Social Media Policy

Eastbourne Local History Society uses social media to engage with people around the world to promote its activities. We aim to share information about the history of Eastbourne and the surrounding area. We will also share items that are considered of interest to our followers and those that promote relevant free or low cost activities / events. This policy focuses on ELHS social media group rules and on guidelines for admins in monitoring group activity. The Facebook Group Rules appear on our Facebook page, and we expect all our members to abide by them. The Guidelines for Admins are to support admins in the group to make decisions and provide feedback about applications to join, rejecting posts, suspension and banning. At present, we are not using other social media platforms.

1. Facebook Group Rules

Eastbourne Local History Society (ELHS) welcomes individuals and groups to join our Facebook group. However, commercial businesses may not join. Before you are accepted into the group, we will run a check to ensure your Facebook profile meets certain criteria e.g. it is not locked and appears genuine. We ask you to agree to our group rules to make sure this is a pleasant, legal and safe space for everyone. Any breach of these rules will result in the content being removed and could result in being banned. ELHS reserves the right to amend and update these rules at any time.

1. Be courteous and respectful

The views expressed by our followers are their own and do not represent the official view of ELHS. Healthy debate is acceptable; however, offensive, obscene or defamatory content including hate speech, bullying and name-calling will be removed and will result in immediate banning. This includes targeting people because of their race, colour, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation. Avoid posts and comments that could be construed as divisive.

2. Respect Privacy

Please respect everyone’s privacy. Do not share personal details unless specifically given permission to do so. Any post or comment that includes personal information may be removed.

3. Keep to topic

Posts and comments should be about the history of Eastbourne and the surrounding area. Posts will also be considered if they have an Eastbourne history connection, if they are considered of interest to our followers, or if they are promoting relevant activities or events that are free or low cost. This is not an archaeological group and we do not post content about metal detecting.

4. Avoid politics

The ELHS is non-political and does not allow posts or comments that promote political opinion or a political party. Such posts or comments will be removed and the person making them may be banned.

5. No unverified links, spam, self-promotion or selling

Unverifiable links are not acceptable as they may lead to security issues. Please do not upload links (e.g. You Tube) unless approved beforehand by admins. Whilst individuals or groups may post about free or low cost events related to local history, repeated posts promoting the same event will be

rejected. Any post or comment advertising a group or person, or selling a product will not be allowed.

6. No copyrighted material

Avoid posting anything which is not your original content or that you do not have a lawful right to post. This can include copyrighted text, images, music or video.

7. Report any concerns to admins

If you see a post or comment that you feel it breaks any of our rules, please report this to admins and we will sort it out as soon as possible. We endeavour to monitor the group’s activity regularly but cannot maintain a 24 hour presence. If you have any complaints or queries, please email us at info@eastbournehistory.org.uk

2. Other social media platforms

At present, ELHS does not currently have an active presence on other social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter / X. If at a future point in time we use these platforms, relevant policies will be developed as appropriate.