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Community Guidelines and Content Moderation Policy

Kitchen Table is a community social network to advance Guelph-Wellington's Our Food Future initiative, creating Canada's first technology-enabled circular food economy. This platform encourages communication and collaboration between community members and we ask all users to adhere to the following community standards.

Kitchen Table's administrators moderate this platform to ensure all participants are safe from harassment and malicious, inflammatory and illegal content.

Username Rules

Usernames—which are submitted by participants during the registration process as a way to identify themselves in public-facing activities—are approved in accordance with the username rules set out below:

  1. Usernames should not be defamatory, obscene or include language which could be deemed offensive. This includes the creative use of characters and symbols to hide explicit content.

  2. Users must not impersonate members of the public, elected officials, moderators, site administrators or Our Food Future collaborators. 

  3. Using a username for activism purposes is permissible as long as it does not breach any of the above. i.e. MoreBikes; GoVegan

Username Sanctions

Any breach of the above username rules will result in the following:

  1. Username Change—the moderation team reviews every username. If a username is deemed to be in breach of the above rules, it will be changed and the user informed. A user can also change their username to something within the rules.

  2. Temporary Suspension—a participant who repeatedly and flagrantly changes their username in breach of the above rules may be suspended from accessing the website.

  3. Permanent Blocking—a participant who continues to violate the username rules may have their access to the website permanently blocked.

Moderation Rules

All public-facing contributions—contributions that can be seen by other website users–are moderated in accordance with the rules set out below:

  1. Do not contain personal information about another participant or provide personal contact information.

  2. Do not defame anyone or any organisation. A comment is defamatory if it lowers or harms the reputation of a person or organisation. 

  3. Do not post anything that could be considered intolerant of a person's race, culture, appearance, gender, sexual preference, religion or age.

  4. Do not be obscene or use foul language. 

  5. Do not personally insult or harass other participants—either in public forums or through private messages. Always focus on the logic of the argument rather than the individuals involved in the argument. Participants are entitled to choose not to enter into debate. If one user feels as though another is harassing him/her, please contact moderators through the direct message function or email foodfuture@guelph.ca.

  6. Do not post or link to any inappropriate, offensive or illegal material. 

  7. Images used in post must not be subject to copyright. Visit Unsplash or do a Google image search and select  "Labeled for Reuse" under the "Tools" tab. 

  8. This site promotes and supports Guelph-Wellington's circular food business community—encouraging posts on business development and peer connections. However, please avoid overt advertisements, promotions or direct solicitation from other members. 

  9. Do not promote self-harm, suicide, violence or criminal activity of any kind.

  10. The use of emoji or images to convey inappropriate meaning as outlined above will also be moderated.

  11. Ensure comments seek to address the topic or focus of the engagement activity at hand. Users which intentionally distract from or ignore the discussion topic may have their comments treated as off-topic and removed.

Sanctions

Breaches of the moderation rules will be dealt with as follows:

  1. Removal of Comment—any comment that, in the view of the moderator, breaches the rules will be removed.
  2. Temporary Suspension—a participant who repeatedly and flagrantly flouts the moderation rules may be suspended from accessing the website. The period will reflect both the severity and consistency of the breach.
  3. Permanent Blocking—a participant who continues to violate the moderation rules following reinstatement after a period of suspension may have their access to the website permanently blocked.
  4. Automatic Blocking—a participant who posts or links to inappropriate, offensive or illegal material will be immediately blocked from the site.

Etiquette

The following are not enforceable rules. Rather they are etiquette suggestions to help keep Kitchen Table engagement respectful and constructive:

  1. Read through the information on the site and other participant comments before getting involved in a discussion.

  2. Always respect the views of other participants even if they are contrary to the user's own.

  3. Be constructive. It's okay to disagree with other forum participants (debate is actually encouraged) but keep the dialogue positive.

  4. Stay civil. This can be difficult sometimes, especially when a user is passionate about an issue, but it is important to keep the discussion focused on the issues rather than letting it deteriorate into personal insults.

  5. After leaving a comment, keep an eye on the discussion or challenge to see what other people have to say.

  6. Stay on topic. The initiatives on Kitchen Table are intended to advance Guelph-Wellington's circular food economy smart city initiative. Please stay within the boundaries of the subject matter.

  7. Don't bully, harass or threaten other participants. If one user participant proffers an opinion that another doesn't agree with, that user has no right to demand that the other support his/her position or respond to questions. It is up to each individual to participate as much or as little as they wish.