This is an unofficial glossary of the terminology used at 7 Cups, compiled and maintained by @RarelyCharlie. For more information, or to report errors and omissions, see the forum thread: A 7 Cups Glossary

1-to-1-chat

A private chat. At least one of the people in a 1-to-1 chat must be a listener, a therapist, or a bot, because guests/guest and members/member cannot chat 1-to-1 with guests or members. When counting 1-to-1 chats, 7 Cups considers one chat to be completed when each person has sent at least 10 messages and 30 messages have been sent in all.

7 Cups

A business enterprise based in the United States of America and operating online worldwide to develop and deliver an innovative model of healthcare known as weCare. Also, the online service provided by 7 Cups on its website and by means of its app. See also: mission,/mission values

7CupsCommunity

A special account sometimes used by admins/ to answer questions in the forum anonymously.

7 Cups for the Searching Soul

A book that explains the philosophy underlying 7 Cups. Also published as a self-help guide. See: 7 Cups for the Searching Soul Amazon Kindle, Smashwords e-book formats, Self-help guide

7 Cups of Tea

The original full name of 7 Cups. The Internet domain 7cupsoftea.com redirects to 7cups.com. Also the title of a Chinese poem, part of which is quoted at the start of the book 7 Cups for the Searching Soul.

@-sign

In a forum post, a prefix that turns the name of a member,/member listener or therapist into a tag. For example, @Boris would tag an account named Boris.

The account tagged will receive a notification containing a link to the feed or thread. Logically, the notification should link to the post but this is not implemented.

#-sign

In a feed post,/post a prefix that turned a word into a hashtag.

A

account

A persistent Internet identity and name used to access 7 Cups.

There are three types of account. A member,/member listener or therapist account is password-protected and persists across devices and browser profiles.

An obsolete fourth type, a guest account had no password, and it persisted only on one device and browser profile.

Each person who uses 7 Cups can have one of each type of account, in practice, but should not have more than one of any type. The rule about this is unclear.

Achieving Goals

17th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

active listening

A method of listening involving active feedback, principally through reflection. The method used by listeners/listener to provide emotional support to members/member and guests/guest.

admin

An administrator. Admins are paid staff of 7 Cups.

adult

An account whose owner has registered as being 18 years old or older. Adult listeners/listener can only take 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat with adult guests/guest and members,/member but teen and adult listeners do not have this restriction. See also: teen

adult teen listener

A teen and adult listener.

Advanced

10th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

advice

Information or suggestions intended to solve or alleviate a problem. Whether or not listeners/listener should give advice is controversial.

Aiming High

8th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

alert

A notification.

Ambassador

The highest level of leadership role in the community.

Amelia

Listener/listener name of former 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member and assistant community manager, the late Amelia Winsby.

Animal Cohort

A group of member, listener, and therapist accounts that were registered (or, in some cases, reinstated after a break) in the same calendar month, regardless of the year. Represented by an icon that represents a creature, not necessarily an animal. See: Dolphin, Penguin, Horse, Camel, Elephant, Kangaroo, Starfish, Fish, Bunny, Eagle, Butterfly, Turtle.

announcement

A notification sent manually to the community or to part of the community (as opposed to an automatic notification).

Announcements

A page on the website where announcements/announcement are listed, even after you canceled the notifications./notification

anonymity

Used within 7 Cups to mean that there is no public connection between the name of a 7 Cups account and the real-life owner of the account. (Accounts have associated e-mail addresses, but they are not known to the community as a whole, only to admins/admin.)

No accounts are truly anonymous. Deactivated/deactivate accounts all have the name Unknown.

anonymous evaluation

Evaluation of listeners by other listeners who use secret member accounts to request chats, with the aim of increasing listener quality. See also: mock chat

app

The 7 Cups application for iOS and Android devices (as opposed to the website).

appreciation token

A token awarded to a listener on progressing beyond the last level in a group into the next group. For example, a listener who is in the 5th group, Apprentice, has appreciation tokens for the four lower groups: Newbie, Novice, Beginner and Helper. The tokens are only shown on a listener’s impact page and have no purpose.

Apprentice

5th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

article

A document in the wiki.

ATL

Abbreviation sometimes used for “adult teen listener” (a teen and adult listener).

