Treating the Community Management Staff with kindness and professionalism - a Friendly reminder
Hello all,
You all give us feedback all the time, so I wanted to take a moment to share a quick reminder - please treat the community management team with kindness, support and respect. I know participating in the community can be frustrating at times and I respect that there may be some situations that feel hurtful to you. If you are feeling upset, please take some time to relax offline. Once you are feeling more calm, you are welcome to come to communicate your ideas or feedback with us. Please consider your words with care, kindness and professionalism.
We are here for you! Our job is to work with the community and we love you all, but we ask that you also remember, we are people too. Like you, we expect to be treated in a professional, kind and respectful manner. We try to treat each of you like this, as well. We are on your team.
Thank you!
Very well said! Thank you for this post Laura, beautiful reminder!
We are all human!
@Laura
@Laura Thanks for this post. 7 Cups really has the best and the most accessible community managers on the entire internet! We are all thankful for our CMs - @Laura, @Kate, @iara who work so hard ensuring that things are safe, healthy, and beneficial for everyone who is in the 7 Cups community.
Thanks for the reminder to be respectful and mindful of our communication with all of you.
We are definitely here for feedback and to hear you out on any issues that are going on, but kindness and respect is always appreciated. Contrary to popular belief, we are not bots and are indeed humans too. 
It saddens me to learn that you and other staff have been treated unkindly and with disrespect by people who have felt hurt or upset at 7 Cups.
I hope those people who get hurt and upset at 7 Cups read this forum and change their ways, though to be honest it seems a little unlikely.
I hope, more realistically, that you and the other staff have adequate professional support in place. Working with people is always hard. Working with people who may have mental health issues is always very hard. Yet that is what we all do here, and we all need other people we can absolutely rely on and feel close to. I wish for you that you have such people.
@Laura. Completely agree! It's supposed to be a supportive community. If you disagree or whatever, don't attack on this site. Rant on Facebook or other social media.
Keep it a safe space, as that is what we all need and expect. To many this may be the only safe space they have. Don't take that away.
Just peace ! ☮️
@Laura of course you and other people who give of their time and talents deserve respect and proper treatment. I heartily agree.
But there is another reason that people may want to self reflect on their behavior for very selfish reasons. What we focus on with our minds has been proven by scientists to strengthen the brain in those areas. If we are repeatedly asking ourselves what is wrong we condition ourselves to see only what we believe is wrong and miss much of what is right. It is like the person who stares at the half of the glass that is empty and loses touch with the half that is full.
On the other hand when we try to find something positive in a situation, then no matter how bleak things may seem, we strenthen and reinforce the mind's ability to find the possible benefits of a situation. Thus we strengthen our own minds and train them to see positive outcomes.
The choice is ours. We are free to program our minds to see whatever we care to see. Rather than blame others for what we see, why not take a look at what we are focusing on and see how that is "training" our minds to see what we repeatedly reinforce.
The other thing I find is when I smile it is difficult not to feel a little better. Conversely when I feed the anger, I feel much worse. So this to me is the reason to treat others with respect: so I feel better and live in a much brighter world than I have lived in before.
Very well said, though it sad that this has to be said, it is a great reminder. We are all human, not counting Noni, and we are all here for each other...members/users, listeners, therapists, admins, etc.
If you are feeling upset, please take some time to relax offline. Once you are feeling more calm, you are welcome to come to communicate your ideas or feedback with us. Please consider your words with care, kindness and professionalism.
Yes please please take a time out, a break and come back and talk about what is bothering you. Though we are volunteers here, we can be professional and be mature about situations and handle matters as so.
So, thank you @Laura for this reminder :)
@Keola Aww, you remembered Noni :D she is also a product of our beautiful community management staff <3
Such an important message - leaders are human, just like everyone else. I have no idea what it's like to be a community manager but I can imagine that it could be extremely stressful at times. Nobody deserves hurtful comments; not admins, not anyone. We're supposed to be here for each other.