March 7: Age Categories!
Hello all!
I am excited to make this announcement! You all have been asking for MANY months... for better age identifiers!
We are excited to announce that by the end of this week, this will become a reality.
The age categories will be:
- Teen (under 18)
- 18 - 35
- Above 35
The updates you can expect:
1) A group support chat room for 35+ community members
2) On browse listeners the ability to search by age. You will be able to search for a listener by one of the age categories listed above. You will be listed within a specific category depending on the DOB you entered on 7 Cups when you signed up!
This is a suggestion box success! Big thank you to everyone who has left a suggestion! Keep them coming! We are excited about this!
cc @Anomalia @heather @iara @krinkthemellowunicorn
UPDATE:
If you are a listener, and you would like to not be included in the age categories, please just fill out this form to opt out.
Those who submit, will have their ages nulled and not be part of the age sorting update. We hope to accomodate everyone by providing this option.
Thank you!
Super-duper idea guys.... I love it 
ahh so excited this is something i've wanted for so longg
Someone asked me so I wanted to clarify that adults of any age can still mingle on the site all the same ways as usual (aside from access to the > 35 chat room), and that the selection of listeners by age is optional.
Someone already told me they need to correct their date of birth to make sure they appear in the right grouping when people do search by age range. If you need to do that too, please request via a support ticket.
@Laura @KrinktheMellowUnicorn
You will be listed within a specific category depending on the DOB you entered on 7 Cups when you signed up!
Can we opt out of having our age range shown altogether? I am not comfortable with having my date of birth - information I thought would be kept confidential - used to display public information about me - even if it is a range.
@Laura @KrinktheMellowUnicorn -
I have the same question and concern as at @Soothinpurrr. Personally, I think each listener should be able to opt out, as Soothingpurrr suggested, even if it is just an "age range."
Will optinig out of this completely, so that this info is not searchable in any way, before this is rolled out, or "goes live" be an option for each listener?
Thank you.
@Lilylistens ... yes; same questions for Members who are thinking of becoming a Listener ,.....
@Lilylistens @cyanPlatypus6370 - I've been discussing how to provide an opt-out with @devTeam and it looks like this really complicates things and also would slow the load of the browse listeners page, so I'm afraid we may not be able to offer this feature as we had hoped until we can figure out and then implement a more complete solution.
Disappointing news to those who have been asking for this capability but I perhaps a relief to those worried about having their age ranges detectable, however anonymously.
@soothingpurrr ... exactly!
@soothingpurrr
To be clear - your DOB will be not be shared with anyone. The actual date of your birth is completely confidential. The only this that will happen is... the age you entered will identify you into one of the three categories. No specific ages will be shared, only broad age brackets.
Does that make sense? And do you still have a concern ?
Hi @Laura - yes I do still have a concern. I would not want any reference to my age publicly accessible beyond the fact that I am 18+.
I believe it should be at each listener's discretion what personal details we choose to have disclosed about us - and to whom. This includes, but is not limited to, our names (first names), gender, and age (even as a range). And by disclose I also include showing up in a publicly searchable group of listeners of a specified age range.
I understand that knowing someone's age (range) may be useful in certain circumstances. I simply feel it should be our choice whether we want that information publicly disclosed or not.
Again, I agree completely wtih @soothingpurrr about this.
Can listeners opt out of this, even if it just a searchable "age range," @Laura?
@soothingpurrr So much this. So very, very much this.
@soothingpurrr - the intention was never to show any age information on your profile but to allow you to show up in a search for listeners in a certain age range.
As I just posted to this thread, because of these concerns about privacy we are going to have to put a hold on rolling out this change for now, as we try to figure out a way to balance the very strong demand for a feature like this with these privacy concerns.
Unfortunately, all the ideas I've come up with so far are about 5 or 10x as much work for @devTeam and thus unlikely to happen nearly as soon as we had hoped.
I am sorry to anyone we are disappointing with this.
I think it's a great idea as long as it doesn't force age segregation. Age fears work both ways. Think I scared off a listener when he labeled me as three times his age and felt that he had nothing to offer
@Azak - agreed. it's completely optional when it comes to looking for a listener
What does this mean?
@limegreenWalker5585
This means that members 35+ will be able to have their own room to support each other.
For the age search feature, this can help members/guests browse listeners for their preferred age preference :)
Okay. Just to clarify, are we going to segregate people based on their age categories? I believe you're not saying that, but it would be helpful if you can talk about some of the thinking behind this new venture. Thanks!
@ProfessorExmachina - The goal isn't to segregate anyone, and you will still be able to connect with anyone that you can connect with today.
The reason for doing this is that many of our members who are in their 40's, 50's, etc. have said that at times, they feel that they could better relate to a listener of a similar age, or would like to talk about issues more unique to being in a different life stage (e.g., elder care, kids moving out, aging, etc.). While we definitely believe that you can give great support regardless of age, if there are things that will help make members more comfortable, it feels like a great thing to do!
The general request queue will continue to work as it always has, and members will receive whichever listener grabs them from it, but if someone specifically wants to talk to someone closer in age, they can use the browse listeners function to search for a listener. And if they want to chat with a group of people closer to them in age, they can jump into the 35+ group support room to do so.
Hope that helps clear it up!
@Anomalia
That was helpful, thanks!
@Anomalia ... helpful yes. I agree with those above though that we could use more categories, like at least 4. So many things in life, around me anyway, are divided by 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc etc. Maybe we could try that?
@GlenM @Laura @KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
@cyanPlatypus6370 - I believe there is a possibility of more groups in the future, but we wanted to start with just the one additional category to see how it goes, particularly since we have fewer members and listeners in each decade above 30, so we didn't want to make the groups too small. But if this goes well, there's no reason the boundaries or numbers of groups can't be evaluated again in the future if the community wants to.
@Anomalia .... I see. Well, put me down as the first vote for more categories then :)
@cyanPlatypus6370 - we did consider that and could try it. this was an attempt at a first step and the vast majority of our users are 35 and under.
per my comments elsewhere I'm afraid it seems we aren't going to be able to this easily any time soon
@Laura It will be a great change either way :) I'm looking for the implementation :) WIsh it will gonna went well!!!! <3
Finally a site improvement that I can get behind! As a person in the 35++ group, I am really looking forward to this!!
@Laura I don't know if I have much in common with a 68 year old, lol :)
@kitsunesakura of love a 68 year old. I got sent a weiner pic. I should have reported him, but I was so freaked out I deleted him and his conversation. I'm kicking myself. I'm new and I don't know how to do anything.
@KimmyCat some of us seniors do need help and won't send those types of pictures. I myself am 65 and I have had 20 year olds send me dick pics..I usually tell them I have worked I the ER and have seen many penises and theirs is no different.
@Jmt65 I love that tongue-in-cheek response to an unwanted "pop-up" in your "in-box." I'll be chuckling about it all day.
@KimmyCat - don't beat yourself up. I'm sorry that happened to you!