January 10 - Animal icons live across the site: Forums, chatrooms, profiles & usercards!

I <s>hate</s> STRONGLY DISLIKE this feature.

Why are we trying to label and group people for no apparent reason? I personally do not care much for when people joined the site. We are all here to feel less alone and perhaps find like-minded people somone to talk to..

How many more tags does a user need? Sure we have mod /group leaders + Member/Listener + sustain users (which i am on the fence about) + user badges (which is useful to see how long/ familiar they are with 7cups)

I just don't think it is a great initiative.

I honestly don't see the point of having these icons next to our names, profiles and whatnot. As what mentioned above, there are much deeper and more serious issues in the site that are needed to be fixed first. I admit, there were times I feel left out in the rooms but it's not because I don't have any symbol or a badge with me, it's mainly because of the people's behavior and how they interact with other members. They are the cliques themselves. They would even share offsite contact and gossip about people here then would come to the rooms to bully and exclude people from their circle of friends to monopolize the chatroom. See? Cliques, bullies and trolls are some of the major problems why people don't feel they're part of the community. I've been here for almost a year and would still feel I'm alone and it's because I don't feel heard and understood whenever I try to reach out to the admins about these issues concerning the chatrooms and its members. People would hate me because I don't have offsite contact with them and would try to bully me because I've been reporting them due to their behavior and yet I feel like the higher-ups just let them to reign with their unsupportiveness and trolling. Yikes!

I find this is creating groups Insted of being all one , plus we not teen side we don't need animals

Seriously, what are the positives and negatives?

The positives maybe be that people who join the site the same month can find each other easily, but that's all.

Or does it helps with the security of the site or with making 7cups a safe space? I think not at all. There are a lot of problems that should be repaired and changed before making pointless updates or better also asking the people if they want it.

There need to be fixed the thing of people making multiple accounts, spammer bots, unsupportive and mean trolls, making the rules better to understand as for members and listeners, but also for mods since everyone can take them the way they want, because the rules are too open minded and don't direct people on what they shouldn't do. Also fixing the problem with COmpassion COrner would be more than needed since it's a place with no rules when there isn' a mod, even if a mod is there, mods aren't no longer visited as authority that should show the direction, but as a shame and are sometimes even attacked.

@Laura I'm enjoying it so far, and I love the idea! I understand that it can trigger some people with animals and their past experiences, so the option of opting-out would be good

It would also be good, if these badges are not shown in the chat rooms, there is gotchy-potchy chat box and sometimes it is difficult to read texts with so many colorful badges. Thanks x

I can definitely see why some people are very excited about the update - and if it does lead to some people feeling more connected, that's a great thing!

That said, there are also a lot of concerns being raised that are valid and should be addressed. The primary ones seem to me to be fixable with a couple changes

1. Provide an opt-out option: many people have a reason to not want to be a part of this, whether for cultural reasons, personally not connecting with the animal for their month, wanting a bit more privacy about their journey, etc. Whatever the reason is, being able to opt out of this seems like a simple way to maintain the benefit for those who enjoy the connection point without causing frustration or harm for those who do not.

2. Remove symbols from group support: There have long been concerns raised that there is SO much business in group support with showing badges, sustainability icons, animals, etc. that it makes it harder to see the most important information: name, timestamp, mute option. I personally would be in favor of stripping out a lot more of the things listed right now, but a good start would be to not add yet another in. As some have noted above, the animal is still in the personal info card (I am blanking on the name of this) when you hover over someone, so if you care, it's still shareable. Not displaying it in the actual room can both make things less busy and minimize some of the concerns about this creating cliquiness by making it a little less publicly visable and more of something you choose to go to the threads for or not.

3. Evaluating the animals selected: It is arguably too late to do this now, but a close examination of the animals and what negative stereotypes might be associated with them could help. As a leader in the eating disorders community, I can absolutely understand how being labeled as an elephant or rhino (now removed) could be really hurtful, even if it's meant to be in fun. There is likely not a list that is completely free from issues, but there are certainly some that cause more upset than others.

To me, the greatest positive in this is the ability to identify when people might have a cupsiversary coming up and congratulate them since this has been a concern for a while about inequal treatment. But I think that the animals actually obscure it more than listing the month because no one is likely to remember which animal goes to which month outside of their own. I really liked @AffyAvo 's suggestion above of using the month and varying the color by year because it seems to accomplish some of the same goals, with the added benefit of seeing someone's year, without the connotations of some of these animals and with more clarity. Perhaps even if the animals stay, the colors could be considered.

At the end of the day, like many changes, I imagine this one will feel less drastic and more comfortable to the community after some time, but if steps can be made to correct for some of the bigger issues, that would make a big difference. And in general, I do think it's important to consider when efforts are being made to improve the community a) the feedback given on the ideas prior to implementation and b) whether this is the best use of community resources and developer time.

This is a great idea!

There are no monkeys or apes, I hope....or mice because then it would maybe resemble the comic Maus. As cute as this is I think someone may unintentionally step across racism comparisons throughout history. I don't not like the animals I've seen so far here but was recently made aware that assigning this sort of thing can lead to misinterpreted intents.

This update is ridiculous and the admin team at 7Cups know it. Yeah, you do Laura. You think it's a cute diversion from the real problems this community has since 7Cups has tripled - if not quadtrupled - in popularity over the past few years. We all need levity and positivity. I understand that. Here's how we could really have lasting levity and positivity instead of this bandaid for our community issues:

1. Moderator and Listener reports seriously vetted and processed efficiently. Need more volunteers to do this? Make it known and provide training.

2. Mobile app stability updates

3. Weed out spammers from forums (see #2 for solution).

4. Take internet stalking seriously. There are rules in place yet when someone messes up they shouldn't have to suffer the consequences by being ignored for help in identifying the stalker on 7Cups by the admin team. Stalking can go offline and become dangerous once someone is doxxed.

7Cups saved my life and I've also given back by becoming a Listener for a brief time (currently on break for a undetermined amount of time). There is so much I love about this community. However, it seems that 7Cups needs to check itself and reexamine why people love it here. Anonymous chats with people who feel the same that you do and help you with your issues is why this community is so attractive. No labels, mimimal judgement, graditude and compassion shown by strangers restores many people's faith in humanity. At least include and OPT-OUT button for these animal labels. No matter how "innocent and fun" it is to the 7Cups admin team, a label is still a label and many people here have problems with it. Focus on the real issues please. I guess the first step for the 7Cups admin team is for them to admit they have a problem...

I really don't like this new update/feature whatever.. It is another label on me that i didn't choose.. Don't get me wrong i don't mind the fact its a butterfly because i've always found the butterfly to resonate with me.. but i don't like having this option forced on me without a say! I mean really, i thought this site was supposed to be inclusive of people's needs and a safe space.. Doesn't really feel safe at the moment, feels like once again choices are taken out of our hands.. Sorry to sound so negative but i'm just sick of options being decided for me.. Kinda makes me want to retreat..