Social Media Comment Policy & Terms Of Use
See the full Social Media Comment & Terms of Use Here
COMMENT POLICY
The City of Nixa encourages public interaction on social media with the following caveats:
- Stay focused. All viewpoints are welcome, but comments should remain relevant to the discussion, the City of Nixa’s community outreach efforts, public information, and the associated website.
- Be respectful. Personal attacks, profanity, and aggressive behavior are prohibited. Instigating arguments in a disrespectful way is also prohibited.
- Tell the truth. Spreading misleading or false information is prohibited.
- No spam. Repeated posting of identical or very similar content in a counter-productive manner is prohibited — this includes posts aggressively promoting services or products.
- Public Record. Any content posted or submitted for posting is subject to public disclosure and will be archived by the City of Nixa even if the content is deleted from public view.
The City does monitor all city-managed social media accounts and moderates the comments and third-party posts and comments. We retain the discretion to determine which posts and comments violate our comments policy. We also reserve the right to remove comments and/or prevent comments from being made visible. The views expressed within posted comments do not necessarily reflect those of the City of Nixa.
We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage city resources, moderating and posting comments should only be expected to occur during regular business hours.
Reporters are asked to send questions to the Public Information Officer through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments.
This comment policy is valid for all discussions on any city-managed forum. Thank you for taking the time to review our comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas. For more information, see our Social Media Terms of Use Agreement.
Terms Of Use
By posting or commenting on any social media platform used by the City of Nixa (a.k.a “the City”), you participate by your own choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, and any information you provide therein. You further agree to the following terms of use:
The City maintains a social media program for the purpose of engaging and interacting with our community, providing relevant and timely community news, information, and events, distribution of crime prevention and public safety tips, for urgent notifications of critical incidents which may affect residents, business owners and visitors of the City, and for those people having an interest in the City.
Limited Public Forum
All social media platforms used by the City are designated as Limited Public Forums. The City welcomes a person’s right to express his/her opinion and encourages posters to keep comments relevant to the topic in question. Posting of any content on any of the City’s social media platforms by any visitor, follower, subscriber or fan, constitutes acceptance of the terms of use.
For purposes of this policy, a social media platform is the website or app offered to the public to provide audio, video, still-photo or written communication between other members of the public and/or representatives of certain groups, businesses, organizations or departments. Examples of social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Nextdoor, Instagram, LinkedIn, website blogs with commenting capabilities, and forums and emergency notification services.
The definition of content as used in this policy refers to any written copy, photos, graphics, videos, live-video streams, comments or any form of communicative content exchanged between parties.
All posts are subject to public records laws, including Missouri Revised Statutes Chapters 109 and 610. Therefore, the City of Nixa maintains an archive of all content posted to this account even after content may be deleted from public view.
Emergency or Non-Emergency Requests for Police Assistance:
The posting of requests for police assistance, regardless if it is of an emergency or non-emergency nature, is discouraged and will not guarantee a response by the City of Nixa or any emergency service provider. In case of an emergency, or if police assistance is needed, please dial 911. If you wish to report a crime or information relevant to a crime, please call 417-582-1030. You may remain anonymous if you wish.
In the event you post information related to a crime, you may be placing yourself in a position of becoming a witness and subject to being subpoenaed into court.
Endorsements and Direct Links:
“Friending” “Following” or “Liking” the City of Nixa, or an officer or employee of the City of Nixa, does not indicate an endorsement of that person’s actions or comments.
A comment or post by a member of the public on any City of Nixa social media site is the opinion of the author only, and publication of a post or comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by the City, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City.
The provision of direct links should not be construed as an endorsement or sponsorship of these external sites, their content, or their hosts. The City specifically disavows legal responsibility for what a user may find on another site, whether or not operated by the City. The views and opinions of the authors of documents published on or linked to the City’s social media accounts do not necessarily state or reflect the opinion, policy or position of the City.
The City of Nixa is not responsible for the content, quality, accuracy or completeness of any offsite materials referenced by or linked through the City’s social media accounts. By using the City’s social networking sites, the user acknowledges and accepts the risk of injury or damage from viewing, hearing, downloading or storing such materials rests entirely with the user and that the City is not responsible for any materials stored on other social networking sites or websites, nor is it liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive or illegal materials found on other social networking sites or websites.
The City does not endorse any content, viewpoint, products or services linked from its social networking sites and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. The City does not warrant the accuracy or reliability of or endorse any products or service providers listed or linked to its site.
Moderation of Content:
The City of Nixa’s social media platforms are intended to be “family friendly.” When applicable, the City uses platform-provided content moderation/filtering options to limit foul or obscene content. The City does actively monitor the social media platforms used by the City, and will remove inappropriate content as defined below, without prior notice, and as soon as possible. The City shall reserve the right to remove and/or block anyone who posts inappropriate material as determined by the department. The City reserves the right to interpret what is appropriate and what is not. This material may include, but is not limited to:
1. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
2. Profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language;
3. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, sex and gender, or national origin;
4. Defamatory or personal attacks;
5. Threats to any person or organization;
6. Blatantly partisan political views or political campaigning;
7. Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
8. Encouragement of illegal activity;
9. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
10. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party;
11. Harassment or content which constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
12. Content that violates the right to privacy;
13. Encouragement of violence;
14. Repetitive content. Repeated posting of identical or very similar content in a counter-productive manner;
15. Comments which may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, police responses to incidents, and/or the safety of police staff and officers;
16. Posts or comments which contain any external links;
17. Posts or comments which solicit donations or business on behalf of any organization unless posted by the City or its departments in accordance with the Communications Department Standard Operating Procedure regarding Communication About Events, Programs, Fundraisers (adopted by Council July 10, 2017) or any other relevant city policy or procedure established to allow limited promotion of a business, non-profit, or other organization. For example; the city may post or comment a “thank you” by naming a business, individual, or other organization for sponsoring or otherwise lending assistance to a city department, project, or program.
Denial of Access:
The City of Nixa reserves the right to deny access to any City of Nixa social media sites for any individual, who violates the City of Nixa’s Social Media Terms of Use, at any time and without prior notice.
If you wish to contest the removal of your content, or your denial of access (“banned”) from our social media platforms, you may do so by contacting us at 417-725-3785 and requesting to speak with the Public Information Officer.
PRIVACY OF CHILDREN:
We believe in the importance of protecting the privacy of children online. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or about children under the age of 13. Verifiable consent from a child’s parent or guardian is required before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from a child under age 13. Our site is not intended to solicit information of any kind from children under age 13. If you believe that we have received information from or about children under age 13, please contact us.
