Social media comment policy

Washington State Parks uses the following social media platforms for two-way communication with the public and are subject to the Social Media Policy below:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• X (formally Twitter)

We welcome comments from the public to encourage a productive community dialog about state parks news, events, programs, activities, conditions, alerts and other matters related to state parks and recreation in Washington. Our social media channels provide a limited forum for public engagement. Information on the our social media pages are not a substitute for legal or official notice by the agency. Comments posted by users are not considered legal or official notice. 

Our Communications staff monitor agency social media channels during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday), and as resources allow. We do not monitor the page 24 hours a day and will respond to public comments as quickly as possible. 

Comments from the public should be on topic. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the author. We reserve the right to hide or remove comments as well as block offenders at its discretion for comments that:

• Are unrelated to topics posted by Washington State Parks
• Use offensive, abusive, vulgar, obscene, racist, sexist, homophobic, threatening, or harassing language, photos or other content
• Use language that includes libel, slander or personal attacks against individuals, organizations, agencies or programs
• Include unsupported accusations or false information
• Are solicitations, commercial or political endorsements, advertisements, spam or comments promoting services or products
• Share private, personal or protected information 
• Contain copyrighted or other proprietary materials
• Incite or suggest violent action against others
• Suggest or encourage illegal, dangerous or destructive activity

Removal of inappropriate content and comments posted by outside users on agency social media sites shall be retained with a record of that contributor’s name, date and time the content was edited or removed. The records should be retained in such a manner that they can be deleted after meeting the required retention periods. 

Comments violating our comment policy will not be edited to comply with agency guidelines. 

Content posted to our social media accounts is a public record. All information posted and other activity conducted on the agency’s social media sites is subject to the Public Records Act and Office of the Secretary of State Records Management Guidelines and Retention Schedules. The Communications Office is responsible for assuring that agency posts, public comments and responses to those comments are retained as required by the state government general records retention schedules.

Requests for public records must be made to: public.disclosure@parks.wa.gov.