Does paid subscriptions ruin 7 cups of tea?
Initially when I first joined the site as a Listener , I enjoyed being part of a great non-profit organization where a person can go to receive help. I just noticed a new paid subscription thing , where a person can pay to get extra help and that personally offends me.
The thing that made 7 cups of tea great was the fact that it was free, and everyone is welcomed and now it seems as though people with money are able to get extra help and it divides the community. I understand that it costs money to keep the site up , however I think any monetary transactions involved should be restricted to only donations. Your thoughts on this?
Totally agree with you on this. People came on this site to get help from others, who were in a similar situation. It's kind of unfair for others, who cannot or do not have enough money to get extra treatment, or get extra help. It does divide the community. The payment should be like from donations from people to this cite, but i don't think it should be strictly on donations, but on donations, if you get what i mean, kind of.
Hi !
First, this site always was for-profit.
second, the donations are volunteer and there is no requierement to give anything. This site is free and will always be! they just added the option to do montly donations if people want...
there is no benifit to do a donation or anything. the site will be the same if you don't give money.
This is how I see it.
I, too, have some hesitancies when it comes to this new update. I am not able to donate and therefore will be unable to access the same things as those who are able to. And it's a bummer. And I can see how it can cause a rift within the community.
Having said this, this site has saved thousands of lives. It's helped me come out of my shell and see myself as someone other than a failure. I've met amazing people through this platform and that wouldn't have happened if 7 Cups didn't exist. I will be eternally grateful to @GlenM and his team for coming up with this idea and getting it off the ground on their shoulders.It has since grown to the point where he and his team are able to focus most of their time to the always essential behind-the-scenes, where I'm sure they tackle hundreds of things that go unnoticed by us everyday.
This company is not a non-profit organization and it needs sustainability in order to survive. They need to pay their employees so we continue having people behind-the-scenes fixing glitches/bugs, tweaking updates, securing the server and coming up with more ideas to better 7 Cups as a whole. As this company's user base grows, the servers will have to continue to accommodate the daily traffic, more protection/security is needed as we become more known, better equipment will be undoubtedly required in order to keep everything running smoothly. As the company grows, more sides to the company will be added on and more people will be needed to manage these sides. This all takes money. Yes, they have us who willingly volunteer our time for the greater good and help keep things running on the surface, but we have no clue what exactly goes into maintaining what the surface rests on. Until we peak behind the curtain, it's very difficult to say for sure if what they are doing is a wrong decision or not.
All we have to go on is how that decision makes us feel. And that's okay. One of the things this site teaches and shows us is that every single feeling matters and is valid. This new update is going to create a wide spectrum of feelings. Some good, some neutral, and some not so great. But it's up to us to realize if what we are feeling, the divide we think will happen, the unhappiness at not having access to the same perks as the person next to us, the huge change this brings and the anxiety that comes with it; we have to sit down with ourselves and see if this unease and unhappiness is something we can control. If we have the power to change how this affects us by changing how we look at it. I would love to have the extra steps that those who are able to donate now have access to, but I also recognize that I was doing okay without them before I knew they were going to exist. And because I was doing okay without them before, I can do alright without them, now. Or, instead of allowing myself to be jealous of someone who can donate when I can't, I'm thankful to them. For donating when I couldn't to a cause I feel very strongly about. And I can also ease my anxiety and my concern by remembering that everything requires a trial and error period. Nothing goes smoothly the first time it's put into action. While things may be bumpy now, they will undoubtedly smooth out over time.
The great thing about this is it isn't mandatory. I can still enjoy everything I had before I knew "backing 7 Cups" was a thing. I can still speak to the amazing people I've met, I still have a platform to help many people every day, and I still have a chance to utilize the things I learn here and the experiences I have here to better who I am. Same as I did before.
@ValentineLove I haven't really decided about giving any money to the site yet and likely will not for quite some time. But Glen mentioned that you can bestow these sustainability leaves on other people. If I thought there was value in the "extras" I would certainly love to pay on the behalf of you or any friend here. Maybe there could be lists of people seeking access that backers/upgraders could "sponsor."
That said, you're definitely still in a queasy-making realm of the haves and have-nots, those with means and those in effect begging (and perhaps even some who could pay but would rather talk someone else into it).
My emerging concern is actually over what happens when money enters the equation and accounts are suspended/banned/otherwise restricted? Will decisions concerning whether or not a user violated a rule and deserves a sanction be made with full knowledge of whether or not they are backing the site? It takes little imagination to see how that could become problematic...
and on the other side... I've paid my monthly cash and get muted - am I entitled to anything back? I'm sure this is all somewhere in some fine print.