B

badge

A token awarded to a member or listener. Each type of badge is awarded for a specific reason, and there are more than 600 types of badge in all. Some are awarded automatically and some manually. Member badges and listener badges are different.

Each type of badge is color-coded bronze, silver, gold, platinum or diamond, but this has little real significance.

badge lock

A restriction imposed on a chatroom so as to exclude anyone who does not have a certain badge or one of a certain set of badges.

ban

A setting that prevents an account from using 7 Cups. Used to protect the community after some rule has been broken.

bat call

An e-mail alert sent to designated listeners/listener when there are many general requests/general request waiting to be taken.

Beginner

Third of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

behavior point

Point assigned to a listener or member for unwanted behavior.

Big Steps

12th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

bio

The owner-supplied part of the information in a profile, short for biography, even though the information is not usually biographical.

bio design

The design of the owner-supplied part of the information in a profile. Also a team of people who help others in the community,/community especially listeners/listener, to create fancy designs for their profiles.

block

A setting that prevents a pair of accounts/account from having any contact with each other. Used to protect people from unwanted chats/chat or messages/message.

blog

A series of posts/post published by 7 Cups, similar to a feed but intended for public readership.

bot

A computer program that behaves in some way like a person. The only bots on 7 Cups, as far as we know, are Noni and Sophia. (Originally short for robot.)

boundary

A personal rule (as opposed to a community rule/rule).

break

A period of time when someone deliberately stops using 7 Cups, or parts of 7 Cups.

bridge

At one time a phone bridge system provided for anonymous phone calls between listeners/ and members./

bubble

A private area of the forums/ for Subcommunity leaders.

buddy

Someone paired with someone else, typically in order to provide each other with support. 7 Cups has various buddy schemes for different purposes.

Bunny

The animal cohort for the month of September.

burnout

A condition said to affect some listeners/listener who leave 7 Cups with bad feeling. Thought to occur because of lack of self-care, or because of high workload, or because of the wrong approach to listening/active listening, or some combination of those causes.

busy

A status setting indicating that a listener is active on 7 Cups but not available for new chats/chat.

Butterfly

The animal cohort for the month of November.

C

Camel

The animal cohort for the month of April.

category

One of the topics that a listener can specialize in and that Noni asks about.

Also one of subdivisions of the forum. Some categories in the forum match subcommunities/subcommunity, but some don’t. A forum category contains subforums/.

Also a group of articles/ in the wiki.

censor

An automatic system intended to prevent the use of certain words or phrases. Also, to edit certain words and phrases after they have been used to make it look as if they were not used, or to delete information after it has been published to make it look as if it was not published.

certification

A program that entitles listeners/listener to receive certificates based on how much they have participated in a variety of ways at 7 Cups.

chapter

A student-led mental health awareness and support group in a school, based on the values and online emotional support that 7 Cups provides. See: 7 Cups Chapters

chat

A system that people can use to send messages/message to each other with very little delay, so that the effect is quite like a real life conversation. Or a conversation using such a system. Usually implies a 1-to-1 chat.

chatroom

A system designed to allow many people to chat to each other at the same time. 7 Cups contains many chatrooms, each of them intended for particular topics or groups of participants.

Chatroom Moderator

A listener who is a mod in the chatrooms/chatroom of a subcommunity.

chatter

Informal term for a member who takes part in chats/chat for support, as opposed to a listener.

check in

A forum thread intended for people who have some common interest (for example, people coping with anxiety) to keep in touch regularly.

cheer

A point awarded for activity on 7 Cups. Cheers accumulate and form part of the system of reputation. Some people have accumulated more than a million cheers. See also: compassion heart

coaching email

An email notifying a listener of a negative review by a member, but without giving any details of the review or providing any coaching.

community

All the people involved in 7 Cups. (Sometimes used informally to mean a subcommunity.)

Community Guidelines

Rules/rule and guidance that apply to behavior in the community. There is a separate version for listeners/listener.

See: Community Guidelines, Listener Community Guidelines

Community Liaison

See: 7CupsCommunity

Community Mentor

Someone who combines leading discussions/discussion with moderating/mod forums in a subcommunity.

