[HISTORY: Adopted by the Selectboard of the Town of South
Hadley 2-3-2015. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
This policy applies to all social media tools, including, but not
limited to, Facebook and Twitter. These open forums are meant to allow
residents and other participants to participate in community conversations
and receive information from the municipality.
B.
If you choose to comment it should be acknowledged that you are personally
responsible for the comments you make or information you submit. We
ask that you keep your comments civil and within the boundaries of
appropriate public language.
C.
The Selectboard reserves the right to remove any posts and take further
steps necessary to maintain a civil discord on all social media sites.
Any such removal of material or other monitoring will be performed
by an administrator designated by the Selectboard.
A.
Do not post material which is commercial or political in nature.
B.
Do not post obscene, graphic, threatening, violent or racial comments.
C.
Posts that are hateful, abusive, vindictive, or threatening to an
individual, group or organization are not allowed.
D.
Any commercial postings will be removed, including advertisements,
prizes, promotions, financing or other such matters. Posts attempting
to defraud or mislead the public will be removed and referred to the
proper agency for investigation.
E.
Any post which suggests or implies an illegal activity will be removed
and reported to the proper authority.
F.
Comments related to litigation, contract negations or administrative
proceedings which may adversely affect, cause prejudice or otherwise
degrade the public process for the municipality, other parties or
individuals will be removed.
G.
Apparent spamming or trolling will be removed and the party may be
blocked.
H.
Use of trademark material, images or copyrighted material is forbidden.
Images posted should be the property of the user.
I.
Do not post documents of any kind.
J.
Do not posts lists, rosters, organizational charts or directories.
K.
The Town of South Hadley reserves the right to remove any material
and block any user.
Any party suspected to be a chronic violator of this policy
or otherwise threatening the purpose of this policy will be permanently
banned. An appeal to the full Selectboard may be allowed for a permanently
banned user, if the Selectboard so chooses. However, the party requesting
such an appeal must present and give access to all postings, materials
and/or hard drives requested by the Selectboard 30 days prior to the
hearing. The Selectboard may request a forensic audit of the equipment
at the appellant's expense.
All information posted to social media is considered to be in
the public domain. The Town of South Hadley does not necessarily authenticate
or fact check material posted by users and subsequently does not vouch
for the veracity of any posts from users.
