CLWA Community
Community Guidelines
These guidelines help keep CLWA useful, safe, neighborly, and focused on the lake community.
Last Updated: August 7, 2026
Be Respectful
Treat neighbors, visitors, volunteers, moderators, Board members, local organizations, and other Community participants with respect. Do not harass, threaten, bully, stalk, intimidate, shame, discriminate against, or deliberately target another person. Disagreement is allowed. Personal attacks are not.
Keep It Relevant
Community content should have a reasonable connection to Chebacco Lake, the watershed, nearby communities, CLWA, recreation, wildlife, fishing, environmental conditions, safety, events, local history, stewardship, lost-and-found matters, or other useful lake-community information.
Protect People's Privacy
Do not post another person's private information without permission, including private home addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, financial information, account information, identification documents, personal records, or sensitive location information.
Never use the Community to dox, stalk, expose, or endanger someone.
Be Accurate About Safety and Environmental Conditions
Posts about hazards, ice, algae, cyanobacteria, water quality, navigation, weather, wildlife, or other safety-related conditions may influence real-world decisions. Clearly distinguish what you personally observed, what somebody else told you, what comes from an official source, and what is your opinion or interpretation.
Do not knowingly exaggerate, fabricate, or misrepresent a safety or environmental concern. Community observations are not official emergency, medical, environmental, or public-health guidance.
Report Real Hazards Responsibly
Hazard reports should concern genuine issues such as debris, submerged rocks, navigation hazards, unsafe ice, algae concerns, downed trees, damaged infrastructure, unusual environmental conditions, or similar risks. For emergencies or immediate threats to life or safety, contact 911 or the appropriate public-safety authority rather than relying on a Community post.
Use Location Privacy Carefully
Choose the appropriate location setting when submitting location-based content. Consider using an approximate or hidden public location for sensitive wildlife, fishing spots, vulnerable habitat, private property, residential locations, or information that could encourage unsafe or inappropriate access.
A location appearing on a CLWA map does not mean that the location is public property or that public entry, swimming, parking, boating, fishing, or other access is lawful. Respect private property and posted restrictions.
Only Upload Content You Have the Right to Share
Only upload photographs, videos, documents, or other media that you created or have permission to use. Be especially careful when posting images or information about other people. By publishing content through CLWA, you give CLWA permission to use that content as described in the Terms of Service.
No Spam, Scams, or Deceptive Content
Do not post scams, fake listings, phishing, repetitive spam, misleading promotions, fraudulent fundraising, intentionally deceptive information, or unrelated advertising. Legitimate Community marketplace or classified activity is allowed within the appropriate feature.
Marketplace Safety
CLWA marketplace and classified features connect Community members, but CLWA is not a party to transactions between users. Use reasonable caution. Do not send sensitive financial information through Community posts or comments. Report suspicious or fraudulent listings.
No Candidate or Party Campaigning
Because CLWA is a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CLWA Community services may not be used for candidate or political-party campaign activity. Do not use CLWA Community features to endorse or oppose a candidate, promote a political party, solicit campaign contributions, distribute candidate campaign advertisements, or coordinate campaign activity.
Respectful, nonpartisan discussion of public-policy issues affecting Chebacco Lake, the watershed, conservation, local government, environmental regulation, recreation, or other relevant community matters is allowed.
No Illegal or Dangerous Activity
Do not use CLWA to coordinate, promote, encourage, or facilitate unlawful activity. Do not post instructions or material intended to damage CLWA systems, compromise another person's account, circumvent security protections, or obtain unauthorized access to private information.
Automated Moderation Is Used
CLWA uses automated moderation technology supplied by OpenAI to help review Community posts, comments, photos and videos, event submissions, and article comments.
Automated systems may approve content, temporarily hold content, flag content, assign a moderation or risk score, or send content for human review. Automated systems can make mistakes.
A human CLWA moderator makes the final decision to reject or permanently remove submitted content. If you believe something was incorrectly held or moderated, you may contact CLWA through the Contact Us page and ask for review.
Moderation Decisions
Moderators may take reasonable action to protect the Community and enforce these Guidelines and the Terms of Service. Depending on the situation, CLWA may approve content, place content on hold, request clarification, hide or remove content, lock comments, restrict a feature, warn a user, temporarily suspend an account, or permanently restrict an account.
CLWA may consider context, severity, repeated behavior, safety, privacy, and the nature of the violation when making moderation decisions.
Help Keep the Community Useful
Be useful. Be respectful. Be accurate. Protect privacy. Respect the lake and the people around it. If something looks unsafe, abusive, fraudulent, or inappropriate, please report it or contact CLWA.