Group Support Room Updates
In a continued effort to increase safety and ensure that each Group Support Room is adequately moderated, we will be making some changes to some of the rooms.
As of this Friday, January 4th, at 12:00 pm ET, the following changes will be made:
- Depression Support (adult room) will be closed and become a pop-up room to be used for scheduled discussions and sessions.
- Depression Chat will remain open 24/7 and will be available for anyone needing support for depression.
- LGBTQ+/MOGII Support (adult room) will be closed and become a pop-up room to be used for scheduled discussions and sessions.
- LGBTQ+/MOGII Community will remain open 24/7 and will be available for anyone needing support for LGBTQ+/MOGII issues
- Family Support will be closed and become a pop-up room to be used for scheduled discussions and sessions.
- Disability Support will be closed and become a pop-up room to be used for scheduled discussions and sessions.
Please let me know if you have any questions about these upcoming changes.
@Kate
This is not acceptable!!
There are a few other rooms they should think about closing before they even turn they're attention to this one.
The Disability room Is a place where regulars have formed respectable relationships with one another a safe haven for those of us who sincerely need and appreciate it. The presents of the majority of the people in the room Keep it moderated and If moderation is the issue I would be more than happy to throw my hat in the ring and abide by whatever rules would be expected of me in order to preserve this place as a worthy resource for those likeminded to myself on this matter!!. We abide by the rules here in the disability room and no offsite contact is one of them so how do you expect those of us within there that have formed special and respectable relationships with one another to keep in contact if our safe haven is removed? Or is that of no concern to the powers that be at 7 cups of TEA!. Yes I am annoyed and saddened by this despickable descision but It does indeed highlight how out of touch the Administrators are with the rest of us!.
@resourcefulSummer
Totally with you and all those who standby Disability support room. There are chatrooms that need to be closed down, not this one.
Disability support room stands for the core beliefs that 7cups is built on, building a good support system and empathy.
@Kate
If any issues let's fix them instead of creating more issues. These members need support. Please don't close down this room. Popup room is no alternate.
@KristieKay Thankyou for your support and kind words it is very much appreciated by all of us. 
Dear Kate,
I do not believe that closing the disability support room is a good idea as there are many people within that room that have trouble keeping up with as well as feeling welcomed in other support rooms. I dont think that the room should be prioritiesed over rooms such as student support or the compassion corner.
Just a suggestion.
@spark702
I support this idea too.
Please don't close down Disability Support room
The Disability Support room can not be compared to other rooms at all. These people need support anytime, and they are not that welcome or understood in other rooms. Please reconsider if possible.
@spark702 agreed. maybe even a disability room key at the very least so it is always open to those of us who sincerely need it. Although it would be such a shame for new arrivals who are also disabled to miss out. I thought the wind was changing within this world in support of those os us who are disabled. Jan 4th shall be a sad day indeed.
@Kate
I would encourage you to rethink closing disability support. This is the one safe place those of us with disabilities can go. We desparately need this space.
@energeticCircle9867 *hugs* I completely agree with you and stand with everyone in the disability support community on this! I'll be around DS for the next few days to offer support
@energeticCircle9867 I could not agree with you more friend! a rethink is very much needed.
@Kate What are we doing as far as the badge lock in lgbtq? I would hate for someone not to be able to get support because they are locked completely out of the community room. At the same time people go there to hide away from the support room when there is an issue.
@supportivelily41 @fluffyunicorns84
@MrJacob Good question as far as I know there will be no badge lock on the room.
@Lorraine234 thank you for reading that even though I totally spaced out and forgot to tag you. #runningonhalf
@MrJacob haha no worries
@MrJacob As of today the badge lock has been lifted!
Alrighty, time for my turn to share my opinion on a few things.
Firstly, I know @Kate only has the best of intentions. I have spoken to them so, so many times and they truly are very kindhearted and - hoping Kate doesn't mind me speaking on her behalf without her permission here - would never, ever wish any harm or upset to anybody, let alone those within the Disability Support community.
With that being said, the room is not permanently closing but instead, it will simply be for discussions only, however, these do not always have to be scheduled events and you may even find it opening up from time-to-time for pop up sessions so feel free to join in and support our Disability Support discussion leaders!
However, I said I was going to give my opinion so I have no choice but to also include the negative points.
Do I think the room should close and become discussion-only? No.
Removing this room as a permanent place for those within the Dis. Support community now means that they no longer have anywhere except for the forums where they can comfortably receive support for their given topic(s) and not everybody feels comfortable using the forums due to its layout and "blog-like" thread style. Not to mention that replies are not instant.
As a Group Mod myself, especially for one of the more "active" rooms, I truly do understand that moderation can always be an issue for any of the chatrooms, however - and I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because I'm sure it does - not once have I ever seen any reports about incidents in that room and any time I visit it is always calm and supportive. Plus, other people seem to say it is one of the nicest rooms in the list.
I do think this is the wrong decision, but all we can do is wait and see what happens. If it has good results, it will stay like this but if not, Kate may choose to revert the decision.
@ItsDev I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I think everyone at 7 Cups wants those who participate in Disability to have a safe space to talk and get support and am intent on hosting open chats when I can to help support this.
There are alot of people in the disabilities support channel who are there because they talk to people who are on similar positions as themselves
Not all listeners will understand as far as I see it theres a mini family in there who all knows each other and talks to each other about whata up
And now with no prior thought to the people who use it the room will be closed?
