone speaks one language and that means we can't serve them quicker than another language, their expectations (especially if a new user who doesn't quite understand the spread of languages supported by listeners) are still valid and I wish to know. A further study could be conducted to the point you're bringing up around the size of the listener pool and the diversity in languages they speak to support the expectations of a member looking to chat within X timeframe.
I sincerely appreciate the feedback and thoughts 
@RarelyCharlie - I thought the same as I read the questions. And those were nearly the same - I had three separate categories too LOL. I didn't know what the Questioner meant - so I just clarified (hopefully clearly) and gave my answer for each of the three categories.
And (as L), yes sometimes the language requested can or will make that user's wait time longer 
But not everyone speaks Mandarin, or English!, or others like French, German, Italian, Tagalog, Africaanese (sorry guys I don't know how to spell that one) etc etc .... Hey technician people! Let us create a translator - like a in-real-time translator for chat! I would start with 'only' the 1-1 chats 
and personally, I would be glad to help you test it! :)
@7cupsCommunity
@cyanPlatypus6370
Thank you for the feedback! You would like a translation tool to assist during 1-on-1 chats.
@7CupsCommunity
Thanks for your reply. Not really, as I speak English. But if there was a translation tool available, perhaps that would help persons like DeBois (sorry I don't remember your full name - sadness ). I've seen this user around (he/she has posted immediately following my post here) and they ask to speak in French (which I love French btw) but I do not feel confident enough in that language to try a text-only based conversation :\ So in that case, I could possibly take the chat sooner than 15-18 minutes ..... but as the (M) I might still be frustrated because translation even could take so long. (shrugs) I don't know the best answer to this. ~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370 As far as I know, current state-of-the-art machine translation is not anywhere near good enough for this purpose. But it's a great idea that might become possible if there's a technological breakthrough in the future.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie - Dream On, my friend. Dream Big!
@cyanPlatypus6370 I do 
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie but after 18 min, you still get a listener who doesnt speak your language, who block you directly when you complain about it. or "didnt see the language"' or "i seen you were waiting for a long time but i dont speak it", or "do you also speak english?".
if im waiting for more long because of the language, it may worth, IF, AND ONLY IF, I end up by getting a listener who speaks my language!! otherwise its very frustrating, they tell you to send an other request and an other one will do the same in 10-15 min.
Yes, I'm ready to wait more long for a listener who speaks my language, but i actually have to get it.
@Adam7CupsUX
The wait time is 2 minutes, a bit too long for those who are in need of a listener, ones world is already crashing down, an then to see a 2 min wait time, can feel like 2 hours. The other problem is listeners who are not attentive to being logged on as an active listener. So now you are waiting 2 minutes for a listener who says they are active, and then nothing. A message of whoops sorry we cant connect you, would you like someone else, appears. an it just adds to the frustration. There should be something in place where if a listener is active and has it listed as active and ready to take someones chat, an then doesn't, there should be some kind of system in place to let someone know that the listener is lacking in time response. Also some listeners pick up, and then just disappear for a minute or two, or i have had some just flat out log off an not say they are leaving. I don't mind a listener that says hey sorry my phone just rang i;ll be right back, or i need a bathroom break i'll be right back. but to just disapear is rude an can be hurtful. Basically if you are a listener, an are listing yourself as active, be active. when you are in a discussion with someone, use that busy button to let people know you are busy. if you dont care enough to be attentive as a listener, then don't put yourself down as active.
some listeners should be removed from being a listener after so many complaints or disapearing acts.
@aVeryoriginalScreenname I agree. I'm sure we could be doing better.
I think there are some difficulties, though. To get very short waiting times we'd need listeners on standby doing something else until a request comes in. At present we have members on standby waiting for a listener to come along.
And we'd need more listeners. At present we waste volunteers by having very weak training. A lot of new listeners still don't really know what to do after completing the training, and they don't take any chats, or they give up after only a few chats when they realize they can't cope.
At present we also reduce the number of listeners effectively available to any particular member by our focus on subject knowledge, and on the idea that listeners must be able to come up with solutions to members' problems.
And we'd need better protection for new listeners so they are less likely to get very difficult chats and burn out or get banned before they've had some experience.
And we'd need a better system for ensuring that all new listeners feel supported.