Community Mentor Leader

Someone responsible for overseeing a subcommunity.

community manager

One of several members of staff responsible for the community.

community mod

An internmod./

compassion campaign

The ongoing campaign to obtain financial contributions to 7 Cups through paid membership and donations. Part of the approach to sustainability..

compassion heart

A point awarded for certain activities on 7 Cups. Compassion hearts accumulate. See also: cheer

Confident Walk

11th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Connoisseur

14th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

conversation

A chat. Occasionally used informally to mean a thread or part of a thread in a forum. Used internally by the system to mean a chat or chatroom.

convo

Short for conversation.

counseling

Any of various professional methodologies for helping people with mental or emotional difficulties, particularly, but not exclusively, for the ordinary difficulties of life, as opposed to mental illness. See also: therapy

counselor

A therapist who provides counseling.

country champion

A member or listener designated as having a special role in the community in relation to people from their country, as part of the cultural connection subcommunity.

Crossing Mileposts

10th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Cultural Connection

A subcommunity that contains forums/forum for various countries around the world. See: Cultural Connection

D

deactivate

To turn an account off temporarily so that its name becomes Unknown, its profile is not visible, and it cannot access 7 Cups (except to reactivate the account).

Determined Treads

9th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

DevTeam

A listener name reserved for use by 7 Cups’ development team.

directory

A listing of therapists/ at 7 Cups who provide online therapy or counseling for a fee.

Discoverer

9th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

discussion

A scheduled and often somewhat formal session in a chatroom, led by one or more designated people and with a focus on a particular topic. Also, a discussion in a forum.

Dolphin

The animal cohort for the month of January.

doorkeeper

Someone who can open and close chatrooms./chatroom

DSM

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. A manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that classifies mental disorders, also including some other disorders that affect the mind. The title indicates that it is used for diagnosis and for statistical analysis in research. It is also used for billing and insurance claims. Also known as DSM-5 because the current edition is the 5th.

E

Eagle

The animal cohort for the month of October.

EDT

See: EST

Elephant

The animal cohort for the month of May.

Embraced

First of the twenty groups of member levels./level

emotional support

Help with the emotional aspects of life’s problems, both the ordinary difficulties of life and medical conditions, including mental illness. The purpose of listeners/listener at 7 Cups.

empathy

Understanding or sharing another person’s emotions, or a general ability to understand or to share other people’s emotions. One of the qualities used to rate/rating listeners/listener during or after a chat.

Epitome

Last of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

EST

Eastern Standard Time, the local time on the Eastern coast of the United States, in New York for example, when daylight saving is not in effect. Often used loosely even if daylight saving is in effect. Times in 7 Cups are normally given in EST (or EDT when daylight saving time is in effect) to make it easier for people around the world to convert them to their own time zone.

Exemplar

25th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Expert

13th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Explorer

8th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Ezra

Ezra Morse, former 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member and software engineeer.

F

feed

A sequence of posts/post, which are personal statements by the owner of the feed. Members/member, listeners/listener and therapists/therapist can have feeds, but not all use them. Also, the 7 Cups site feed. Removed on November 4th, 2019.

Fish

Fish The animal cohort for the month of August.

flag

A reporting system for inappropriate content in forum posts/post.

flagging team

A team of listeners/listener who process flags and other reports.

follow

A way to read all the future posts/post in someone’s feed. The posts of all the people you follow appear in your own feed.

forum

7 Cups’ discussion system, supporting a variety of communications including questions, diaries, checkins, reference information, and information to coordinate the work of teams. The forum is organized in subject categories/category.

(Sometimes used to mean a subforum.)

Forum Friend

Former term for a forum supporter.

Forum Key

A listener with a special role in a forum in connection with some project. Also a badge awarded to listeners in that role.

Forum Member Leader

A member who is a forum mod.

Forum Mentor

A listener who is a forum mod.

Forum Supporter

Someone who has a role initiating activities in the forums/forum of a subcommunity.

friend

A subscriber/subscription in a subcommunity.

G

G

Abbreviation sometimes used for guest.

general request

A request for a 1-to-1 chat made by a member. Any listener can respond to the request, and responding starts a 1-to-1 chat.

general request queue

The queue of all general requests/general request waiting for responses.

Genius

22nd of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

ghost

A guest or member who requests a 1-to-1 chat but who does not respond when a listener starts the chat, or anyone who stops responding unexpectedly in a chat. Also used as a verb, to ghost.

