10/24/18: Guest Accounts Update
Hello Community!
Throughout the past year, we have taken measures to improve the safety of 7 Cups by requiring email verification for any member or listener to participate in the forums or in the group support rooms.
In an effort to continue to make 7 Cups as safe as possible, we would like to discuss the removal of guest accounts from the site. We have many guests using the site in hurtful and unsupportive ways and moving forward we would like everyone to verify their emails in order to participate in any area of 7 Cups.
We need to tighten this last piece of the puzzle up to ensure the safety of our listeners and members in 1-1 chats. The timeline for this update is TBA. But we wanted to share this update with you now to give you the chance to share feedback.
Thank you!
@Laura @jill7cups @Power @Heather225
This is very sad. In my personal experience guests are no more likely to be trollish than members. And determined trolls can so easily "verify" a fake e-mail address. All our spammers do!
When you use some arbitrary characteristic of a person (for example, the sharp corners of their icon) as a reason to reject that person, that's stigma. It makes me very sad.
Only hours after I learned we are finally going to give up our stigma against members who need to discuss their medication, there is this terrible news. Did I mention how sad I am?
@RarelyCharlie we escalated the discussion to the point where it's a topic again to not have open rooms anymore. It's depressing.
I will request not doing so . Let's keep this site more within reach and more open. We always have options to report or block teolls. Not every person using guest account is a troll and it will be unfair to them.
@snowflakes I agree.
@snowflakes I agreee
@snowflakes
Agreed
I
@Kate
I definitely see the safety concerns, but echo something that @peppermintlove brought up.
The biggest driver for 7 cups is the concept of anonymity, which can still be retained on a member account if you are careful. However, I believe people may be wary to sign up for a member account without getting to try out the service first.
I also recognize though the danger in leaving a probation time, at which point the user may choose to use proxies to continue logging onto different guest accounts for limited amounts of time.
It is a difficult situation and I appreciate the work the community management team has put forward in trying to solve it.
@MonBon @Kate @Laura @Imogene @ArwaS @Haireo @GrahZeymahzin @mysteriousDreamer76
@Lucy @Power @Vahlok @Hope3729 @Clarisse29
@Everyone
As so many have days in here, trolls will laugh about this.
It's not that difficult to create hundreds of thousands of Google accounts and use them to troll the website..
However, such trolls can be banned from the website/modded our of the group chats, etc.. That is not difficult to do. Once properly don't, it is not that easy to bypass permanent bans from the site.
Probably one of the most compelling reasons why I joined 7cups (as a guest as at first, mind you) was that it was TRULY anonymous and I could talk about myself without absolutely while having any idea of who I am. In my opinion, this should not change, no matter what.
Some may say that being asked for an email verification is common in today's time, but let me remind you that 7cups was (and hopefully remains) a website like no other.
No other website ever had such a wonderful and supportive community of people. I have never known any other website to be TRULY anonymous.(it makes a difference to those who need help but do not work to reveal themselves for any reason whatsoever)..
And honestly people who troll have quite a lot of time on their hands and might not mind the extra effort. With that said, decently done moderation and banning along with use of the mute button in group chats can reduce or even nullify them. It's possible and I've seen it happen. Many, if not all of these trolls themselves are suffering and might come back as genuine help-seekers after a suspension (I've seen it happen so don't tell me otherwise).
Anonymity is one of the stronger, Central pillars that seven cups stand on. As someone who has a decent amount of respect for this site, I request the admin team to preserve that ABSOLUTE anonymity, no matter what it takes.
I rest my case.
@IntrovertedDreamer73409
Side note: At times, longstanding members and listeners do tend to lose the anonymity of their member accounts, in which case guest accounts act as a lifeline if they wish to well support without their member/listener identity bring revealed.
@IntrovertedDreamer73409
Dreamer, the admins have access to account IPs. Even if different emails are created, the IP would remain the same. And I don't think people would go through the trouble of getting a new device or buying a VPN might I add in order to troll.
@Vahlok
Does this support my point of not removing guests, it does it go against it?
@IntrovertedDreamer73409
**Or does it go against it?
@IntrovertedDreamer73409
Interrept it as you wish I guess. 
@Vahlok - you
@Vahlok
proxy ip are free and very easy to use.
I used them to buy games from a specific country, where they had the best price.
But admins can ban the CDKEY of that person interface system (windows/android/linux/apple/..)
And that's why we have online emoulators and testing tool, they will set up a new device for you in under 30 seconds and for free.
..so what's next
The standard for allocating IP addresses dynamically dates from more than a quarter of a century ago, shortly after web pages were invented. Why is it, I wonder, that so many people seem to think IP addresses are static? Is it that they have been reading ancient textbooks?
Modern, dynamic IP addresses do not directly identify a person or a device, because they are dynamically reallocated. On the computer I'm using now it takes me only a few seconds to press a button and get a new IP.
In addition, mobile devices can connect in different physical locations and get different IPs that way. You can walk down a street and get a new IP from each wifi hotspot you pass by.
