Update to Group Support Room Names: Depression and LGBTQ+/MOGII

@Kate

Those sound like good name changes. Make it clear what the room is to be used for.

@Kate Yay I love these new names! I think it will be really helpful on clarifying what the purpose of the room is for, and allow individuals to identify the correct place for the type of support they are looking for, whether that be discussion based support or general support! Thank you for your hard work on this change, Kate!

@kate

Thank you Kate! I like the name changes.

This is not what we fought for.

I feel as if we were completely ignored in the LGBTQIA+ Community. We explicitly described how much two rooms were needed and did this to great length. You haven't listened to us, and just changed the room name to make it look like you have. This is incredibly hurtful and I hope you understand and actually consider how this has effected us. We needed those two rooms and we couldn't have told you any more why that was, we made ourselves extremely clear.

Next time you have a situation like this, I hope you actually listen to the members of this community and understand their needs before making such rational decisions.

@Kate

Thank you so much for this. I hope the staff will remain open to suggestions for all of 7cups' future.

@Kate

Glad to see that our feedback was taken into consideration in the meeting. I think these changes will help with the confusion.

@Kate, Thank you for the clarification, I think the room names are better this way.

I'm not going to be rash and point fingers, but what I will say is that I am incredibly disappointed, and it absolutely feels like we were ignored. A large number of members and listeners from the LGBTQ+ community showed up to explain why the closure of one of the LGBTQ+ rooms was unnecessary and hurtful to those who spend countless hours in those chatrooms, and those who come there in need of understanding and support. This opinion was effectively unanimous among the people who regularly attend. While there were a few disagreements, there were not many, and those not in support of this option were primarily users of other rooms who did not spend time in either of the LGBTQ+ rooms. The fact is this was one of the main points that we were making, and you -Kate- (though this is not primarily directed at you, merely about feelings in general, and more specifically targeted at whoever made the final call) repeated it back to us and made it clear that you understood. And yet there is currently only one LGBTQ+ room, and this primary concern of ours was not even mentioned in this post, let alone an explanation as to why it was not acted upon -- or ignored. I can only hope the reason behind that is that plans are in motion to put the room back. I don't have much, though.

This is extremely upsetting for many reasons. Both of the LGBTQ+ rooms had minimal moderation issues at all, as the previous setup and a strong community kept things in line. As stated during the town hall, often people needing help with non-queer related issues would show up in one of the rooms looking for help because of how supportive it was. Removing the second room will directly impact the level of support that we as members of that community will be able to give.

In addition, safe spaces for queer individuals are extremely important. There are not many spaces in general for us to be and interact, and many of us feel uncomfortable and not understood in any of the other rooms on this site, which makes it difficult for us to recieve help outside of the queer community, and makes this site less helpful for is. This is compounded by how callous the action of room closing appeared to be. As members we were given minimal notice that an important and safe part of our community was going to be removed, and were allowed no input before the decision was made. From my perspective, this suggests how out of touch with the actual room communities whoever made said decision was. For example, the Disability room was only not removed after a massive outcry of how important it was to them. Had there been more involvement or understanding, the Disability room would not have even been considered to be removed in the first place, as those involved would have been aware of its importance to community members. This is the same with the LGBTQ+ Support and Community rooms. Both of them are and were important to the queer community on 7cups, and the removal of the second room is detrimental.

This may not be the most appropriate place to put this, but I'd like to bring this up as well, as these actions compound on each other and make me feel completely unappreciated or cared about as a member of the 7cups community. Aside from the closure itself without input and on short notice being very upsetting, the actions of many moderators leading up to and after the closure was beyond unprossional and frankly made me feel sick. I'm not going to name any names to start drama, but during those days we were belittled, told to stop acting like children, to stop complaining about the room closure, to be grateful that we at least had one room instead of none, that we "at least had the depression room", were told to stop being upset, and the room closure waws joked about, including one instance where we were told that pressing Alt+F4 would bring the support room back. For clarification, this is a windows shortcut that closes the window. To hear that much from people who are supposed to be setting caring examples and are representatives of this website is absolutely insulting. To hear that at any point would be uncomfortable. To hear it during the closure of something important is absolutely disgusting.

I'm sorry this ran on so long, but I did have a lot to say. Thanks for at the very least listening. I would hope that listening leads to action.

To follow up, I understand this was not the full scope of the feedback given. I did and do hear you and hoped this was a helpful step to take immediately by renaming the rooms to better reflect what they are there for and that they are open for support 24/7. This is in no way meant to minimize the other feedback and opinions given, but more so of a step to take in the right direction.

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you for listening to our posts regarding the room name changes, this is a good response to some of the feedback we have sent via forum posts.

However, unfortunately I am going to have to echo some of the earlier responses to this thread. To suggest (i.e. by referencing the town hall in the start of your message here) this change even slightly addresses the issues raised in the town hall is frankly insulting, and strongly indicates it was a pointless PR exercise used to lull us into believing we would be listened to.

It is difficult to remain completely respectful when it doesn't appear to be a two way street, and the ones in power are playing around with the support structures available on this site without consulting the communities it affects first. Then seemingly acting surprised that there was a negative reaction, and just going through the motions of gathering feedback with only minimal attempt at deviating from the original plan.

I understand that this absolutely was not your intention, and it would be ludicrous to think that any ill intentions went into the planning of these changes. However the response to the hurt this has caused has come across as a halfhearted afterthought.

I do hope that a decision can quickly be reached to actually respond to the feedback we have provided in the town hall and above in this thread. Whether that is in agreement with us (to reopen the room) or in disagreement with a decent explaination. In the mean time we will offer the support to our fellow members in the single chat available to us; and will do so to the best of our abilities. Even though this will be with a hand tied behind our backs, and in a much more chaotic, inconsistent and unsustainable way than we have become accustomed to.

It is also important to note that the outcry this has caused is somewhat a testimonial to how strong, safe and supported the LGBTQ+/MOGII community usually feels on this site. We love 7 cups and just want it to remain the safe place we have grown to rely on over the years we have visited. We just want to help keep this little corner of the internet safe and welcoming for anyone who wishes to join us. It's not out of a reluctance to change or a dismissal of the other parts of the site which may need development or changes to help them improve.