Shore Acres Civic Association (SACA) Social Media Sites
Description, Rules, and Guidelines
The Shore Acres Civic Association (SACA) is here for the benefit of everyone in our neighborhood. SACA manages several Social Media sites to keep residents informed, help people who live here communicate with each other, and promote this great community online.
These sites will conform to the SACA bylaws and support the SACA Purpose to promote the common interests of the residents (Article III, Section 1).
These Social Media sites include:
If not a current member, please join SACA now.
The below items are guidelines only. The Shore Acres Civic Association retains the right to remove/block/delete any post or member or any SACA social media account that does not benefit the organization or the neighborhood. Please use common sense when providing your personal information.
General Expectations of Behavior on all sites:
Be Excellent to One Another: Be respectful and courteous. Please remember, once you post, you can never take it back (deleting and editing does not change the history of the post).
Be Informative: Please keep posts specific to the information that is relevant to your neighbors. It would be best to keep posts about your random thoughts or general complaints to your own social media pages.
Shaming and Trolling: Public shaming of individuals or businesses is not welcome. The poster should settle these complaints with the individual or company involved. Any personal attacks, threats, or otherwise use hateful speech will be removed immediately, and the admins will block the poster from all SACA sites.
Hate Speech: Any form of "Hate Speech" is prohibited on all SACA Social Media sites. SACA defines hate speech as any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons based on race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin.
Membership Courtesy: SACA is a privately-run group of volunteers supporting the community. The administration of the site is voluntary. We welcome your opinion about the management of the group. However, any harassment to the administrators of the group is not permitted.
Specific Guidelines for the SACA private Facebook Group:
Membership into the Group: The SACA private Facebook group is for current residents of the Shore Acres neighborhood as defined by the city of St. Petersburg. Those requesting membership to the SACA Facebook group who do not use at least their real first name on their Facebook profile will not be permitted in the group. Facebook profiles that use fake names or other handles/monikers will not be allowed entry to the SACA group. Page admins must approve all membership requests.
Not a resident of Shore Acres: The SACA group admins will consider a case-by-case basis membership to the SACA Facebook group of non-residents or businesses whose membership will benefit the community. SACA recognized that numerous members of this group previously approved entry do not currently live in Shore Acres. If these members who are former residents or non-residents do not add to this group's positive objective, admins will remove them.
Group Admins: To maintain good order and moderate discussion in this group, the SACA President will appoint individuals to act as admins to this page. The SACA President may also delegate authority to current admins to approve additional admins. It is recommended, but not required that all admins be current members of the SACA Board.
Posting screenshots from SACA's private Facebook group: SACA's Facebook group is a private group. Do not post screenshots from this group into other groups, on your own page, or other social media sites. Members who are found to be doing this will be removed without warning.
Blocking: If you block any admins or moderators, admins will remove you from the SACA group. There is no way to warn you because you have the admins blocked. Admins need to be able to contact and/or tag members of the group and cannot do this if they are blocked. Information about Facebook blocking.
Over-posting and taking over posts: This group is for community discussion. The SACA board realizes that our members might be passionate about a variety of topics. This means in a perfect social media universe, no single person's name should dominate the discussion in the group, or especially in the form of independent posts, but also in taking over other members' posts. An example of over-posting is posting separate posts three or more times per day. An example of over-commenting is commenting on 25% or more of all new posts in the SACA group. An example of taking over another member's post is turning it into a discussion solely about your own opinion. Please do not over-post or over-comment in the SACA group. Repeat offenders will be temporarily "muted" and risk being removed.
Turning off Comments: Please do not turn off comments from your post. Page Admins may, at times, turn off comments to posts due to politicizing of a relevant post or over-posting or dominating by an individual.
In addition, some administrative posts are closed for comments as they are for information only.
Reporting crime and illegal activity: The SACA Group is here to help communicate issues in our neighborhood. These include staying informed of any criminal activity. However, any unlawful activity observation should be reported to the St Petersburg Police at (727) 893-7780 or call 9-1-1 in case of an emergency. You can also file a police report online (https://police.stpete.org/submit-a-police-report/index.html ) or submit a tip by calling 4-1-1 or online (https://app.citizenobserver.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=2995 ).
