[CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
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Brett Brett
Oct 20, 2025, 1:14:05 AMOct 20
to HeatSync Labs
It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official policy on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers, but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the community. Some ideas so far include:
- Only the board should have access to our social media
- Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
- We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply repost, or use automated systems to post
- We should form an Events/Communication/Social Media committee and only they should have access to our social media
- How, then, are members of this committee picked? By the board? By the membership? Self-appointed?
... probably more? Let's use this thread to discuss ideas and determine which ideas we like and don't like as a community. Then we can take the best ideas and follow the traditional proposal process at HYH like we would for any other part of lab business.
Brett
David Lang
Oct 20, 2025, 1:34:31 AMOct 20
to HeatSync Labs
for liability reasons, I think posting AS HSL needs to be limited to things
approved by the people who would be liable for the contents of the posts (i.e.
the board, as we are the only people legally on the hook)
But we should have a way for many people to post on the HSL social media
channels with their own bylines.
We also need to have ways for people to post across many different platforms.
There are some things (schedule reminders, announcements, etc) that should be
posted AS HSL and can be automated.
We can have some other things (what happened last week with pictures) that can
be posted AS HSL with curation
We need to make any approval process for posting AS HSL be simple and fast (not
neccessarily limited to the board, but limited to people appointed by the board
as the board is the ones with the personal liability)
but if we can find ways for people to post on the HSL channels in ways that make
it clear that they are not officially speaking for HSL, that can be done with
little or no approval (but we will need a policy about what does and doesn't get
posted, and how to deal with people who violate the policy)
I come from a security/audit background, I am pretty close to non-existant on
social media, so I may be overly paranoid about the liability aspect, This is my
opionin, not the opinion of anyone else.so if you disagree, speak up, tell me
how I am misunderstanding the situation, or anything else.
David Lang
On Sun, 19 Oct 2025, Brett Brett wrote:
> Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2025 14:15:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Brett Brett <brett...@heatsynclabs.org>
> Reply-To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> To: HeatSync Labs <heatsy...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [HSL] [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
approved by the people who would be liable for the contents of the posts (i.e.
the board, as we are the only people legally on the hook)
But we should have a way for many people to post on the HSL social media
channels with their own bylines.
We also need to have ways for people to post across many different platforms.
There are some things (schedule reminders, announcements, etc) that should be
posted AS HSL and can be automated.
We can have some other things (what happened last week with pictures) that can
be posted AS HSL with curation
We need to make any approval process for posting AS HSL be simple and fast (not
neccessarily limited to the board, but limited to people appointed by the board
as the board is the ones with the personal liability)
but if we can find ways for people to post on the HSL channels in ways that make
it clear that they are not officially speaking for HSL, that can be done with
little or no approval (but we will need a policy about what does and doesn't get
posted, and how to deal with people who violate the policy)
I come from a security/audit background, I am pretty close to non-existant on
social media, so I may be overly paranoid about the liability aspect, This is my
opionin, not the opinion of anyone else.so if you disagree, speak up, tell me
how I am misunderstanding the situation, or anything else.
David Lang
On Sun, 19 Oct 2025, Brett Brett wrote:
> Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2025 14:15:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Brett Brett <brett...@heatsynclabs.org>
> Reply-To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> To: HeatSync Labs <heatsy...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [HSL] [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
>
> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official policy
> on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
> community. Some ideas so far include:
>
> - Only the board should have access to our social media
> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official policy
> on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
> community. Some ideas so far include:
>
> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
> repost, or use automated systems to post
> - We should form an Events/Communication/Social Media committee and only
> they should have access to our social media
> - How, then, are members of this committee picked? By the board? By
Jay McGavren
Oct 20, 2025, 4:42:34 AMOct 20
to HeatSync Labs
Our social media presence has the *potential* to be an important means of attracting and retaining new members. But for that to happen, our accounts need to be significantly more active than they have been, ideally multiple posts appearing per week.
Making it so that only the board can cause new content to appear on the accounts would introduce such a serious bottleneck that we might as well not have the accounts.
Instead, perhaps we should look into tools like https://buffer.com/ . Users of the Buffer account post into the "buffer", and then it automatically goes out to the social media accounts on a specified schedule. Access to the Buffer account allows posting to the social media account without having full administrative privileges on the social media account.
Also, this allows review (and potentially removal) of posts prior to their being made public.
So the default is a steady stream of new content, but it also allows the board (or their authorized representatives) to step in and moderate as necessity demands and their time allows.
Buffer has a limited but useful free tier, by the way.