This is unacceptable and is meant to be a place of support and now your taking away options of support
I do not see the reason behind this at all
@NiamhOzzy I wholeheartedly agree ! Thank you for the support for the room.
@NiamhOzzy You put into words what I feel very weel, thank you Ozzy. <3
@Kate please keep the LGBt support room and the disability room open. As there are people there tbat are kind and friendly and wonderful. As we all need support too.
@Cuteboots
Yes. These are chatrooms that are really doing good. Acceptance is a big thing. Where will these people go now, what happens to this Support System that worked like a Family?
@Kate please please keep the disability room and the LGBT support room open. Don't delete them.
@Cuteboots They aren't being deleted, they are simply being closed but will be opened for discussions. As I said in my post above, you may even find them opened for pop-ups (unplanned discussions) from time-to-time too, along with the weekly ones which are scheduled in advance.
As for LGBTQ+/Support, it will be the discussion room which will only be opened for discussions (and pop-ups), however, there is still the LGBTQ+ Chat so you can still receive support or support others there.
@Kate I'm very disappointed of how this is committed.
I'm really confused as to the reasoning being shared here. The disability support room rarely has issues compared to other rooms. So as far as safety goes, I'm not following the logic.
The disability room was closed in the past, but due to the problems closing it caused, it was reopened. What is going to make this time different?
We are often being asked about how to get a sense of community - I have brought up many times that there are disability room regulars who do not feel comfortable sharing in places that are more permanent and more easily read by the general public. So this is shutting down a few different commnuties - as at different times there tends to be different groups who regularly drop in. There was also no consultation that I'm aware of with the disability team leaders on this. Some of the regulars aren't fans of most of the disability support sessions, so you're really dropping the ball for those members. Even for those of us who do like the support sessions, there is such a broad range of areas that the disability support room covers, so one can wait months before a topic that really feels like a good fit comes up.
As for depression - I'm confused as to why a non-support room is being choosen over the support room, but while I do go into the rooms I'm not a part of that subcommunity, so I'll leave that up to them. The history of the depression rooms has been more complicated with various locks on them. The basis behind LGBTQ community vs. support makes a bit more sense to me, although I would still prioritize the support room first.
@AffyAvo I can clear a thing or two up as far as naming rooms. Rooms named with support are primarily where support sessions and support team work from. Chat rooms are general to the topic. For instance, LGBTQ Support would be used for support sessions, while the chat or community room would be used when there is not a support session scheduled. Primarily they are there for support, but there is a dedicated discussion room. Compassion corner uses this method of having a support room that is opened and closed, and a secondary room that is open 24/7.
@lorraine234 might be able to pick up on anything that I missed.
@MrJacob I understand that, but why close something like depression SUPPORT being open 24/7 and keep open the chatroom which was created for the purpose of off-topic discussion for the depression support room regulars?
Shouldn't support come first at 7cups?
@AffyAvo support is our main focus of course and members will always be welcome to reach out for support in the community room. LGBTQ support will be closed for support sessions. LGBTQ community will be tgere for the community to yse to gain support, hangout together and build community. The reasoning for the support room being used as discussion room is just to be clear that the support rooms are for support session. We will make a forun post to clarify that the community room is indeed a place members can get support. Hope this make sense
@Lorraine234
support is your main focus? Then why not keep these support rooms open and instead close the community rooms and have those pop up during discussions so users have a place to go when discussions happen?
@HopefulSprings as lovely as it sounds many of our communities only have one room. LGBTQ is not the only community that will have one room. The idea is to build community in that room.
@Lorraine234
you are completely missing my point. Dont close the support room. Close the community rooms. Open those during discussions for those who dont like discussions. Closing support room completely takes away support outside those hours and disability and family doesnt have community rooms so what about them outside Discussion Times? Poor planning Lorriane. Im highly disappointed.
@HopefulSprings the community rooms are going to be the go to rooms for support this was my point. Disability will be available to be open any time there is a moderaotr available. Im not saying this is great. Its not and i think we all know that. What I would like to ask is that we all reread the message above. We do not want to do this. Nobody does. However if you do not have the leaders to support it what other options do admins have until such times as we do? I have seen your call to make all mods global again however I respectfully dont agree. This is not the answer when we are tryig to find a balance between quality and quantity. It really would not be great to have mods that do not understand the commmunity and its regulars and how the room works modding in there. This is the exact thing we all complained about before ccm. We have solved that problem to a great extent now and I believe that our way forward is to be open minded and make these rooms a space leaders would like to be. Support the leaders coming in, especially when there is hate flying about as we know can happen. If we make this a positive experience for our leaders I believe it will encourage others to apply and give a helping hand. That is how we are going to have our rooms open. By supporting each other and working together to grow the community.
@Lorraine234
you still dont get it. The rooms theyre closing dont have any issues. This isnt an issue of safety but an issue of laziness. Dont close these rooms down. You will only make it more unsafe. And having more global mods isnt less quality. Its needed on a site like this. Implement an on site emergency form. Its not that we dont have the man power its that it isnt utilized. Also closing disability will be a grave mistake, especially if you dont offer them an alternative. Im done replying to you. Ive said my piece. Whether you actually listen rather than talking over me thats up to you. :)
@Lorraine234 What is it about disability that makes it require a mod be present for it to be open? It is one of the safest, most supportive rooms of the group rooms.