The City of Novato welcomes comments and asks that all conversations remain civil. Individuals are responsible for the content of their comments. The City does not discriminate against any particular viewpoint. However, the City may delete any of the following:
■ Advertisements or solicitations of any kind
■ Comments that threaten or harm the reputation of any person or organization
■ Comments that suggest or encourage illegal activity
■ Multiple off-topic posts or repetitive posts that are copied and pasted
■ Personal information including, but not limited to, email addresses, telephone numbers, mailing addresses or identification numbers
■ Violent, obscene, profane, hateful or racist comments
Overall, the City encourages all individuals to be respectful and contribute to the discussion. If you continually violate this policy, the City may limit your ability to comment in the future. If you have any questions or comments about this policy, please e-mail [email protected]. The policy is as follows:
The City of Novato (City) has established social media sites to provide the community with accurate, relevant, and timely information about the City and to create a mechanism for communication about the City between City staff and the public. The social media sites used by the City are a very limited public forum and must conform to the policy herein. The City’s website (www.novato.org) serves as the City’s primary and predominant online presence. The following policy applies to all of the City’s social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. POLICY
The City intends to promote effective communication and maintain a respectful dialogue. In that spirit, the rules for posting external comments on the City’s social media sites are strictly enforced. Our moderators use these rules to ensure that posted comments are suitable for all readers, while respecting a range of opinions and points of view. Posted information and comments on City social media sites must comply with the following regulations:
A. Comments must be civil and may not contain potentially libelous, malicious, offensive, threatening, profane images or language, including but not limited to indecent words that were the subject of F.C.C. Comments that compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems will not be allowed. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation are not permitted. Advertising or promotional announcements are not permitted. Comments must be within the scope of the topic under discussion. Comments cannot include personally-identifiable information, such as an address, phone number, social security number or other sensitive information. Comments cannot be of an obscene or pornographic nature or include links thereto (including images that contain nudity or are of a sexual nature.) Comments cannot represent a person other than the one posting the comment. Comments containing links to other websites or pages must be relevant to the topic. J. Comments cannot serve electoral campaign purposes. Political messages will not be published except for announcements of City elections or voter encouragement campaigns. K. Comments encouraging illegal activity are not permitted. L. Participants are responsible for what they post. Comments must not breach any law, confidentiality, or violate a legal ownership interest of another party. M. External comments and posts to the City’s social media sites do not reflect the opinions or policies of the City, its officials, or employees. The administrator/moderator may remove any and all postings and comments at the administrator/moderator’s sole discretion. City of Novato staff will post and monitor discourse on its social media sites. Postings on this site are not retained by the City. However, please be aware that, under certain circumstances, content appearing on this page may be subject to the California Public Records Act and subject to disclosure by the City if requested. This may include information about you, that you make available through your privacy settings on this site, and on your own pages. Comments by external parties on City social media sites are not official public testimony concerning any project or program. An opinion expressed on a City social media site is posted for discussion only and is not a substitute for a formal statement in a public hearing process. All users of a City social media site are also subject to the site’s own privacy policy. The City has no control over a social media site’s privacy policy or the company’s modifications to it. The City also has no control over content, commercial advertisements, or other postings produced by the social media company that may appear on the City’s site, as part of the site’s environment. The City assumes no liability for any inaccuracies these social media sites may contain and does not guarantee that the social media sites will be uninterrupted or error-free. The City does not respond to service requests and other media inquiries on the social media sites. If you have a questions, concern, or comment, we encourage you to visit www.novato.org or call 415.899.8900. Questions concerning the use and operation of the City’s social media sites should be directed to the Communications Division at [email protected].