GlenM

Listener/listener name of 7 Cups’/7 Cups founder and CEO Glen Moriarty. See: @GlenM, Glen’s Nook

gratitude journal

A regular record of the things you are grateful for, often kept privately in your ~~notes.

group

A chatroom, or the chatrooms in general.

group chat

A chat in a chatroom. When counting group chats, 7 Cups counts 25 messages sent as one chat.

group support

The chatrooms/chatroom as a whole.

growth path

A sequence of steps/step, in which each step has an associated activity. Members/member can choose between various growth paths. Listeners/listener have a different growth path.

There is not necessarily any actual growth involved. The steps do not become more advanced as you progress.

growth point

A cheer.

guest

A person whose account at 7 Cups was created automatically, without any password. Guest accounts have restricted access to 7 Cups’/7 Cups features. Intended only for people needing emotional support who do not have a member account.

Guest Support

A chatroom. The only chatroom that guests/guest could use.

guide

A self-help guide, or some other guidance published in a forum.

Guru

18th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

H

H

Nickname of Heather Nelson, Director of Community Development, whose listener name is @Heather225.

hashtag

A tag beginning with a hash symbol, #/#-sign. Used in feed posts/post to classify the content of the post. Also used in the wiki to classify articles./

heart

A compassion heart, or a sign of approval for a message in a 1-to-1 chat or chatroom, or in a feed post. Also a heart-shaped smiley.

Helper

4th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

helpfulness

One of the qualities used to rate listeners/listener during or after a chat. Not further defined. In particular, opinions may differ on whether it is helpful or not for listeners to give advice.

Hope Newsletter

A source of information for everyone in the community, published for the first time in November 2016 but not currently being updated. See: Hope Newsletter

Hopeful Heart

Third of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Horse

The animal cohort for the month of March.

I

Iara

Listener/listener name of former 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member and teen community manager Sheenarai Oquendo. Not to be confused with LaraG. See: @Iara (archived in August 2016)

impact

A private page giving information about a listener’s/listener activity on 7 Cups (as opposed to the public information in the listener’s profile).

Incapsula

A cloud-based system once used to provide faster response times and better security for 7 Cups. Only visible when something went wrong and the name Incapsula could be seen in the error message.

Intermediate

7th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

intern

A listener at 7 Cups for a limited period of time on a program designed for student placements (although people who are not students can also join the program). See: 7 Cups of Tea Internship Program

internmod

A paid intern providing support and backup moderation, especially in chatrooms./chatroom

J

Junior Community Mentor

Someone in a subcommunity who combines leading discussions/discussion with community activities in the forums.

K

Kangaroo

The animal cohort for the month of June.

Kate

Former Group Support Community Manager, Kate Mallow.

key

See: Forum Key

Krink

Short for KrinkTheMellowUnicorn, the listener name of former 7 Cups staff member Christian (or Xian) Crumlish, who left the role in 2019.

L

L

Abbreviation sometimes used for listener.

Laiba

Laiba Jalil, an Assistant Community Manager whose listener name is @Hope.

LaraG

Listener/listener name of 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member and therapist community manager Lara Gregorio, who also has a therapist account named LaraGregorio. See: @LaraG, @LaraGregorio

Laura

Listener/listener name of former 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member Laura Small, who left in 2019.

Leader

A leadership role in the community, below Ambassador.

level

A title awarded automatically to a member or listener according to the number of cheers/cheer they have. Levels are arranged in groups and numbered within a group. A level with just a group name and no number is effectively level zero in that group. For example: Epitome 5/Epitome

Progress from each level to the next level requires a generally increasing number of cheers, but the rate of increase is erratic.

liaison

Community Liaison See: 7CupsCommunity

listener

A person using a type of account intended for providing emotional support, and who has completed the training in active listening. A listener account is password-protected, and it persists across devices and browser sessions.

listener quality

The overall rating of listeners/listener, calculated from individual ratings given by members/member during or after chats/chat.

listener twin

A listener who has a mutually supportive association with another listener.

Little Steps

Second of the twenty groups of member levels./level

log in

To activate an account in the website or app by specifying a name and password. The account’s status is set to online, except for listener accounts, whose status is set manually by the listener.

log out

To temporarily deactivate an account. The account continues to receive messages/message and notifications/notification. Its status is set to offline.

lovelyllama13

Listener name used by Kate before she became Group Support Community Manager (and for a short time after).

