Stephen E.

At first glance, this site seems excellent. It is primarily free of charge, and you are almost always guaranteed to find someone who can listen to whatever issues you'd like to share. They also have a rewarding level system for Listeners which I reckon would look good on a CV for certain jobs.

However, there are a few issues. First and foremost would be the abuse of the reporting system and how easy the site allows for this to happen. Clearly, whoever gives the final decision on which users to ban does not look at any evidence of the supposed crime before issuing an immediate ban. Countless times I've had people report me just out of malice, we disagree over something, or a member was in a bad mood so decides to report me or other Listeners which of course results in an immediate ban. In one instance where I believe an angry (but angry over issues unrelated to me) member reported me for "sexual chat" I had to send three long appeals to get my Listener account back. And when you've spent ages building up your Listener level, it's quite a blow to log in to find yourself banned. And like with a lot of too big for their shoes online companies that don't see the effects of their attitude, they don't even bother to justify their ban.

The second issue would be how tight the restrictions are on conversations are and how sensitive, and I'd go as far as saying stupid, members take advantage of them. Understandably, members on there are primarily vulnerable people wanting to discuss their mental health issues, abusive situations. But when the site demands you have no sort of meaningful conversation whatsoever to not "trigger" people" (politics, religion, science and what not) you get narrow minded members who will not properly engage in conversations, and when they disagree with someone they will actually act quite rude towards someone stating a peaceful opinion but because they act "triggered" the moderators will take their side.

To summarise, it could be a great place, but 7cups' own restrictive rules and the ease in which these rules and the banning system can be abused taint the site. Certainly use it to have a 1 on 1 chat, you may get a nice chat, but at the same time, dare to disagree with someone (which you should do in an open minded, safe and intelligent place) and you risk being permanently banned without reason or warning.