Posting Photos & Personal Information: SACA respects the privacy of the members of our community. Do not post any photos of a person that that has any identifiable information without permission. This includes posting any picture of a house, a vehicle with a visible license plate, a home address, or any identifiable information or image.
Reporting Bad Driving and other Violations: Do not post photos of cars with the actual numbers of license plates. If you would like to report traffic or other violations, please contact the St Petersburg Police.
Promoting local businesses: SACA supports Businesses. Once per month, Shore Acres residents can promote their services through a post on the group page. Excessive posting to promote businesses will be removed. Posts by any business not owned by a Shore Acres resident is prohibited.
Complaints about local businesses, employees, etc.: If you have a bad experience at a business please contact that business to resolve the issue rather than complaining about them in this group. If neighbors request recommendations for a specific service, add a comment describing your negative experience.
Promoting Real Estate: Properties for sale must be located within the Shore Acres Civic Association (SACA) boundaries and may be posted once by either the real estate broker or owner. If a property fails to sell during a listing period and is subsequently re-listed by another real estate broker, the new broker may post the new listing once. Price reductions, open houses or any other postings regarding the same property are strictly prohibited.
Selling of Giving Away Your Stuff: Listings of items for sale or free pickup may be posted on SACA once per household. Please combine all items on one post. Multiple posts will be deleted, and you risk removal from the group.
Yard Sales: Yard sale listings may be posted on the SACA Facebook group once per event (one post per multi-family yard sale/full street yard sale/charity yard sale events). Multiple posts will be deleted, and you risk removal from the group for continuous violations. There are several other sites that may be more appropriate to advertise on, including Pinellas County Online Yard Sale.
Animals (lost, found, injured, and rehoming):
The Shore Acres neighborhood remains an animal-friendly community. Posts regarding lost, found, injured, or rehoming, are welcome. Please limited to one post. Follow-on announcements of a reward, an increase of a reward, new pictures, or media interest should be mentioned in the comments of the original post.
Posting Events & Advertisements for Events
Political Posts and Calls to Action: SACA is nonpartisan. Posts or comments about politics jeopardize the atmosphere of this group and are not permitted. Posts and comments with a call to action deemed in violation of our posting rules are not permitted. Those agendas simply do not belong on the SACA group page.
Political Discussions:
Announcements and Pinned Posts: Some posts have designated threads for discussion. Please check out the announcements regularly, which may be pinned to the top of the group page.
How to report a Facebook post: If you see a post that is breaking the rules or is otherwise unsavory? You can easily report it, and admins will be alerted immediately by Facebook:
General disclaimer:
These are guidelines only. The Shore Acres Civic Association retains the right to remove/block/delete any post or member or any SACA social media account that does not benefit the organization or the neighborhood. Please use common sense when providing your personal information. We are not qualified to mediate or give legal advice. Post to the group at your own risk. Note that we cannot always reply to all personal messages. Please email questions or comments to the SACA Board at us@shoreacres.org Rules subject to change without notice upon approval of the board.
Approved by the SACA Board
July 20, 2020
These sites will conform to the SACA bylaws and support the SACA Purpose to promote the common interests of the residents (Article III, Section 1).
These Social Media sites include:
- Facebook group Shore Acres Civic Association (SACA) St Petersburg Florida
- Facebook page ShoreAcresFLA
- Twitter @ShoreAcresFL
- Instagram @ShoreAcresFL
- Website www.shoreacresfl.org
If not a current member, please join SACA now.
The below items are guidelines only. The Shore Acres Civic Association retains the right to remove/block/delete any post or member or any SACA social media account that does not benefit the organization or the neighborhood. Please use common sense when providing your personal information.
General Expectations of Behavior on all sites:
Be Excellent to One Another: Be respectful and courteous. Please remember, once you post, you can never take it back (deleting and editing does not change the history of the post).
Be Informative: Please keep posts specific to the information that is relevant to your neighbors. It would be best to keep posts about your random thoughts or general complaints to your own social media pages.
Shaming and Trolling: Public shaming of individuals or businesses is not welcome. The poster should settle these complaints with the individual or company involved. Any personal attacks, threats, or otherwise use hateful speech will be removed immediately, and the admins will block the poster from all SACA sites.