M

M

Abbreviation sometimes used for member.

Marching Ahead

13th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Marvel

23rd of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Master

15th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Maven

16th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Meaningful Journey

Last of the twenty groups of member levels./level

meditation

An exercise designed to create a feeling of peace and calm.

meetup

A meeting arranged in advance at a particular time and place, usually in a chatroom or very rarely at a real life venue. A meetup at a real life venue is an example of offsite contact.

Mega Member

A member designated as having an important role in the community. Also a badge denoting such a member.

member

A person using a type of account indended for obtaining emotional support. A member account is password-protected, and it persists across devices and browser sessions. Members can also have listener or therapist accounts.

Mentor

A listener designated as having a leadership role in the community. Also a badge denoting a mentor.

message

A short communication sent to a person or to a room. It is part of a chat if the recipient is online.

mission

7 Cups’/7 Cups mission is to deliver online community healthcare. See: Our Mission

mock chat

A 1-to-1 chat between listeners/listener in which one listener plays the role of a member.. See also: anonymous evaluation

mod

Short for moderator. A member,/ listener or paid intern designated as having a special role in supporting the community, and having powers to enforce rules./rule

moderation

The task of enforcing rules./rule and maintaining a helpful environment in chatrooms/ and forums./

Moving Along

5th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Moving Swiftly

14th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

mute

A setting that prevents someone from participating in a chatroom. Used to protect the room after some rule has been broken.

N

name

A screen name associated with an account. Not usually the owner of the account’s real name, so as to provide so-called anonymity, except in the case of therapist accounts.

New Horizon

16th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Newbie

First of the 27 groups of listener levels./level Also a badge that identifies listeners in their first month.

Noni

A bot that engages in limited conversation with guests/guest and members/member who are waiting in the general request queue, and that can also take part in 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat or lead a chatroom discussion. Noni is usually referred to as she or her, as if female. See: Who is Noni?

notes

A system that members,/member listeners/listener or therapists/therapist can use for recording information confidentially within 7 Cups. Often used to provide continuity between chats/chat or to keep a gratitude journal.

notification

An online alert, which may be an announcement or an automatic notification. Announcements are also listed on the Announcements page on the website.

Novice

Second of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

O

oath

One of several statments of intent that listeners and members may be asked to commit to by posting/post in the forum.

Obs

Nickname of Assistant Community Manager Rahul Sinha, whose listener name is @ASilentObserver.

offline

A status setting indicating that a listener is not necessarily available to respond to messages/message. Listeners/listener who are logged in/log in can respond while offline at their discretion, but they are not required to. For guests/guest, members/member and therapists/therapist it indicates that the person is logged out/log out.

offsite contact

Contact on other websites or in real life between people in the 7 Cups community. Only permitted when one of the people is staff or a therapist, or when contact is established entirely offsite so that no contact information is shared within 7 Cups.

onboarding

The process of welcoming people “on board” 7 Cups, or the parts of the website designed to introduce new guests/guest and members./member

online

A status setting indicating that a listener is active on 7 Cups and available for new chats/chat. For guests/guest, members/member and therapists it indicates that the account is logged in/log in.

P

Pacing Forward

6th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Paragon

24th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

partner organization

An organization that collaborates with 7 Cups.

path

Short for growth path.

peer support

Support for listeners/listener by other listeners designated as peer supporters. (Note that this is somewhat different from the meaning of peer support in real life.)

Penguin

The animal cohort for the month of February.

people helped

One of the measures that appears in a listener profile. The number of distinct guests/guest and members/member with whom the listener has had 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat of 30 messages/message or more.

personal link

A referral link.

personal notes

See: notes.

personal message

See: PM./pm

personal request

A request for a 1-to-1 chat made to one particular listener. Listeners should normally respond to personal requests, but they are not forced to.

phone bridge

At one time a phone bridge system provided for anonymous phone calls between listeners/ and members./

Pinnacle

26th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

PM

Personal Message. A message, particularly a message that is not sent in the course of a chat (for example, a message sent to a listener who is offline). 7 Cups does not have a separate system for personal messages. The chat system is used for all messages.

popup chatroom

A chatroom opened on a single occasion for a specific purpose.

post

A statement made in a thread in a subforum.

professionalism

One of the qualities used to rate listeners/listener during or after a chat. Not further defined. In particular, opinions may differ on whether it is professional or not for a listener to appear warm and human.