These questions would concern me less were it not for the fact that the details of the process already seem opaque to users affected. Adding a monetary factor will make those issues all the more poignant.
@squib You are very sweet, my dear. <3 Thank you.
I'm interested in knowing the second of your two concerns as well. Regarding the first, Glen has said when he replied to a previous post of mine that money will never come into account when punishment is being decided. But that sort of question is the kind where even when the answer is received, people will still question the validity and genuineness of said answer.
@ValentineLove
@ValentineLove I guess maybe I can't count or forgot?
But... there's an enormous difference between saying backer status will not be taken into account and it not being known to the people making a judgment. Only if the status is actually concealed from the people reviewing a case can it be truly known not to matter. This isn't to say anyone would be acting in bad faith. It's simply the nature of unconscious bias - you are not conscious of it! Process matters more here than purity of intention. This is why, for instance, it's important to know whether a research study is double blind. It's not that we don't trust scientists' intentions to be unbiased. It's that we know bias happens despite the best of intenations!
@squib That's very true. There is a substantial difference between the two. Then I suppose I too am curious in that answer!
@ValentineLove
You have access to exactly the same things.
Those who make a donation don't have access to more than you.
@TortueDesBois Not true. If you click the "Back 7 Cups" button it says this:
"
Unlock the full 7 Cups Journey
When you join Team 7 Cups you not only help us reach more people, you also upgrade your account and receive access to personalized growth paths, sustainability icons for your profile, and monthly emails from our founder."
There then follows a list of all these individual "growth paths," materials not available to everyone else.
@squib
does have an icon does a big difference? mainly that you can receive them as a gift!
does the personalized growth paths offer something more than you have without paid? no. it's the same growth path, but with some steps focussed on the self-guides related to the theme of your personalized growth path (but you have acces to this guides even if you don't pay, it's exactly the same!)
and the emails... it's only for lets you know how your money is used.... it does not increase the quality or anything....
@TortueDesBois
It's not my understanding that the "bonus" growth paths have exactly the same content that free users can access. If that's true it's incredibly dishonest to have the huge grid of "extras" your backing will unlock!
Moreover, the various chats with professionals are completely exclusive to backers. People on free accounts will not have access to those, period.
It's also worth noting that in general, any kind of inequality tends to be corrosive to a social system. This will stress the community to some degree no matter how great or small the benefits of backing truly are; the mere fact of some people getting perks itself is divisive. That's not to say it isn't for the best; it's just something to observe.
There is already a divide in the community and it actually has nothing to do with the money itself.
It's the tinfoil hatters ("omg he's gonna buy a yacht and live in a mansion and all the attacks on the site were staged") vs full supporters vs the meh neutral people.
#7cupsofpolitics
@Alystem True. I think I'm in the meh camp mostly. I really have no investment in the grand vision of 7 Cups as the be-all and end-all of emotional support on the web. If it becomes that great, if it only serves a small niche that's fine with me as well. And I've never cared about growth paths and badges and bells and whistles. For me it's about interacting with people in chatrooms and 1-on-1s, and as long as those are free and open to all the core of the 7 Cups experience will be alive for me.
@Alystem the idea that we staged these atrscks, given how stressful and harmful they were and are, is particularly ludicrous.
The site you joined did not change. Exactly the same features are available to you as before. The same awesomeness, the same great community. The site 7 cups as you know it is still 100% free, and everyone is welcome to join the community.
I think developing a system like this to create sustainability is a good idea. The exact way they are doing it does raise some concerns, I agree. Mostly the possible divide it creates, but remember that we are the community, we decide if there will be, or how big that separation will be. I think we can only see and wait how this will affect the community.
Also the fact that they've created new content, new 'growth paths', that must've taken a lot of resources to create (aka time, money, ect), but then only make them available for a small select group seems to go against the mission, or purpose of the site.
Remember it is completely voluntary, and the creators of the site do try to listen to our concerns.
🐙
This is a great post!
I honestly don't know how to feel about the paid subscription thing...I mean, one of the things I've always loved about 7 Cups is that it's been free...and now I'm not quite sure what's going on, I don't know what's being paid for and what's still free...I feel like everything should be free. I know that so many people rely on this site and need the support.
@MaddyIsHere Everything that we had before the "Back 7 Cups" update will remain free. If you donate, or "back" 7 cups, you gain access to some perks that were not around before.
@ValentineLove
Oh, oki! Got it! Thanks so much for the clarification! <3
Cc @glenM - new thread on impact of upgrading and backing.