Hate Speech: Any form of "Hate Speech" is prohibited on all SACA Social Media sites. SACA defines hate speech as any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons based on race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin.
Membership Courtesy: SACA is a privately-run group of volunteers supporting the community. The administration of the site is voluntary. We welcome your opinion about the management of the group. However, any harassment to the administrators of the group is not permitted.
Specific Guidelines for the SACA private Facebook Group:
Membership into the Group: The SACA private Facebook group is for current residents of the Shore Acres neighborhood as defined by the city of St. Petersburg. Those requesting membership to the SACA Facebook group who do not use at least their real first name on their Facebook profile will not be permitted in the group. Facebook profiles that use fake names or other handles/monikers will not be allowed entry to the SACA group. Page admins must approve all membership requests.
Not a resident of Shore Acres: The SACA group admins will consider a case-by-case basis membership to the SACA Facebook group of non-residents or businesses whose membership will benefit the community. SACA recognized that numerous members of this group previously approved entry do not currently live in Shore Acres. If these members who are former residents or non-residents do not add to this group's positive objective, admins will remove them.
Group Admins: To maintain good order and moderate discussion in this group, the SACA President will appoint individuals to act as admins to this page. The SACA President may also delegate authority to current admins to approve additional admins. It is recommended, but not required that all admins be current members of the SACA Board.
Posting screenshots from SACA's private Facebook group: SACA's Facebook group is a private group. Do not post screenshots from this group into other groups, on your own page, or other social media sites. Members who are found to be doing this will be removed without warning.
Blocking: If you block any admins or moderators, admins will remove you from the SACA group. There is no way to warn you because you have the admins blocked. Admins need to be able to contact and/or tag members of the group and cannot do this if they are blocked. Information about Facebook blocking.
Over-posting and taking over posts: This group is for community discussion. The SACA board realizes that our members might be passionate about a variety of topics. This means in a perfect social media universe, no single person's name should dominate the discussion in the group, or especially in the form of independent posts, but also in taking over other members' posts. An example of over-posting is posting separate posts three or more times per day. An example of over-commenting is commenting on 25% or more of all new posts in the SACA group. An example of taking over another member's post is turning it into a discussion solely about your own opinion. Please do not over-post or over-comment in the SACA group. Repeat offenders will be temporarily "muted" and risk being removed.
Turning off Comments: Please do not turn off comments from your post. Page Admins may, at times, turn off comments to posts due to politicizing of a relevant post or over-posting or dominating by an individual.
In addition, some administrative posts are closed for comments as they are for information only.
Reporting crime and illegal activity: The SACA Group is here to help communicate issues in our neighborhood. These include staying informed of any criminal activity. However, any unlawful activity observation should be reported to the St Petersburg Police at (727) 893-7780 or call 9-1-1 in case of an emergency. You can also file a police report online (https://police.stpete.org/submit-a-police-report/index.html ) or submit a tip by calling 4-1-1 or online (https://app.citizenobserver.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=2995 ).
Posting Photos & Personal Information: SACA respects the privacy of the members of our community. Do not post any photos of a person that that has any identifiable information without permission. This includes posting any picture of a house, a vehicle with a visible license plate, a home address, or any identifiable information or image.
Reporting Bad Driving and other Violations: Do not post photos of cars with the actual numbers of license plates. If you would like to report traffic or other violations, please contact the St Petersburg Police.
Promoting local businesses: SACA supports Businesses. Once per month, Shore Acres residents can promote their services through a post on the group page. Excessive posting to promote businesses will be removed. Posts by any business not owned by a Shore Acres resident is prohibited.
- If somebody asks for a recommendation, and your business applies, only previous customers may respond to the inquiry, within the appropriate thread. These responses may include both positive and negative experiences. Businesses, their staff, and family/friends are not permitted to self-recommend. If a customer tags you as a recommendation, you may reply as a sub-thread to the recommendation comment with your business or contact info. You will be given one warning when you break this rule, and then you will be muted. Your third offense results in removal from the group.
- Shout-outs from customers or friends are not permitted in the SACA group as standalone posts.
