Late May - Member Email Verification Update
Ahoy Glorious Community!
We have been working hard these past few months to make 7 Cups as safe as possible. As an anonymous chat site, this task often presents challenges, but our efforts have paid off and we have seen increased quality and safety around the site! yay!
To this end, we are excited to announce our latest update. We are making this change in the interest of ensuring safe participation. Later this week or early next week, all new and existing members will be required to verify their email to participate on 7 Cups. This includes all areas of the site- 1-1 chats, forums, group support, etc. Listeners are required to verify their emails as well.
We know this is a big change for our member community and that there are potential consequences to this update. We have weighed all of the options and we believe this update will ensure both the short term and long term safety and quality of our site. This update will need to work in conjunction with many other safety initiatives. This is step one in our continud effort to make 7 Cups a safe place.
Thank you for all that you do to help keep the community safe and supportive!
Will there still be guest access?
@AffyAvo My understanding is no they will not unfortnately its a shame that we feel this is the way to go. I really do hope this does not have to much of a impact on people feeling they can reach out to us.
@AffyAvo
We will no longer have guest accts
@Laura With this change, I really see a big need to set up aliases or an incognito option. One can stay private that way, but sanctions made to an account apply in all ways it is used.
I've brought this up before with @Krinkthemellowunicorn
@AffyAvo
Thanks for this idea. I will share it with Krink (sounds like you already have tho ).
@Laura - yes the alias/incognito option is still something we are trying to figure out how to implement
@AffyAvo
excellent idea
This makes sense as to why I could not access the chat rooms. Much appreciated.
@VampireValentine
The teen room was already locked and not sure if you saw this thread on how to unlock the rooms for you.
https://www.7cups.com/forum/TeensOnlyClub_123/TeenCMStation_590/TeenRoomsBadgeLocked_142032/1/
@VampireValentine if you are able to post in this thread, it means your email is already verified, since it is already needed to verify the email for post in forums. for teen member rooms, from what i understood, you would also needed to create a totally new thread (not simply reply a post, but create a new thread), for unblock them.
Very good change!
Will others see the email id?
@Iunderstandwhatyoufeel
Nope, it will be kept completely confidential
@Iunderstandwhatyoufeel
All emails and personal information is kept confidential
@Iunderstandwhatyoufeel
It's the internet. If you give information to someone, always assume that someone else may obtain access to it at some point. Be guided accordingly.
Nice update! I hope this reduces forum spam a bit
@Emily619 yes, it already applies to forums and it helped (without stop it all, it was something like reduced of 50%). i'm sure it will help.
Although I'm sure this would reduce spam in support rooms and forums as well as prevent there to be that many ghost chats, this is sad because guest accounts were pretty nice for users who wanted to test out 7 cups.
@MarshmaIIows
Yes, i think you captured the general sentiment well. Positive update, but a little sad to see that option go.
Thank
Due to there not being Guest accounts anymore, I have a few ideas for how to cause individuals who want to kind of just see what the site is about before making an acount more comfortable. Would it be possible to have a Chat or Forum section specifically for people thinking of joining (though heaviily Moded) where they can ask questions if they are still on the fence? Of course, I would think that the Chat and/or Forum for those individuals would be the only one they see in those areas. A forum seems as though it would be the easiest to monitor as well as have a pre-set list for FAQs to narrow down the conversation and limit it to not talking about personal issues unless in the context of a question, simply gathering the information they would need to feel comfortable to provide their email address as well as a set of rules/commitments they make in order to express concerns in that area. Otherwise, I feel like we will be alienating so many people who do come here for support that they are unable to receive in their personal lives or are wanting to stay anonymous (which can be reassured in above idea) due to being able to open up far more to another person through technology rather than in person..
I do apologize if this sounds scrambled or redudant, it's been a very long day but this was important to me to comment on....
@InternalAcceptance
I really like these ideas. All of the forums will still be read-only. so folks can review them if they desire, but if they want to participate, they will need to create an acct. Group rooms - there is no lurker status at this point. You will need to create an acct to see the rooms.
I think you make some great suggestions. I love that - thank you!
@Laura
I'm very thrilled that the team decided to add verification for all areas of the site, rather than one part individually (one section at a time). It does make me sad that guest accounts will no longer be available to connect with listeners 1 on 1. I can overall see this change becoming a positive step for 7 cups and its steps to better safety.
@Laura This is a terrible idea.