So, I think solving the problems you've mentioned would be complicated, but it could be done. Simply having the system detect listeners who disappear instead of relying on manual reporting would be an improvement.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie your response in this thread is huge. As a long-time Listener, I never considered these sorts of issues and there definitely needs to be solutions. I personally keep my status red exactly so that members do reach out to me directly and get let down, but they still do; when I'm online it's because I'm actively chatting and I almost never divide my attention between two people.
I think users are owed some expectations for when they reach out to listeners. I personally would like to see a feature for them that is more of a "request a consultation" than "chat request" because by the time I do get back to or discover a new member/request in the first place, they're likely offline. It can make it clear that it is likely the listener isn't available immediately so they should leave a message introducing themselves and their issue, plus when the next time(s) they would be able to talk are. Listeners could read the message and if we know we are not right for the issue or have time in our schedule, we can easily go into the Listener Support room and could potentially find a better fit who is available right away - or as soon as we see the message.
survey? finished :)
Sometimes the boxes in which you write are generally either not working, or you can
@Minoka
This problem should be fixed with the latest app update if youre on an iPhone. Make sure to update your app and it should fix the keyboard issue. I cant speak to the android side of things.
@jeremyh84 @jeremyh84 I updated it now. I have an iPhone. Its fixed in forums and group chats, but when I do an writing activity on my grow path it still happens.
@Adam7CupsUX finally that you mentioned it cause as a listener and a member I find that the waiting times need to be fixed totally , including the glitch where it says "listeners not available sign in to your member account" when you're already on your member account
Sometimes I weight so long that I give up other times its really quick one thing is if I pick a topic it takes a lot longer to get a listener I sometimes see the do you want to keep waiting 3 to 4 times. @Adam7CupsUX
@Adam7CupsUX
when a I go in line for general request queue, I expect 1-3min and after 5 min i usually give up or often forget about the site because i started doing other things. in those cases, i may not notify that a listener taken my chat. but under 15 sec, i have a feeling that the person did not see the topic since i rarely had time to select it.
I think i would be able to make a choice between waiting longer or browse listeners if after let says 2-3 min, it would tell me what does the waiting time look like OR how many other members are ahead of me.
but when i send a request to a listener who is online, via browse listeners, i expect an instant answer, 5-10 sec, and will give up before 2 min for trying an other one.
if i send a message to my regular listeners and that they are busy, i may expect that they dont answer instant but that they will answer in the next hour or so, at least before disconnecting, for letting me know they are not available for chatting, invite me to message them an other day, etc.
if i send a message to my regular listeners who are offline, then i may expect an answer in 24 hours, up to 72 hours, at least its evident that they are on self care break or answer a specific day. anyway its topics to be discussed with the listeners about boundaries and expectations.
According to this, it makes it hard for me to answer the question. except if you tell us exactly if you are talking about general request or personal request?
@Adam7CupsUX I
The wait time was horrid even after someone answered I was told long night I got to go mid conversation was rude disheartening irresponsible and plain u acceptable and sadly happened again right after twice more. My issues and problems may be petty to some but don't create a site to ease them then make me feel last on anyone in the worlds priority. I was more then disappointed I can't say enough how negatively that kind of recepiton from more then one your volunteers affected me. Lost all real faith in this site over it to put it plain. Waiting an hour just to be rejected is ridiculous
@independentPear1592 I also un subscribed from this cause I in know way want to encourage this kind of treatment I've friends who are cutters and worse and recomending them to a site li,email this with this treatment would unfortunately cause them to cut or worse. Before trying get to help yall ought to cosnider the damage yall could be doing and getting sued for. I like folks trying to help but not half assed
@independentPear1592 Hey. I'm really sorry for your experiences you've described. We in no way encourage or accept this kind of behavior and have many systems in place to try and fight it. When trying to create a service for people to get free emotional support, it unfortunately can happen that people come on here with bad intentions.
I really am so sorry you have had these experiences. We have seen amazing, inspiring things as well as horrible, unacceptable things here. We are trying as hard as we can to fight this problem and make 7 Cups a safe, judgment-free, and inclusive space for everyone. I hope we can help you again and that you're experiences in the future are much better than what you've had here.
If you have any ideas on how you could have avoided this kind of conversation with a listener, I am all ears! We have a lot of things we're working on to improve safety, but I always want to hear from everyone using 7 Cups to learn how we can make it better and safer.
@Adam7CupsUwellX
When I have something ask to other member n if they don
