While politics can be a divisive topic, we’re aware that in the lead up to the General Election New Zealanders will naturally want to use social platforms like Neighbourly to discuss their political views.
This year Neighbourly is welcoming election candidates onto the site to share their community visions, events and other resources with their electorates, so discussions on your newsfeed may look a little more political than they usually do.
Provided political discussions are civil they will not be removed by the Neighbourly team, however we do have a few guidelines we are asking members to adhere to.
To ensure the conversation is relevant and engaging to everyone in your neighbourhood, keep the conversation focused on your local community.
Do:
Explain why a political event or policy is of concern to your community. Connect it back to your specific suburb/neighbourhood
Discuss policies over politicians
Allow others to share their perspectives, even if you disagree
Remind contributors to keep their comments civil if the discussion is becoming unfriendly
Disable comments or remove your post if the conversation isn’t productive
Abide by the Neighbourly Guidelines
Don’t:
Call anyone (including politcians) names
Belittle/humiliate/personally attack others
Report posts simply because you disagree with the perspective shared
Campaign (heavily/repeatedly push a political party or candidate) or push an agenda
Spam or dominate conversation
Hijack posts (raise an unrelated topic)
Discuss global politics
Note: If your post does not directly relate to your local community, we always recommend posting in a Neighbourly Group instead.
But I don’t want to see political discussions on Neighbourly!
If you’re not interested in seeing these discussions on your newsfeed you can:
Hide the post: click '...' below the post and select HIDE THIS MESSAGE from the drop-down menu.
Mute the original poster: click '...' below the post and select MUTE USER from the drop-down menu.
Unfollow the Candidate Profile: click on the candidate's profile name and once on their profile, click 'Following' to the top right of their profile to Unfollow.
Please avoid commenting on the thread to say “this doesn’t belong on Neighbourly” or “this should be removed”. Political content will not be removed unless it breaches the Neighbourly Guidelines, but you can private message the original poster to share some feedback with them.