Terms of use

Introduction and purpose

The Our community matters blogsites have been set up to help strengthen local communities in Wiltshire by making it easier for local people to talk to one another and with local organisations through social media.

The aims of these sites are

• Provide local individuals, communities and organisations with an easy and free way to engage with other local people about events, issues and other items that are of interest and relevance
• To help communities to develop and strengthen themselves through promoting what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve.

Our community matters etiquette

Social media provides people with an almost instant ability to share ideas and comments with others.

We want to ensure the our community matters sites are a friendly and respectful space where people can feel free to express themselves and are respectful of others.

People using this site are asked to abide by the following rules of etiquette to ensure to ensure everyone can comfortably use the site.

To help ensure this is a friendly place to engage and that people are treated respectfully we would ask people to abide by the following rules of etiquette

• I will tell the truth;
• I will write deliberately and with accuracy;
• I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly;
• I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing;
• I will never delete a post, (although a poster could delete their own post and repost it to correct information where there is an error such as an incorrect link, providing no one has liked or commented on it;)
• I will not delete comments unless they do not meet the requirements of this policy;
• I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly;
• I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking;
• I will stay on topic;
• If I disagree with other opinions I will do so respectfully;
• I will link to online references and original source materials directly;
• I will disclose conflicts of interest;
• I will keep private issues and topics separate from work issues and topics.
• I will not make any comments which are libellous, obscene or abusive.

Moderation

Where comments and posts are not within the spirit of the etiquette for Our community matters and they meet any of the criteria below it may lead to them being deleted or not published.

• Comments that are not topical to the article being discussed;
• Comments that are or appear to be politically motivated
• Comments that contain any profane language or content (unless appropriate to the site), are abusive or which are considered to be potentially libellous ;
• Material that perpetuates or promotes discrimination of protected characteristics. These characteristics can include but are not limited to, race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage or civil partnership or gender reassignment;
• Sexual content or links to sexual content;
• Solicitation of commerce;
• Illegal conduct or encouragement/support of illegal activities;
• Information that compromises or may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
• Content that violates the legal ownership interests of any other party.

If you are unhappy with a comment or post and feels that it meets one of the criteria above please use the report it button on the item and the moderators will look into the post. The moderation will be undertaken by officers at Wiltshire Council.

Disclaimer on contributions

The views, comment and opinions posted on this site are not necessarily those of Wiltshire Council or its partners. Wiltshire Council makes no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of any items posted on the site, nor will it be liable for any errors or omissions in the comments posted on the site. Wiltshire Council will not be liable for any loss, injury or damage sustained by any person arising from their use of the site.

Disclaimer on links

Wiltshire Council is not responsible for the content of any other sites linked from Our Community Matters. Such sites may contain views, comments and opinions that are not those of Wiltshire Council or its partners.

Intellectual property and copyright

If you include any material obtained from another person or from a published work (including photographs ) in your posts on the Our Community Matters site you must ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission to reproduce that material .

Use of your information (data protection and cookies)

Wiltshire Council will not sell or pass your personally identifiable information to anyone, or use the data for any other purpose incompatible with the purpose for which it was originally collected.

Wiltshire Council will only send personally identifiable information about you to other companies or organisations when we have your consent, or where provided for by law. We will only hold your information for as long as necessary for these purposes.

In processing any personal data Wiltshire Council will comply with its obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Please read further information about  Use of your information (data protection and cookies).

Banning users

The administrators of this site reserve the right to delete any messages that they consider breach the rules of the site and to temporarily or permanently bar people from using this site where they not followed these terms and conditions.

Provision of site and changes to terms and conditions

We reserve the right to change this site, the moderation policy and to suspend the use of this site without notice and will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by any such change or suspension.