Dear 7 Cups
Hellooo!! It's been a while since I ever came on forums as well as I barely was on this site past half a year or more since my last post and just saying but O M G what the h*ll happened to this site now... I mean literally... I've taken some chats (around a 100) I've looked around this site and here's my feedback after not being here for quite some time.. (Even tho nobody cares sadly)
So let's begin with the Navigation: around the site, as I noticed you guys still haven't managed to make a simple and easy to use site for help, for example, for advanced users that has been in this site for quite some time, you could made like an optional setting that we wouldn't have specific pop ups like your listener is here or the waiting for the listener pop up, I believe 100% that I'd get to the new listener in 1 second or just more faster rather than press on take me there then load the whole page again with an instant force message that I didn't wrote at all in some of the chats " I'm seeking help with whatever "...
Forum: O M G what did you guys do there, HOW do you even mess up like that... Once I got there, I was entirely confused on what's going on, where to go, what's that or that, there were so many things all around the site, even the most meaningless and unneeded things, it actually took me a while to even find the right forum to post this in because before there was a feedback forum here and I think that is just gone now and I don't even know why... Maybe sick of getting feedback that they can't manage to do... Other than that, just now as I'm posting this there are so many spammers that been here for a few hours and nobody seems to do anything about it either (I'm thinking due to no available moderators) So in a nutshell, the forum has gotten so much more worse, also where did all the old forums go that were there but not anymore ?
Listeners: Here is a total chaos now... Even worse than before I think... I've meet literal robot listeners, like, they copy/paste texts and don't write anything of human sense... Other listeners are just why and how... Like young girls of 13 saying that you're cute and then they disappear in a few min if you don't respond to them...? And other listeners are just being listeners, some are more improved on finally being a bit more chill, opinion taking and as well as giving their opinion... I've meet few chill listeners here really nice guys and I enjoyed talking to them.. As well as a few girl listeners... Other than that, haven't been to groups because like always people ignore you there I believe...
In the end, yes I do know that probably a lot of people will disagree with the points I made here, but in my personal opinion that's what I think and that's my opinion that I wanted to give to 7 cups if they ever come across on reading it (even tho they never did before)
Overall, it's sad that this site hasn't changed a bit to a good side when I thought maybe with whatever they were planning, it would change to a better site than for what it was... But I guess I was wrong, oh well... What do you guys think about this site ?
Yeah as for the forums:
Feedback is hidden in "Laura's Office"
The spam is definitely noticed, and deleted whenever a mod can get to it. Unfortunately the admin only tried like one captcha thing and then gave up when it didn't help this issue. Embarrassing for sure, and sad that mods have to spend so much time deleting when the admin could be trying more things.
And navigation in general, I don't even use the links, I just go to https://www.7cups.com/forum/?s=New whenever I want to visit the forums. I don't even know how to get there without knowing the url anymore, since it's all based in subcommunities now.
I pretty much agree with everything you've said, except for just a few things that I don't exactly disagree about, but I have a slightly different point of view..
One is that I've been here through the recent changes, so it's not so much of a shock to me to see all the changes at once. Another is that I customize the site a lot, both to remove things that are (to me) useless clutter and to add some extra features and work around some faults.
Where I really disagree is when you say "you guys" in various places. I think there's a big disconnect between the website and the community. Maybe there always has been. When you post in the forums like this you're talking to the community, but we have almost no influence over the development of the site.
I read some old stuff about 7 Cups back in the early days, and the impression I get is that development was being driven from outside 7 Cups by folks at Y Combinator and maybe others. And the design and user experience were never really high quality, it just looked OK because external people were demanding that and 7 Cups depended on them for funding.
But as 7 Cups has matured and gone its own way, the community hasn't been able to take up those roles—setting the direction of development and insisting on quality. So now the feeling I get is that development is directionless, and low standards are acceptable.
