UPCOMING 7 CUPS ADVANCEMENTS - BASIC OUTLINE

Hello Glorious Member Community! In this thread, I am going to give information about upcoming site updates that are relevant to your experience as a member here at 7 Cups of Tea.

-----> Important note #1 Questions Thread: This thread will serve as an outline and a way for us to track our progress as a community. I am happy to entertain questions, but please post them in this questions thread.

------>Important Note #2:Timelines may vary and everything can be subject to change. This thread is meant to serve as a basic outline of future plans.

1) Suggested Listeners for members & guests. We have many members/guests who come to 7 Cups and never connect to a listener because they do not feel comfortable or know how to find the right person. Our goal is to make it as easy and safe as possible to for a member/guest to create a connection with a listener and start chatting. Based on simple auto-criteria (chat experience and reviews), members will be given suggested listeners in their conversation box. If clicked, the suggestion will bring the member to the listener profile page for more information. From there, the member will be able to decide to either start a conversation or move on.

NOTE on #3 From Laura 1/3/15:#3 has been temporarily postponed.

2) Member updates! Including:

- Levels

- badges

- More built out profiles

You all have seen these already! How do you like the badges, levels..etc? Let me know here.

3) Member Pictures:

You may have been one of the few who encountered this last week, but for a very short time we were experimenting with member profile pictures.

The goal of member pictures would be about giving members the ability to better express their identities and share who they are with our community through a visual. A picture can be very psychologically affirming and allow for one to take ownership of their identity, which is central to emotional growth. At 7 Cups, our members have been primarilyanonymous and we would like to continue to have that be an option and central to what we do/ provide. But we'd like to do a better job of giving members the ability to come into themselves if they choose to and providethem the opportunity to express themselves more freely. In the future, we would like to offer this privilegeto members who have reached a base line of growth (member level) in the community. Of course, it would be up to the member to post a picture of themselves or of something else they like (like a butterfly or a tree).

In order to do this we would need to take the following steps:

---> 1) Create a clear difference between the listener and the member in the chat setting. This will likely be done by changing the shapes of the pictures (iemembers are circles, listeners are squares) or adding a border..etc.

---> 2) Closely monitor images so that those posted are in line with our community guidelines on pictures.

---> 3) Create regulations around listeners who have both M & L accounts. To maintain your security, you'd need to have 2 different images.

- Additionally, anyone who is found to be misusing thisprivilege would have it revoked.

---> 4) Have it be optional for members.

---> 5) Create clear language around internet safety,anonymity at the picture upload section onthe member settings page.

Ultimately, the goal would be to give members more identity affirming community experience here at 7 Cups. Those who take ownership of their identity and have the ability to freely express themselves are able to grow and learn in themselves.

---> 6) Updates to member dashboard - will look more similar to the listener dashboard.

---> 7)Member/ Listener labels next to username in the support forum.

---> 8)Badges for members for each group support room. Members who are active in group support will be able to earn badges for being there and being kind to others.

ex.Bronze - 10 hearts, 100 messages

Silver - 50 hearts, 1000 messages

*each badge will have hearts required, so the member will need to be kind move forward. Their badge name will sit next to them in the chat room (similar to how a moderator's name is listed). Note: Only one badge name will be listed - ie. when you hit the silver badge, your bronze badge will no longer be listed in the chat room.

4) A New Support Opportunity for us to let members be reflective and receive support. In our attempt to continue to give members resources and growth opportunities, we will be launching a depression quiz this week. Members will be given the opportunity to take this quiz and learn more about where they fall on the depression scale. After taking this quiz, we will provide members a support plan.

The support plan will include things like:

- Try the XX guide

- Connect with a listener

- Try the depression Group support Room

- Find connection in the depression forum

The test will be based off of thisDASS21test, which is a standard test given to anyone who is interested in learning more about their depression.

They can take the quiz and get an updated score at any time. I think this will be a great learning tool for our members and give us all the ability to better support our members!

Eventually, you can imagine a quiz for more topics. We are starting with depression and will grow further from there!

5) Guest updates - in order to encourage guests to dive in and join us, we have developed guest badges and growth points. In order to keep their points, they must create an account :)