Proficient

17th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

profile

A public page containing information about a member,/member listener or therapist account, or the owner-supplied part of the information on that page. Some of the information is supplied by the owner of the account and some by the system.

If you know the name of an account, and it has not been deactivated/deactivate you can see its profile at 7cups.com/@whatever-the-name-is

progress

The accumulation of cheers/cheer or of steps/step on a growth path.

Progress Road

7th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

project agent

A listener designated as having a special role in the community as a member of a team that undertakes some activity, or anyone with a special role in projects within a subcommunity.

psychologist

A category of therapist, usually but not exclusively tending to have specialist knowledge of the way people perceive, think, feel and behave.

Q

quality

Listener quality/listener quality.

R

Rabbit

See: Bunny

rating

A system for evaluating 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat based on the qualities helpfulness, professionalism, empathy and response time, with up to five stars being awarded for each. The system includes an optional written review.

refer

To end a chat by recommending another listener. Also to recommend another website or resource, or to suggest therapy, without necessarily ending the chat.

referral link

A link to 7 Cups from another website. The link contains a code number that credits the owner of the referral link every time it is clicked, but no one (except the 7 Cups system, and possibly admins/admin) can identify the owner from the code number.

reflection

The basic technique of active listening, in which a listener demonstrates that whatever a member said has been heard by repeating it back to the guest or member, like reflecting it in a mirror.

reply

A post in a forum thread that is made in response to a previous post.

report

A complaint about someone.

reputation

A cumulative record of an account’s/account activity at 7 Cups, particularly the number of cheers/cheer, which the system represents as a level.

response time

One of the qualities used to rate listeners/listener during or after a chat. Not further defined. In particular, opinions may differ on whether time spent waiting in the general request queue before the start of a chat matters.

review

A comment made as part of a rating during or after a 1-to-1 chat. Those comments that are thought to be positive are published in the listener’s/listener profile.

room

A chatroom.

rule

One of the rules in the Community Guidelines, or one of the rules in the terms of service.

S

safety patrol

A team of listeners/ who check profiles to ensure they are appropriate.

Sage

20th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level Also an unrelated listener badge awarded for a post that receives 25 upvotes.

Scaling Summit

18th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

scheduled chat

A 1-to-1 chat that starts at a pre-arranged time.

Scholar

11th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

scrum

The system development methodology once used by 7 Cups.

Seeking Light

4th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Seeking Peace

19th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

self care

Taking care of one’s own needs, particularly used to remind listeners/listener to take care of their own needs and avoid burnout.

self-help guide

One of a collection of topic-based guides published by 7 Cups.

settings

A page in the website or app where you can specify details about your account.

sharing circle

A chatroom with a designated host, who organizes the discussion in a formal way to allow every participant to share something about themselves.

smiley

A symbol expressing emotion in a message or post, so called because the most common symbol is a smiling face. Different parts of 7 Cups support different sets of smileys.

Soaring Heights

15th of the twenty groups of member levels./level

Sophia

A bot that engages in a limited conversation with members/member who sign up for therapy and that helps to identify a suitable therapist.

Specialist

12th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

sponsee

A member who received long-term support from a sponsor. (Derived from addiction programs like Alcoholics Anonymous.)

A listener who formally agreed to provide a member with long-term emotional support, working together on weekly structured activities.

staff

Paid employees of 7 Cups. See: Our Team

Starfish

The animal cohort for the month of July.

status

An indicator that shows whether an account is online, offline or (only for listeners/listener) busy.

step

A step on a growth path associated with some activity that must be completed in order to move to the next step.

subcommunity

A subdivision of the 7 Cups community, with its own category in the forum and other features. Sometimes hyphenated, “sub-community”, or abbreviated to “subcom”.

subforum

A subdivision of a category in the forum. A subforum contains threads/.

subscription

A system for receiving automatic notification whenever a particular forum thread receives a new post or whenever something of interest happens in a subcommunity.

Supporter

6th of the 27 groups of listener levels/level. Also a member or listener with a special role in supporting the community.

Support Session Leader

Someone with a role in leading events in the chatrooms/chatroom of a subcommunity.