@BioStar
@RarelyCharlie
I see, not to understand wrongly, but I meant you guys differently in different ways, for example when i said "What did you guys do here?" I meant the developers obviously, not the community that came to this post to read... Another example "what do you guys think about this?" it's a question for people " the community".
I do feel that this site has some how reached the rock bottom with it's development unless they manage to make it worse some how, and pretty much no day light to it being any professional or easy to navigate anymore..
@RarelyCharlie
There is a galaxy of disconnect between staff and the volunteers.
Staff is here to make money.
The community is comprised of volunteers who are here to make a difference on their own time because they care.
UNFORTUNATELY staff has 100% say in how things are done and volunteers are not listened to. If a listener tries too hard to improve things they are kicked off the site.
I agree with the above repliers!
Navigation: The navigation has definitely changed, especially with the new (or, well, old now) layout that was designed and released in late 2015. If you'd like some help with navigating, feel free to ask around - especially an experienced user! We're here to support you.
Forums: While the forum moderation systems have shifted from global moderation to community-centered moderation, flagging spam posts is the best to do. I'm a global forum mod, and I try my best to go through with deleting all of the spam every morning before and after school, as well as during my lunch break. There's a good amount of other forum mods that do the same, so we try our best. Feel free to tag a forum mod in a post that should be edited or deleted, and we'll try our best to respond promptly.
Listeners: What you may be referring to is the automatic welcoming. Some listeners, including myself, have opted to have canned welcoming messages sent from their account when a new user joins. If you spot a user who's seemingly robotic, feel free to leave an honest rating and review. They should receive a quality coaching email regarding their review, and they will be prompted to connect to a Quality Mentor/Star to brush up on their listening skills. Additionally, if you spot a 13-year-old listener, please report them. A listener must be at least 15 years old. Considering you are an adult, every listener you come in contact with via personal messages should be an adult as well. If you connect with a teen (15-17 years old), please report them by emailing community@7cups.com
@Emily619
Refering to your listener response, I clearly know the automatic welcoming and not automatic welcoming, it's not what I meant either, I meant that there are some listeners that instantly copy and paste text that are given by tips or in training... How do I know ? Every text that is tried being copied is usually not finished by forgetting a question mark or a letter or no caps on a specific word... And every text is exactly the same, as well as them not responding to the question and rather just say the next copy paste text... Some of the listeners even admited for copying the text...
So then again, why does this site make people do the training that turns out horrible to them but they still beat it because you just gotta do all the same stuff just in a correct manner so that you could be a listener... What's the point of it at all then ?
Lastly, I'm not an adult, I'm still a teen ^^
@BioStar
Oopsies! I thought I saw an A for adult on your account's card. The team is working toward improving the initial listener training, such as increasing the difficulty, limiting how many times you can re-try a question, and so on. As far as the underage listeners, you can still report them at community@7cups.com as it is not okay to be a listener under 15
The community is comprised of volunteers who are here to make a difference on their own time because they care.
I agree with what you've said. I joined 7cups just two days ago, and so far it's been confusing as hell and really, really hard to navigate. Which is weird, because as a site so seemingly focused on being helpful, they make the mechanics of their creation so complicated it can be really discouraging for new members who genuinely want to either get or provide help to others.
To me the forum is relatively easy to navigate, but I agree with you on all other issues. For newbies & veterans alike, it's important to realise that this website has a lot of flaws, that admins & mods don't do their jobs as efficiently as they should--I mean, they can't even update a calendar!--& that consequently, individual members & listeners have to pretty much do their own "quality control" as much as they can. Use what parts of the website help you & ignore the rest, because no administrator or moderate is trying to maintain quality control.
The community is comprised of volunteers who are here to make a difference on their own time because they care. [Edited by Anomalia to remove advertising link]
@BioStar
Hi there, thanks for the post, I am going to try navigate and see what is around keeping in mind what you said, and I'll post again here in a while. I haven't tried anything properly yet as a member, forums, etc, I'll get back to you to say what my experience of it was