🦺⚠️ Safety Reminders for the Pen Pals Community

Hello Pen Pals community! 

We are so glad that you’re using pen pals to speak with each other and make deeper connections. That being said, there have been a few cases where communication in pen pals threads has broken forum guidelines and become unsupportive. 

As a reminder, all communication in the forum (and in the pen pal’s community) must adhere to our forum guidelines, especially:

“Confidential information shared in a one-on-one or group chat is not allowed. This includes negative reviews of listeners or group mods. Example: if someone can identify who you are referring to, it is probably not a good idea to post it.” 

There have been several cases of individuals moving to the pen pal’s forum to discuss things that have occurred in a group support room, or to avoid the moderator stopping them from discussing certain comments. This is not allowed and must be avoided. What this rule includes:

❌ Bypassing moderation:
• Discussing moderated or removed comments from group chats
• Attempting to circumvent moderation by shifting the conversation to the pen pals community. In that similar vein, using the forum space as a workaround to discuss sensitive topics that would normally be stopped in chats

❌ Offsite behavior:
• Sharing or hinting at external social media handles, group chat apps, or ways to connect off-platform

❌ Targeting or talking about others:
• Venting about other members, moderators, and listeners, either directly or through coded language
• Referencing other members’ behaviour in a way that invites judgment or criticism

❌ Exclusion and clique behaviour:
• Using inside jokes, codes, or language that excludes others from joining the conversation
• Discouraging new members from posting or participating
• Creating exclusionary or secretive threads that alienate other members

❌ Violation of privacy:
• Copy and pasting or summarising conversations from group chats or private chats
• Referring to things said by other members in private or semi-private spaces without permission

Additionally, the pen pal’s space is meant to foster a sense of wider community. Therefore, all communications should remain supportive and welcoming to everyone. We encourage everyone to remain inclusive and to avoid alienating other users through coded or exclusionary language. We understand that many of you come here to create a space to talk 1-1 or in a small group, which is fine however should still be appropriate for the forum and accessible by all for inclusivity and moderation purposes.

If you're ever unsure about what’s okay to share, or feel like you need to talk about something more sensitive, we encourage you to connect with a verified listener in 1-1 chat or post in an appropriate, moderated support room. When in doubt, you can also reach out to a forum moderator for guidance.

See something concerning? You can always flag a post or reach out directly to a forum/community moderator. You are also more than welcome to reach out to our forum ambassador/admin, tommy or CheeryMango.

We look forward to everyone moving forward with these guidelines in mind!

7 Cups Forum Community