-Jay
Luis Montes
Oct 20, 2025, 10:22:54 AMOct 20
to heatsy...@googlegroups.com
I find it extremely odd to trust someone with keys to the actual building, but not the ability to make social media posts.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have any rules around this, but the worst case scenario would be to give a member unilateral control over which other members they deem worthy of having access.
I think if a card holding member wants to contribute to social media posts, great. Give them access. If they act irresponsibly with it, have a process to pull it, but be prepared to defend that decision to the group. Someone that is a major liability risk to HSL shouldn't have keys to the building either.
--
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David Lang
Oct 20, 2025, 10:34:04 AMOct 20
to heatsy...@googlegroups.com
there is a diffeence between a member posting on social media under their byline
and posting on social media as a statement from HSL (even on the same feed)
I am much more concerned about anything that goes out signed by HSL than the
same content going on the smae channel with a member's name on it.
David Lang
On Mon, 20 Oct 2025, Luis Montes wrote:
> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:22:37 -0700
> From: Luis Montes <mont...@gmail.com>
> Reply-To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [HSL] [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
>> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
>> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
>> .
>>
>
>
and posting on social media as a statement from HSL (even on the same feed)
I am much more concerned about anything that goes out signed by HSL than the
same content going on the smae channel with a member's name on it.
David Lang
On Mon, 20 Oct 2025, Luis Montes wrote:
> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:22:37 -0700
> From: Luis Montes <mont...@gmail.com>
> Reply-To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [HSL] [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
>
> I find it extremely odd to trust someone with keys to the actual building,
> but not the ability to make social media posts.
>
> I'm not saying we shouldn't have any rules around this, but the worst case
> scenario would be to give a member unilateral control over which other
> members they deem worthy of having access.
>
> I think if a card holding member wants to contribute to social media posts,
> great. Give them access. If they act irresponsibly with it, have a
> process to pull it, but be prepared to defend that decision to the group.
> Someone that is a major liability risk to HSL shouldn't have keys to the
> building either.
>
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM Brett Brett <brett...@heatsynclabs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official
>> policy on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
>> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
>> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
>> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
>> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
>> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
>> community. Some ideas so far include:
>>
>> - Only the board should have access to our social media
> I find it extremely odd to trust someone with keys to the actual building,
> but not the ability to make social media posts.
>
> I'm not saying we shouldn't have any rules around this, but the worst case
> scenario would be to give a member unilateral control over which other
> members they deem worthy of having access.
>
> I think if a card holding member wants to contribute to social media posts,
> great. Give them access. If they act irresponsibly with it, have a
> process to pull it, but be prepared to defend that decision to the group.
> Someone that is a major liability risk to HSL shouldn't have keys to the
> building either.
>
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM Brett Brett <brett...@heatsynclabs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official
>> policy on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
>> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
>> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
>> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
>> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
>> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
>> community. Some ideas so far include:
>>
>> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
>> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
>> repost, or use automated systems to post
>> - We should form an Events/Communication/Social Media committee and
>> only they should have access to our social media
>> - How, then, are members of this committee picked? By the board? By
>> the membership? Self-appointed?
>>
>> ... probably more? Let's use this thread to discuss ideas and determine
>> which ideas we like and don't like as a community. Then we can take the
>> best ideas and follow the traditional proposal process at HYH like we would
>> for any other part of lab business.
>>
>> Brett
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "HeatSync Labs" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to heatsynclabs...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/5222d612-feb0-40bb-a15a-d8c55782b4edn%40googlegroups.com
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/5222d612-feb0-40bb-a15a-d8c55782b4edn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>
>> ... probably more? Let's use this thread to discuss ideas and determine
>> which ideas we like and don't like as a community. Then we can take the
>> best ideas and follow the traditional proposal process at HYH like we would
>> for any other part of lab business.
>>
>> Brett
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "HeatSync Labs" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to heatsynclabs...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/5222d612-feb0-40bb-a15a-d8c55782b4edn%40googlegroups.com
>> .
>>
>
>
Luis Montes
Oct 20, 2025, 10:50:44 AMOct 20
to heatsy...@googlegroups.com
I don't intend to sound dismissive, but I would share your concern more if we actually had a history of anyone abusing this. Up until now there has been nothing formal in place as to the requirements of who can speak on behalf of the group outside of non-profit filings and bank accounts. I'd say being given 24/7 access to the place should be a good indicator of who the community trusts.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/rs0qo2r8-ssn6-5717-4o1o-5150o103os6r%40ynat.uz.
