Community Commenting Guidelines

Virginia Tech welcomes comments on our social media posts and encourages interaction among Hokies around the world. Users are expected to follow the Virginia Tech Principles of Community as guidance for posts to remain true to the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). The university encourages respectful dialogue while supporting speech protected by the First Amendment. Additionally, all content and posts are bound by the Terms and Community Guidelines for that service. Further information can be found here.

Virginia Tech reserves the right, but is not obligated, to remove comments that:

• are off-topic;
• are profane, violent, or obscene;
• are an unauthorized commercial solicitation;
• encourage or support discrimination against protected classes;
• are duplicate or spam;
• advocate illegal activity;
• are misleading or contain falsehoods and/or inaccurate information; or
• libel, incite, threaten, or make ad hominem attacks on Virginia Tech students, employees, guests, or other individuals.

Concerns related to Virginia Tech’s social media content can be emailed to socialmedia-g@vt.edu. Comments made by outside users are the opinions of the authors, not of the university.

Comment/conversation moderation

Social media administrators should respond to commenters who express concerns and attempt to address them directly or refer them to a person or department who can.

The structure of your response will vary based on the nature of the social networking platform but it should always be friendly and representative of Virginia Tech’s culture and values.

Not every critique needs a response; some people are just venting frustrations, or they are “trolls” — those who engage in off-topic or inflammatory posts in an attempt to provoke others.

Comments that are inappropriate, offensive, insult or attack, contain illegal suggestions, or use foul language should be removed as allowed by that particular social media platform, as should those that are intentionally repetitive (spam). Keep a log of any comments removed, and most importantly, be consistent with the treatment of all commenters.

Removing posts that have become controversial

Occasionally, you may find that something you’ve posted to your page has taken a life of its own in the comments section. If your audience is staying on-topic and remaining civil as per your community commenting guidelines, it is advisable to let the commenters keep each other in check. If needed, remind commenters about your commenting guidelines.

However, if the conversation seems to be sliding toward only one point of view in a manner that is contrary to the spirit of your post, you may need to make a moderator decision.

Please contact the social media team at socialmedia-g@vt.edu to discuss the best course of action regarding the topics mentioned above