We use social media as it is a great tool to showcase the work of LeftCoast, its partners and the community.   

This policy relates to comments received via LEFTCOAST and PAINTING THE TOWN (TM)  website and social media.

We encourage and welcome open, lively debate, but the decision to publish comments received via our social media channels or website remains at our discretion. The views expressed by any third parties are solely theirs and are not necessarily endorsed by LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM). The option to comment may be closed at our discretion at any time.

We ask you to please bear in mind our guidelines when submitting comments.

Where views have been sought, all comments will be considered before the response is published.

We do not pre-moderate comments we receive. ‘Pre-moderation’ means comments are not published instantly, comments will appear in real-time. Comments are generally checked by moderators who will monitor the site during normal working hours (0900 – 1730, GMT, Monday to Friday) and aim to address any issues as quickly as possible.

We are not out to censor your views. We encourage open discussion. The aim is to ensure that comments relate to the particular subject being discussed. Moderation will not be used to suppress legitimate, reasoned discussion.

Sometimes a comment might be hidden whilst we seek validation of accuracy or gather information from various sources to be included in our response to a question.

We will allow comments for publication as long as they:

• are on-topic. Please don’t post messages that are not related
• respect other people. Comments should not be malicious or offensive in nature, and should not constitute a personal attack on a person’s character
• don’t incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or any other personal characteristic, or attack organisations we work with
• don’t reveal personal details, such as private addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other online contact details
• are reasonably concise, and don’t constitute spamming of the site
• don’t impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation
• are not party political in nature
• don’t include swearing, hate-speech or obscenity
• don’t break the law – this includes libel, condoning illegal activity, and breaking copyright
• don’t advertise commercial products and services
• are in English – unfortunately, we do not currently have the resource to moderate comments in other languages
• if you are aged 16 or under, please get you parent/guardian’s permission before submitting a comment.

We reserve the right to suspend comments at any time, and remove comments older than six months.

Where we choose not to publish a comment for a reason other than those listed above, we will direct message a reply to the commenter explaining our reason and inviting them to make appropriate changes so that the comment can be reconsidered,  where necessarily a public post communicating that we have Direct messaged them will be posted.

We have a zero tolerance for personal attacks, threating, discriminatory or harassing comments on social media. Any such comments will be deleted as soon as we observe them. 

We read a large proportion of comments, and respond wherever we can. We endeavour to answer your questions where possible, but if you require an official response you should contact LEFTCOAST or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) by post or email creativepeopleplaces@leftcoast.org.uk

LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) uses various social media platforms including (but is not limited to); Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, which all offer a free messaging services (third party), as one tool in its efforts to communicate clearly, quickly and in an engaging manner to people interested in us. Visit leftcoast.org.uk and pttblackpool.co.uk to find links to all our social media channels

Content delivered by LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) includes (but is not limited to):

• links to news releases, blog posts, videos, guidance and other approved, publicly available LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) material
• links to relevant information produced and published elsewhere (work of other organisations, researcher, news organisations and others). This can include videos, blog posts, and retweets (RTs) from other Twitter users. (See below for our policy on RTs.)
• interesting facts, quotes or observations related to our work
• topical questions related to our work intended to provoke discussion

Tweets we repeat (RT) and posts we share on other platforms do not imply endorsement on the part of LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM). We may retweet or share news, links and personal observations we believe are relevant to the work we do or might be of interest to our followers.

Our social media posts should not be considered as the authoritative source of new policy or guidance from LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM). Any change or evolution in LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) official position will be communicated through more traditional channels: official publications and statements on our website, speeches, and media releases.

Importantly, our decision to RT or share should not be taken as explicit endorsement of any position or argument that may vary from LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) current official position, nor should it be taken as an indication of a possible shift in the current official position.

LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM)’s decision to follow a particular social media account does not imply endorsement of any kind. We follow accounts we believe are relevant to our work. This could include following the accounts of companies and other commercial enterprises (and/or their employees) who comment on LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) related issues.

We commit to updating and monitoring our social media accounts during regular office hours: 09:00 – 17:00, GMT. However, like many users, we may monitor and respond at other times of the day/night. We may also schedule posts to be published outside of office hours. We accept no responsibility for lack of service due to social media channels downtime.

We will read all @replies and Direct Messages sent to us and, when possible, will respond to them. Please note that, due to the volume of traffic on our social media channels, it is not always possible to respond and we encourage users to use other ways to contact us if their question or comment requires urgent attention.

We encourage you to follow traditional channels to make a media request, freedom of information (FOI) request or complaint. See details of other ways to contact us.

Some LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM) staff (agents) post on social media under their own names or pseudonyms, or through programmed artist take overs. Despite their professional affiliation with LEFTCOAST and/or PAINTING THE TOWN (TM), their posts do not represent the official position of the Board and Management and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.

If you have questions about this policy, please contact

helen.jones@leftcoast.org.uk  

Please refer to individual social media sites for their Privacy Notices to control what you share and to whom. Stay safe and secure.

If a disabled person finds it impossible or unreasonably difficult to make a request in writing, we will make a reasonable adjustment for them under the Equality Act 2010. We will respond in a format which is accessible to the disabled person, such as Braille, large print, email or audio formats.

Tina Redford, Artistic Director, LeftCoast

John Donnellon, Chair, LeftCoast