Support Team Leader

Someone responsble for all the discussions/discussion in a subcommunity.

sustainability

The goal (reached by the beginning of 2017) of sufficient income to make 7 Cups financially sustainable in the long term.

T

T

Abbreviation sometimes used for therapist, or lowercase t for teen.

tag

A reference to an account made by prefixing its name with an @-sign. In forum posts this creates an automatic notification to the account that was tagged.

taglist

A list of tags separated by spaces. Often in white on a white background to make the tags invisible, or in a very small font making them less obtrusive.

teen

An account whose owner has registered as being less than 18 years old. The minimum age that anyone can register to use 7 Cups is 13.

Teen listeners/listener can only take 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat with teen guests/guest and members/member, but teen and adult listeners do not have this restriction.

Also a badge that identifies a listener as a teen and adult listener.

See also: adult

teen and adult

An adult listener account with authorization for 1-to-1 chats/1-to-1 chat with teens/teen (in addition to adults).

Teen Leadership Room

A chatroom for teen leaders./leader

Teen Mod Zone

A chatroom for teen group mods.

Teen Star

A teen with a leadership role in the community similar to a Mentor.

Teen Stars and Leaders

A chatroom for Teen Stars/Teen Star and Support Team Leaders/Support Team Leader

Teen Stars and Mentors

A chatroom for Teen Stars,/Teen Star Support Team Leaders/Support Team Leader and mentors./mentor

Teen Starship

A chatroom for Teen Stars./Teen Star

terms of service

A set of terms and conditions that each person using 7 Cups agrees to.

therapist

A professional who is qualified and licensed to practise psychotherapy/therapy or counseling in the part of the world where they work, and who is using an account intended for that purpose. A therapist account is password-protected, and it persists across devices and browser sessions. Therapists can optionally register to be included in a directory at 7 Cups so that they can provide online therapy for a fee.

therapy

Any of various professional methodologies for helping people with mental or emotional difficulties, particularly, but not exclusively, for mental illness as opposed to the ordinary difficulties of life. Also known as psychotherapy to distinguish it from physical therapies. See also: counseling

Thinking Space

A chatroom where certain topics that are not allowed in other chatrooms can be discussed.

thread

A discussion about a particular topic in a subforum. A thread contains posts./

time zone

The system for managing the way clocks around the world reflect local time. The time zone of 7 Cups is standardized as local time on the East coast of the US, for example in New York.

toast

A type of popup notification with a green background in the website, so-called because of the software package used to generate it: toastr

track

An area of specialization encompassing more than one specific role in the community, a subcommunity, or a team. For example, someone in a team might specialize in posting/post in the forums/forum where their specific role is to find resources on other websites and link to them. All of the forum-related roles in that team might be described as a track.

training module

One of a collection of topic-based guides for listeners/listener published by 7 Cups. Some training modules are identical to self-help guides.

troll

Informal and sometimes deprecated term for someone who communicates in a way that causes bad feeing, used to suggest that the person’s way of communicating is deliberate (as opposed to being the result of hidden distress or mental illness).

Turtle

The animal cohort for the month of December.

twin

Listener twin/listener twin.

Twish

Listener name of former 7 Cups’/7 Cups staff member and director of operations, Twisha Anand.

U

Unknown

The name assigned to all deactivated/deactivate accounts/account.

upload

To copy something between computers or devices. For example, to copy an image from a personal device to a web site. 7 Cups does not permit uploads, except for the image in a profile (which is uploaded to Amazon Cloudfront, not to 7 Cups). To use an image in a forum it must first be uploaded to some other website.

upvote

A sign of approval for a post in a forum thread.

V

values

The underlying values intended to inform people’s behavior at 7 Cups, as set out on the page Our Values.

verified

A badge awarded to listeners/listener who have a minimum level of experience and who have been recommended by a more experienced listener following a mock chat.

Veteran

19th of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

Virtuoso

21st of the 27 groups of listener levels./level

W

website

The web site at 7cups.com (as opposed to the app).

weCare

7 Cups’/7 Cups online community healthcare methodology.

widget

Code that can be inserted in other websites so that users of those websites can choose and link to listeners/listener who are available to chat at 7 Cups.

wiki

Part of the website containing a library of articles/ once maintained by the community but now mostly unused.