- If you directly advertise your business in violation of these rules, we will give you one warning. After that, you will be removed from the group. It is your responsibility to follow the rules.
Complaints about local businesses, employees, etc.: If you have a bad experience at a business please contact that business to resolve the issue rather than complaining about them in this group. If neighbors request recommendations for a specific service, add a comment describing your negative experience.
Promoting Real Estate: Properties for sale must be located within the Shore Acres Civic Association (SACA) boundaries and may be posted once by either the real estate broker or owner. If a property fails to sell during a listing period and is subsequently re-listed by another real estate broker, the new broker may post the new listing once. Price reductions, open houses or any other postings regarding the same property are strictly prohibited.
Selling of Giving Away Your Stuff: Listings of items for sale or free pickup may be posted on SACA once per household. Please combine all items on one post. Multiple posts will be deleted, and you risk removal from the group.
Yard Sales: Yard sale listings may be posted on the SACA Facebook group once per event (one post per multi-family yard sale/full street yard sale/charity yard sale events). Multiple posts will be deleted, and you risk removal from the group for continuous violations. There are several other sites that may be more appropriate to advertise on, including Pinellas County Online Yard Sale.
Animals (lost, found, injured, and rehoming):
The Shore Acres neighborhood remains an animal-friendly community. Posts regarding lost, found, injured, or rehoming, are welcome. Please limited to one post. Follow-on announcements of a reward, an increase of a reward, new pictures, or media interest should be mentioned in the comments of the original post.
Posting Events & Advertisements for Events
- Non-profit and public events hosted through residents, schools, museums, libraries, charities, etc. open to all community members may be posted on the SACA Facebook group once per event. Multiple posts will be deleted. Only SACA Facebook Group admins can post an event to the SACA Facebook group calendar.
- Impromptu fundraising events such as day-of Girl Scout cookie sales, day-of Boy Scout Holiday wreaths, etc. may be posted in the SACA Facebook Group one time per event.
- All other business posts of an advertising nature are not permitted unless in conjunction with the first of the month POST YOUR BIZ thread.
Political Posts and Calls to Action: SACA is nonpartisan. Posts or comments about politics jeopardize the atmosphere of this group and are not permitted. Posts and comments with a call to action deemed in violation of our posting rules are not permitted. Those agendas simply do not belong on the SACA group page.
- Posts announcing election hours or sample ballots specific to the Shore Acres neighborhood are not considered political and are allowed.
- Posting official local (St Petersburg and Florida) election results is NOT considered political and may be posted from the official election results site (not from a media source).
- Backhanded political posts, candidate endorsements, or candidate criticisms in posts or comments are not permitted and will be removed.
- SACA reserves the right to remove any post for any reason, including those promoting events that may result in civil disobedience or violence.
- Updates from elected or appointed officials concerning issues affecting the Shore Acres neighborhood is not considered political and is allowed.
- Official events sponsored or supported by the city, county, or state can be posted once per event.
Political Discussions:
- Arguments: Please keep any post about political arguments, discussions, and opinions on your own personal page.
- SACA-Specific Political Discussions: Discussions about SACA meetings, initiatives, events, etc., are permitted as long as they remain respectful and courteous, and those initiating the discussions are not non-residents or owners, investors, etc. of a related business.
- Posts that serve the sole purpose to incite or inflame will be removed.
Announcements and Pinned Posts: Some posts have designated threads for discussion. Please check out the announcements regularly, which may be pinned to the top of the group page.
How to report a Facebook post: If you see a post that is breaking the rules or is otherwise unsavory? You can easily report it, and admins will be alerted immediately by Facebook:
- Click the upper right arrow of the post.
- Click Report to Admin.
General disclaimer:
These are guidelines only. The Shore Acres Civic Association retains the right to remove/block/delete any post or member or any SACA social media account that does not benefit the organization or the neighborhood. Please use common sense when providing your personal information. We are not qualified to mediate or give legal advice. Post to the group at your own risk. Note that we cannot always reply to all personal messages. Please email questions or comments to the SACA Board at us@shoreacres.org Rules subject to change without notice upon approval of the board.
Approved by the SACA Board
July 20, 2020
