MCDC Social Media Rules & Guidelines
These guidelines apply primarily to the Montgomery County, VA Democrats Facebook group; where applicable they also apply to the MCDC Facebook page and Instagram, Threads, and X (former Twitter) accounts. MCDC exists to elect top quality candidates for county, state, and federal offices. We all value freedom of speech and expression, but part of that freedom relies on people feeling welcome to contribute to the community. To that end, we have the following moderation rules and guidelines.
Content (including comments) that may be removed:
- The sharing of personally identifiable information with the intent to encourage harassment (aka “Doxing”).
- Attacks on an MCDC member’s character unless moderators judge them to be politically relevant.
- Posts in support of a Democratic nominee’s political opposition.
- Posts soliciting money for any purpose other than raising funds for Democratic candidates and committees endorsed by MCDC.
- Posts that blame the victim of a crime or any wrongful act, in which the victim is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them (aka “Victim Blaming”).
- Posts demanding that posts or members be removed from a group. Please use the “Report to Admin” menu option on the post to file complaints so any available admin can see the report.
- A post may be removed at the discretion of the MCDC Chair.
People may be banned if they:
- Re-post material that has been removed by MCDC moderators.
- Campaign for a Democratic nominee’s political opposition (anywhere).
- Appear to intentionally antagonize or harass other members (aka “Trolling”).
- Engage in self-promotion or marketing, except for Democratic candidates and committees endorsed by MCDC.
- Post in a manner that suggests they are trying to dominate discussion on the site.
- Block a moderator.
- Are discovered to be using a pseudonym (according to Facebook’s standards)
- Otherwise violate Facebook’s community standards
About Censorship: Occasionally, banning users or removing posts raises questions about censorship. We believe strongly in freedom of speech, but anyone can create a group on Facebook (or several other places online) and encourage people to join. Freedom of speech is not at stake.
Moderators: Moderators are drawn from both the MCDC Executive Committee and invited members of MCDC. Within limits, moderators have the ability to remove posts and ban users.
Current Moderators:
Steve Banks
Jessica Bennett
Steven Cochran
Gretchen Distler
Information is the currency of democracy.
Thomas Jefferson