Edited January 2016 

The Astoria Parks and Recreation Department maintains this Facebook page with the purpose of sharing news and information regarding the activities, policies and programs of the Department and its employees. We encourage discussion and comments on posts. Your insights are important.

Comments
Due to the fact this page is public and possibly visible to persons of all ages, we expect participants to show respect, civility and consideration to visitors. Therefore, comments will be removed if they: 

• Contain personal attacks against any member of the public or an employee of the Department.
• Promote or advertise services or products.
• Contain abusive, profane or vulgar language.
• Contain sexual content, overly graphic, disturbing, obscene or offensive material, or material that would otherwise violate the law if published on this site.
• Include offensive language targeting specific ethnic, religious, or racial groups.

The Astoria Parks and Recreation Department will not moderate or edit comments to remove objectionable or inappropriate content, please ensure that comments comply with this policy. If comments are not in keeping with the above policy they will be removed. The department will not remove critical content unless it violates the prohibitions listed above.

While the department knows that that social media tools are available 24 hours a day, we need to manage resources. We welcome your comments at any time. We will attempt to monitor them at least Monday – Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Users
Facebook states in their documentation "Facebook is a community where people use their real identities. We require everyone to provide their real names, so you always know who you're connecting with."  We believe this is a best practice. As a result we require people posting on our page to display their real names. While nicknames or cute names are ok for the first or middle name the person’s identity should be apparent.

 Privacy
To protect your personal privacy and the privacy of other persons, The Department recommends people do not include personally identifiable information, such as full name, Social Security number, phone numbers, addresses, or e-mail addresses in the body of their comments.

Note: No one from the Astoria Parks and Recreation Department will ask you for personal information via any social networking site nor any other social networking site maintained by any other unit or person employed by the Department, for any official use by the Department.

Endorsements
Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non governmental organizations or individuals that remain on this site are provided solely for informational purposes, or provided by the web hosting service. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement by the Astoria Parks and Recreation Department of any product, person, or service.

Contact
Members of the public should be aware that information shared through this site may be subject to release to people who request it through the Freedom of Information Act. 

Please note that communications made through social media channels, such as the Astoria Parks and Recreation Department “Facebook” page, will not constitute legal or official notice or comment to the Department or any official or employee of the Department for any purpose.

While it was necessary for the Astoria Parks and Recreation Department to impose these restrictions, it doesn't mean that we don't want to hear from members of the public. The Astoria Parks and Recreation Department encourages feedback - both positive and negative - and we want to hear your ideas and opinions.  You can contact the Department by visiting www.astoriaparks.com.

Amendments
This policy may be updated or amended at any time.