CiviCentre provides digital tools that enable people to share ideas, comments, questions and other contributions as part of public and stakeholder engagement activities. Some contributions may be visible to other participants or included in engagement analysis and reporting.
We welcome diverse perspectives and encourage open, respectful and constructive participation. These Terms of Use, Community Conduct and Moderation guidelines are intended to support an inclusive environment where people can participate safely and meaningfully, including when they disagree.
By participating, users agree to follow these guidelines.
Organizations using CiviCentre may establish additional terms, privacy requirements or participation rules for their individual engagement sites and activities.
Principles of participation
We ask participants to:
- Be respectful. Engage with other participants, moderators and organizations respectfully.
- Be constructive. Disagreement and criticism are welcome, but should focus on ideas, issues and decisions rather than individuals.
- Be inclusive. Respect different backgrounds, identities, experiences, abilities and points of view.
- Participate in good faith. Do not deliberately mislead, manipulate discussions, disrupt participation or interfere with others' ability to contribute.
- Respect privacy. Do not share another person's private or personal information without appropriate authorization.
- Stay relevant. Keep contributions reasonably related to the purpose or topic of the engagement.
- Be authentic. Do not impersonate another person or organization or intentionally misrepresent your identity where identification is required.
- Respect the process. Do not attempt to manipulate polls, voting, surveys or other participation mechanisms through duplicate accounts, automated activity or other deceptive means.
A contribution will not be removed simply because it expresses disagreement, criticism or an unpopular point of view.
Content that may be moderated
A contribution may be withheld from publication or removed if it contains:
- personal or confidential information about another individual;
- threats, intimidation or incitement to violence;
- harassment, bullying or targeted abuse;
- hateful or discriminatory content based on protected or personal characteristics;
- personal attacks, insults or defamatory statements;
- obscene, sexually explicit or excessively profane content;
- content that promotes, encourages or facilitates illegal activity;
- content that infringes copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights;
- advertising, commercial solicitation or unrelated promotional material;
- spam, repetitive or substantially duplicative contributions;
- intentionally deceptive or fraudulent content;
- content designed to disrupt or manipulate an engagement process;
- malicious links, malware or other content presenting a cybersecurity risk;
- content unrelated to the stated purpose of the engagement; or
- other content that substantially interferes with a safe, constructive and meaningful engagement environment.
Moderation
Moderation is intended to support participation, not suppress legitimate disagreement.
Depending on the engagement, contributions may be reviewed before publication or moderated after they are published. Automated tools may help identify spam, inappropriate language or content that may need review. Content flagged by these tools may be temporarily withheld from public view while awaiting human review.
Moderators may:
- approve or publish contributions;
- flag or hold contributions for review;
- remove content that violates these guidelines;
- request that a participant revise a contribution;
- limit or temporarily suspend participation; or
- block an account in cases of serious or repeated violations.
Where practical, moderation actions should be proportionate to the nature and severity of the issue. Our goal is to remove as little content as possible while maintaining a respectful, safe and constructive environment for participation.
Ethical moderation
Moderators are expected to apply these guidelines consistently and fairly.
Moderation decisions should be based on participant conduct and submitted content, not on political viewpoint, whether a contribution agrees or disagrees with the organization conducting the engagement, or whether the contribution is supportive or critical.
Moderators should respect participant privacy and confidentiality and should only access or use participant information as necessary to administer the engagement and apply these guidelines.
Reporting content and moderation concerns
Participants may report content they believe violates these guidelines. Reported content will be reviewed against the applicable moderation and engagement requirements.
Reporting a contribution does not automatically mean that it will be removed.
Questions about a moderation decision should normally be directed to the organization conducting the engagement. For questions about CiviCentre or the operation of the platform, contact support@76engage.com.
Participant responsibility
Participants are responsible for the content they submit.
Participants should ensure that their contributions respect the privacy, intellectual property and other rights of individuals and organizations.
Participants should not include personal information they do not wish to be made public in publicly visible contributions.
Use of contributions
Contributions may be used by the organization conducting the engagement for purposes connected with the engagement, including reviewing and responding to input, analysis, reporting, record keeping and informing decisions.
CiviCentre processes contributions on behalf of organizations using the platform as necessary to provide platform functionality and associated services.
The organization conducting an engagement may provide additional information about how contributions will be used.
Participant content
Contributions reflect the views of the participants who submit them. They do not necessarily reflect the views of CiviCentre or the organization conducting the engagement, and publication of a contribution does not indicate endorsement.
Depending on the engagement, contributions may be published before they are reviewed by a moderator. The organization conducting the engagement and CiviCentre do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or availability of content posted on this website. Use of this website is at your own risk, and neither is liable for any damages resulting from the use or misuse of information provided on it.
Participants should consider the accuracy and appropriateness of information they submit.
Use of AI
If an organization has enabled AI-assisted features, contributions may be processed using AI to support functions such as summarization, categorization, search, translation or analysis.
CiviCentre does not use customer or participant data to train, fine-tune, validate, test or improve foundation AI models.
AI-assisted features are intended to support, rather than replace, appropriate human judgment and oversight.
For more information, see our AI and Data Use page.
Privacy
Personal information submitted through this website is handled according to the applicable privacy requirements and the policies established for that engagement.
Participants should review the Privacy Policy provided on the engagement site for information about what personal information is collected, how it is used and who may have access to it.
Where the organization conducting an engagement is subject to access-to-information, freedom-of-information, public-records or record-retention requirements, contributions and associated records may also be subject to those requirements.
Accessibility and inclusion
We want digital engagement to be accessible and inclusive.
Participants are encouraged to communicate in ways that enable others to understand and participate in discussions. Where possible, content shared by participants should consider accessibility, including providing meaningful descriptions for important visual information.
Participants who encounter an accessibility barrier should contact the organization conducting the engagement or CiviCentre for assistance.
Different engagement requirements
Organizations using CiviCentre can configure their engagement processes to meet their own participation and governance requirements.
Individual engagements may:
- permit anonymous participation;
- require registration or identification;
- restrict participation to designated groups;
- establish eligibility requirements;
- establish specific voting or submission rules;
- introduce additional moderation requirements; or
- provide additional privacy or data-use information.
Where engagement-specific requirements apply, participants should follow those requirements in addition to these guidelines.
Third-party links and content
This website may contain links to third-party websites, applications or resources, including links contributed by participants.
Participants should review the privacy, accessibility and other policies of third-party services before using them.
Updates to these guidelines
We may update these Terms of Use, Community Conduct and Moderation guidelines as CiviCentre evolves, engagement practices change or new technologies and participation considerations emerge.
The current version is always available on this page. Continued use of this website after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised guidelines.