The Xerces Society strives to create an inclusive, informative, and empowering environment on all of our social media channels—Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube—that is in line with both our organization's mission statement and our diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. We intend for our social media to provide a platform for our partners, donors, supporters, and other invertebrate enthusiasts to share knowledge and enthusiasm about invertebrates and related conservation topics. Lively, respectful debate is allowed (even encouraged), but we will not tolerate abusive uses of our platforms.
We reserve the right to delete or hide any posts or comments from visitors, and we also reserve the right to block any users from the Xerces Society's social media. These decisions will be made at the Xerces Society's discretion.
Core Principles of the Xerces Society's Social Media
- Inclusive: Building community is important for its own sake, as well as for achieving lasting conservation outcomes that benefit everyone. Social media enables us to connect with a broader community of invertebrate enthusiasts, and for our followers to connect with each other—for the good of invertebrates, habitats, agriculture, communities, and ecosystems. To this end, we strive to create an atmosphere in which all people—regardless of their gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, education, or disability—feel welcomed, heard, connected, and, ultimately, empowered to take action to support invertebrate conservation.
- Informative: As a science-based conservation organization, the Xerces Society shares information that is fact-based, up-to-date, and relevant to current conservation concerns. In the spirit of both being informative and inclusive, research and case studies from around the globe may be shared. Furthermore, invertebrates are remarkable creatures. We will share information that engenders a love for these animals, a deeper understanding of their biology, and an understanding of, and appreciation for, their contributions to ecosystems and agriculture.
- Empowering: We strive to impart the knowledge and skills necessary for people to take direct action to help insects and other invertebrates, and to engender the enthusiasm necessary to power those efforts. Among other things, we will share information about Xerces Society workshops and other Xerces events, as well as advocacy and other action-oriented opportunities that are in line with the Xerces Society’s mission.
Etiquette & Expectations
- The Xerces Society is a science-based organization. We expect that all comments or visitor posts will be on-topic and focused on factual discourse.
- Please keep discussions civil and well-mannered.
- We will not tolerate comments, posts, messages, or other communications that exhibit any forms of prejudice—including demonstrated bias against a group of people based on their gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, education, or disability.
- We will not tolerate harassment or stalking of Xerces Society staff, volunteers, members, or social media followers. However, the Xerces Society does not accept responsibility for the behavior of others, and cannot guarantee others’ safety.
- We will not share links to events in which we or our partners are not directly involved.
- The Xerces Society’s social media is not a fundraising platform for other organizations. We will not share information about crowdsourcing campaigns nor other requests for funding unless we are directly involved in the project. We will sometimes share information about relevant grant opportunities, at our discretion.
- We encourage visitors to comply with copyright and trademark laws when posting and sharing information. The Xerces Society, however, does not accept responsibility for posts and comments by visitors to our social media.
Disclaimers
- Visitor comments do not reflect the opinions of the Xerces Society. The Xerces Society being tagged in a post, tweet, or other online communication does not reflect the Xerces Society’s opinions, and is not to be interpreted as an endorsement on the part of the Xerces Society.
- Although we strive to cultivate a positive community that embodies the standards listed above, and although we maintain our platforms to the best of our ability, we cannot continuously monitor social media. Thus it is possible that some abusive posts, tweets, comments, or other communications may be missed as a result.
- If there is a post or comment that you feel is in violation of the Xerces Society’s community standards, or if you have other concerns, please contact us via direct message on the social media platform in question, or email us at [email protected]. We will endeavor to resolve the situation in a timely manner.