And in addition there are countless public proxies. . .and there are VPNs.
I'd like to see a setting that allows those listeners who fear chatting to guests to filter them. I would not use the setting myself, but I feel it would be respectful to listeners for 7 Cups to provide the option.
I'd also like to see some kind of rating system that listeners can use to identify guests and members who have constructive chats.
@Vahlok @onerandomguy
@RarelyCharlie
I have suggested the same thing, for the listeners who are not comfortable to talk about everything , to not take guest account calls.
@RarelyCharlie - because most people do not study computer science
@MonBon
thanks, Mon. This is certainly not an easy topic to navigate. I understand the issue from both sides.
@MonBon @kate @laura @RumpleSteeleSkin That would be good if it is possible to verify all the listeners before starting their first chat , TBH when I connect with a listener I hardly get a community verified listener and also in group support chat many are not verified , and somewhere I am scared with their quality and I feel unsafe ! And it is difficult to vent out to them :(
@Potentialwell
HI Potential thanks for sharing that thought here. I also am very sorry you feel that way when connecting with a listener. (these are my thoughts only)
A listener gets on here and may know about validation,repeat,empathy and so on. If not they have some time to learn these skills from their chats, reviews and mentors here, as well as other listeners sharing on examples in LSR/LHR. So I feel if we make all listeners get VL right away they might fail, and that bring on less listeners available to support those in need. However I do like your idea personally here. As far as how your feeling scared and such, have you shared this appropriately with the listener? Kinda like a positive,negative and positive thing-sandwich
I do hope real soon you get a good listener and feel safe to share.
@Kate
There were genuine guests who wanted to remain anonymous. Members sometimes use a guest account since they lose their anonymity sometimes. An alternative for guest account would be nice to have.
@AnyTimeFriend
any ideas on how we could create that alternative? or what that would look like?
Let's think this way.... Someone has a critical problem and somehow he or she found this site. And it's free to use, but you need an account (+email validation). Do you think that person would want do create an account ? What about the trolls ? for them definitely would not be a problem to create an new account or even an new email. From what I know , you can make unlimited google-gmail accounts.
So why to "punish " the people in need , because of the people who want to make jokes ?
just my fair opinion
@onerandomguy
Hi One,
Your reasoning does makes sense but I just want to point out that if any 7cups user regardless of them being a guest or a member is in a "critical" situation, as in a current ongoing emergency, they should not use cups in the first place until the situation settles and they should bee referred to a hotline/local emergencies.
As for Gmail accounts, Gmail now requires mobile number verification for most countries and a user is only allowed a very limited amount of emails per phone number. I doubt the "trolls" would buy additional multiple sim cards only for the purpose of trolling cups.
@Ayla
Hi Ayla.
I'm not an active user not on this account, nor on my listener account. I just login from time to time to talk with some friends I have here. I don't think I ever talked to a troll here on 7cups. All of my calls were from nice people and we had fun talking. If any of them was a troll, must was a cool one.
About your point on people in critical situation should better call hotline or local emergencies, I don't think most of them would do it, because they don't have the courage to call an emergency hotline.
In my country we have free WiFi in big cities, free sim cards , you can go to their shop and get a free sim card without any ID. In the summer are those part-time jobs where young girls hired by the company, are giving free sim cards on the street.
I'm not sure how it is now, but a couple of months ago I remember I could signup to google without any phone number validation. I signup direct from my mobile.
And if you go to apps->your browser->delete all data -> go again on your browser and you can make a new account.
If some people are not comfortable to talk with trolls, then a badge for guest accounts would be fine. So that they can choose to talk only with registered users.
and btw, this community can look for a way to give those trolls some help, because probably they had some trauma experience, and they need help also
Thanks for the reply btw, and have an amazing day ! hooray !
I will start flagging off topic strings.... for admin. Audits....
when i discovered 7Cups, i was thoroughly tramatized by the responses i received from "Hot Lines", ie: suicide prevention and crisis call lines. i would probably not have used 7Cups if i could not have 'tested the waters'. fortunately for me, i got good Listeners, and decided to join the site. now i am a Listener, and when i have "tested the waters" again, i have been terribly disappointed in the poor quality and unashamed effrontery of several of the people who picked up my call.
i would agree with the person who suggested an 'open chat of 30 responses' before requiring any kind of registration. but even more, i would hope that 'seasoned and expert' listeners do a random check of what's going on in the Lists, and weed out those Listeners who are, themselves, trolls and rule-breakers.
It's really sad to see things have gotten this far :( I do understand that a lot of people feel more comfortable just as guest, and sometimes the whole process of creating an account can make you give up; but as a listener who has been disrespected many many times by many many guests, I do fully understand and support 7Cups decision on that matter, and am excited to see how this will turn out
@Kate
I am glad you are considering this. I have recieved many many guest who use this site for awful purposes. Then when I attempt to call them out I can get a bad review and then this make it so 7 cups does not want me here.
Im excited you have decided to remove the accounts