Community Comments Policy Guidelines

Updated 1/26/2024 

The purpose of Augusta County social media sites is to present matters relevant to the services, activities, local issues, or policies of Augusta County.

We encourage all to submit feedback, and we welcome your participation as a means of sharing your own experiences, suggesting improvements, and engaging with your community.

Please note that each Augusta County’s official social media platform is a limited public forum that may be utilized by members of the public to engage their local government consistent with the purpose(s) of the platform and the guidelines in this policy.

Material covered by these posting guidelines includes not just comments, but also images and links to other sites. Augusta County reserves the right to remove any material that, as a whole or in part, does not comply with these posting requirements or applicable law.

Please note that the comments shared by community members on this site do not reflect the opinions and position of the Augusta County government or its officers and employees.

To keep our discussions focused, we have set the following guidelines:

1. This Community is moderated and comments are reviewed. We cannot accept comments from individuals under the age of 13. 
2. To ensure exchanges are productive, informative, respectful of diverse viewpoints and lawful, Augusta County reserves the right to delete comments, submissions, or materials that include (or are):

• Violent, Threatening, and Obscene Language. Any comment constituting speech that incites violence, is obscene, is “fighting words,” or is threatening will be removed.
• Personal Attacks. If you disagree with content on one of the County’s social media sites, we would like to hear from you, but we ask that you refrain from personal attacks. Threatening, harassing, or defamatory language will be removed.
• Spam. Comments focused on promoting a product or service will be excluded. Comments posted for the purpose of driving traffic to a particular website for personal, political, or monetary gain will be removed.
• Off-Topic. We will exclude comments not related to the subject of the conversation. If you have an idea for a subject, would like to provide feedback, or would like follow-up, please contact us at AugustaCountySocialMedia@co.augusta.va.us.
• Illegal. Laws that govern the use of copyrights, trade secrets, and intellectual property will be followed. Any comments that advocate illegal activity, incite or promote violence, or compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems will be removed.
• Confidential Information. Comments that identify another person’s personal and/or confidential information will be removed.

3. Repeated violations of the comment policy may cause the author to be blocked from the Augusta County social media site.

4. Augusta County reserves the right to change these guidelines at any time at its sole discretion. The most current guidelines will be available to you on the Augusta County website and in the ‘More Info’ section of our Facebook page.

5. Augusta County does not endorse any comments made by its employees, unless they are an authorized representative of the County. All statements and viewpoints expressed in comments are strictly those of the commenter alone and do not constitute an official position of Augusta County Officials unless they are posted by the original author (who is an authorized representative of Augusta County).

We understand that social media is a 24/7 medium; however, our moderation capabilities are not. We may not see every inappropriate comment right away, and we are trusting in the maturity of our community to ignore personal attacks and negative speech or respond politely.

Augusta County presents this information on social media as a service to the public. The County has made every effort to ensure that the information contained here is accurate. It makes no warranties or guarantees, nor may anyone assume any warranties or guarantees regarding the accuracy or reliability of its content or of other information to which there is a link. Assessing accuracy and reliability of information is the sole responsibility of the user. Augusta County shall not be liable for errors contained here or for any damages in connection with the use of the information contained here. Augusta County does not endorse the content found on non-Augusta County websites accessed via hyperlink. Further, the email address and any other information found here shall not be used for unsolicited advertising, marketing or other commercial purposes.

Thank you for attending an Augusta County event, activity, or program! 

Our events, activities, and programs are public spaces. Photography, videos, and audio recordings may be taken and used for promotional materials and other digital assets, including but not limited to the website, social media, news, and advertising. 

Your entry and presence during the event constitutes your consent to:

• Be photographed, filmed, and /or otherwise recorded and 
• Release publication, exhibition, or reproduction of the recorded media in connection with Augusta County.

If you have concerns or would prefer that we not use the photo or recording for promotional purposes, we will make every effort to comply with your wishes. Contact us at AugustaCountySocialMedia@co.augusta.va.us or 540-245-5600.