Help

@greatfulReeds6671 In general, I think it's best if listeners avoid using terms to refer to members that aren't based on their names. Terms of endearment like babe, dear, darling, etc. particularly should be avoided. Personally, I think Sister is better than those, but it can still be uncomfortable.

- It can insinuate a false familiarity. This can be crossing someone's boundaries and can be a red flag to someone who has had negative experiences with people inserting themselves into their life too quickly.

- It has a religious connotation. In my experience, those who use the term brother/sister to refer to people that aren't actually relatives or at least people they are very close too belong to certain denominations. People may have had negative experiences with these religions or people from these religions.

- It's gendered. You may be misgendering someone, or someone may be uncomfortable with their gender even if it isn't coming up in the chat.

I suspect the number of people who were uncomfortable is also higher than you know. I've been in chats where I just don't want to bother expending the mental energy on stating my preferred way to be referred to. Others might not feel confident enough to do so.

If using any of these terms one should definitely seek permission first. For example, Can I call you Reeds? Ideally, just ask someone how they wish to be referred. On 7cups, I like Affy, it's short, easy to type, I'm comfortable with it and in group situations there's usually no confusion who Affy could be (unlike Avo as there's multiple username variations with Avocado on the site).