Social media community guidelines for Kensington Voice

When we founded Kensington Voice in 2018, we did so with a mission to amplify community voices. We also thought carefully about the vocabulary we would and wouldn’t use when describing community members. Much of this includes using person-first language and not using derogatory language or slurs when describing others. 

We’re proud of this commitment. But, some of the comments on our social media posts have not met the standard of respect towards others that we strive for, including the targeting of some Kensington community members with hateful language.

While we value freedom of expression, we will not tolerate harmful or offensive comments. So, we’re putting a few rules in place to make our comment sections a friendlier environment for everyone.

• What’s not allowed?
  • Calls for violence 
  • Curse words
  • Hate speech 
  • Slurs 
  • Spam and mis/disinformation
• How will we enforce this?
  • Using Facebook’s profanity filter and blocking words. Learn more here. 
  • As a reminder, we’ll post a link to this post in reply to a comment when needed.

Moving forward, we plan to publish an ethics-style guide on our website, sometime during the spring, to help our audience better understand our language choices. In the meantime, you can read the following resources on language use:

• Words Matter: Terms to Use and Avoid When Talking About Addiction from the National Institute on Drug Abuse 
• Overdose Crisis Reporting Style Guide from the Health in Justice Action Lab: Changing the Narrative Initiative

If you have any questions or concerns, please email editors@kensingtonvoice.com or send us a message on social media at @kensingtonvoice.