The KCDC has included the below statement in this week’s newsletter. Remember that the people who get these messages are normally frontline staff, poorly paid compared to the bosses, and in our experience nearly all wonderful people.

While politicians can expect satire, sarcasm and acerbic comments — it goes with the territory and is often deserved — the staff who have to read messages are ordinary diligent workers and deserve respect.

The things we say and do to each other online have real-world impacts, and whether intended or not, those impacts shape the environments we live, work, study and play in.   Although we can’t control how others behave online, we can all take steps to improve our own experiences and behaviour, and how we respond in different situations.

With that in mind, we have updated our guidelines for our Council Facebook page to better support an environment where everyone can feel safe, valued and respected. Our work here at Council is a constant balancing act and while we accept that there will be times when you might feel like we’ve got it wrong,  no one should have to accept personal attacks or harassment as part of their job, and neither should those participating on our Council Facebook page.