POSTING POLICY: The Transcript has set policies over to streamline the comment process, and to ensure fair and lively, but honest discussions with a focus on accuracy and civility among participants. The Transcript, as an official media enterprise, is obliged to follow laws governing the media, and we attempt to follow those regarding social media as well. Therefore, certain comments – such as tho
se accusing someone of a crime when no charges have been filed, or that reveal personal information in conflict with HIPAA laws – will be deleted. We do not allow "hate speech," which attacks a group or person on the basis of race, religion, nationality, vocation, gender, sexual orientation or organization affiliation (including political party), and w**d these out when we find them. We also will delete comments of a vicious or potentially libelous nature that personally attack our mission or other participants in our forum or elsewhere on our page. Recently, we have begun turning off comments on certain posts when they become too problematic, either legally or in terms of hostility among participants. However, we always allow several hours for discussion before we disable comments. We will remove comments that have been repeatedly copied and pasted on several posts. We encourage lively discussion, not "troll" behavior, and we want readers to speak in their own voices; therefore, we are working to curb the use of gifs and memes. Since we cannot monitor the page 24/7 with our small staff, we ask readers to notify us privately about violators. Because The Transcript is a family oriented forum, we use the strongest Facebook filter available, and Facebook itself has begun to hide or remove comments that peddle disinformation or foul language. Due to our high traffic, we cannot respond to questions asked on unrelated posts; those will be removed. Anyone who has questions for us, or brief news items (of a nonprofit nature) they would like posted, must send them to us at [email protected]. We are not a law enforcement agency, so we do not investigate what might be construed as personal or private matters (divorce or child support issues, problems with neighbors, fraud victimization, personal property disputes, etc.) unless in a general way. For briefs, please include pertinent details (who, what, when, where, how). These should be written in narrative text form, not submitted as lists. Do not send flyers or memes; often we cannot read them, and most PDFs will not work for posting, so must be offered as text by the person submitting. Photos of local interest may be submitted, but we do not guarantee their use. We do not repost memes or flyers that promote certain issues or causes, political candidates or personal crusades, though we will promote local public events related to those issues, in narrative form. Along those lines, we do not require or pressure our readers to participate in campaigns, whether they require "clicks" to sites or contributions. We may, however, post notices for special events sponsored by our newspaper or its advertisers, or certified nonprofit organizations with legitimate campaigns. Furthermore, due to liability issues, we do not post GoFundMe campaigns or accounts, regardless of the apparent validity of their causes. Except under special circumstances (some of which occur due to COVID), we do not post (or allow comments about) items of a commercial nature or promoting for-profit businesses and other entities; items promoting political candidates in the run-up to an election; submissions about lost pets or "ads" giving away pets; items of a lost-and-found nature, or reward offers for lost or stolen property; requests to help locate relatives, friends or other individuals; obituaries, or wedding, birth, birthday, anniversary or engagement announcements; cards of personal thanks or congratulations; letters to the editor; or notices of garage and/or yard sales, or any other private event, unless proceeds will be donated to charity. Due to potential legal issues, we do not post missing persons reports or photos unless a report has been filed with law enforcement authorities, and they have deemed it to be a legitimate case and have asked us for help. Comments made on this page or on posts on this page could be used in print or online stories. Thanks for respecting our parameters.