Corey Renner
Oct 20, 2025, 11:02:54 AMOct 20
to heatsy...@googlegroups.com
The ability to decide on a policy and establish control is likely far more limited than people might assume. As one of the many people at HSL who has had a news reporter stick a camera in my face to ask about whatever current event is going on, or what HSL is all about, those interactions are far-reaching, spontaneous & unscripted.
cheers,
c
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/CA%2B%3DVRdA6fUpmVoZ7F-%3DMnss4fOnTHrqyaR_7%3DZo-u5ppf0x8Jw%40mail.gmail.com.
Robert Bushman
Oct 20, 2025, 11:52:42 AMOct 20
to heatsy...@googlegroups.com, David Lang
If some rogue member posts, "HeatSync Labs officially hates people with
more than 7 eyes!" that doesn't mean the board is liable for hate
speech. It means HSL has to have a process to take it down and make a
reasonable effort to prevent it from happening again.
That could be as simple as a public warning not to post anti-octavisual
sentiments for a one-time thing; and triggering a social media access
procedure review if it becomes a recurring problem.
Duty of Care is the liability part. The board has to show reasonable
care in addressing problems. Just as they have to show reasonable care
in preventing damage to lasers, which they do by maintaining the bylaws
for becoming a card-member and handling complaints.
As for bylines, I agree with David. The only things that say "HSL"
should be things like meeting minutes and votes, which are official
statements of the people who are in charge of HSL: the members.
Station champions, the treasurer, and random cardmembers should all be
posting as themselves. I'm having a hard time coming up with an example
of a public Official HSL Statement that wouldn't rise from an HYH.
There are things the board handles like paying bills and member
conflicts that don't come with public statements.
There are official things done by station champion board members, but
those would be posted with the champion's byline.
Given all the above; I'm not sure I see the case that is of concern.
more than 7 eyes!" that doesn't mean the board is liable for hate
speech. It means HSL has to have a process to take it down and make a
reasonable effort to prevent it from happening again.
That could be as simple as a public warning not to post anti-octavisual
sentiments for a one-time thing; and triggering a social media access
procedure review if it becomes a recurring problem.
Duty of Care is the liability part. The board has to show reasonable
care in addressing problems. Just as they have to show reasonable care
in preventing damage to lasers, which they do by maintaining the bylaws
for becoming a card-member and handling complaints.
As for bylines, I agree with David. The only things that say "HSL"
should be things like meeting minutes and votes, which are official
statements of the people who are in charge of HSL: the members.
Station champions, the treasurer, and random cardmembers should all be
posting as themselves. I'm having a hard time coming up with an example
of a public Official HSL Statement that wouldn't rise from an HYH.
There are things the board handles like paying bills and member
conflicts that don't come with public statements.
There are official things done by station champion board members, but
those would be posted with the champion's byline.
Given all the above; I'm not sure I see the case that is of concern.
David S Flores
Oct 23, 2025, 8:33:41 PM (11 days ago) Oct 23
to HeatSync Labs
Social Media
For more than 5 years we have been working on standardizing and streamlining HeatSync Labs' social media presence. We try to post regularly, if we are able to get content, we also try to provide some pertinent information on photos and posts.
We try to stay away from material that some might find offensive, political views and religious views since we have a very diverse following.
When people ask questions, we try to be polite in answering.
Some members and partner organizations frequently tag us on posts or share them with us and we are able to repost/share on our feeds.
To be accessible to everyone, have set up the email pho...@HeatSyncLabs.org so that anyone can send photos with a short description. Photos usually get added to HetSync Labs photo albums and get shared on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and X. We have had about 200 submissions of photos.
This is our current follower count::
3161 -Facebook Page1000+ -Facebook Group1185 -Instagram2420 -X85 -Bluesky
Events and Classes
We have also been working on making it easy for anyone to set up events and classes.
There is an Events Form which is easy to fill out to get the process started. Anything that is unclear gets cleared up through an email exchange and hopefully a few photos are included to enhance the appeal of the event or class. Some events and classes also get posted on Facebook and Instagram. And they also get a mention on Bluesky and X.
Calendar entries now have a more consistent look and feel. Many get to be posted on our large screens in the front windows.
Link: https://forms.gle/74kL9RutY2e3WDtZA
Since this process was started, we have had more than 400 events/classes scheduled.
***************************************************
Over the years both of these processes have been discussed numerous times at HYH and with different boards. It did not happen overnight, and many members have been involved in one part or another.
Unfortunately, all this never got properly documented. Meeting notes were not taken or saved.
The only thing to make it to the Wiki was the Event Request Form!
Everything has just been happening in the background without anyone really knowing.
-David
David Lang
Oct 23, 2025, 8:40:53 PM (11 days ago) Oct 23
to HeatSync Labs
Sounds like the first step is to writeup a document about what-is with notes
about what the people who are doing it want to change.
Then it can be discussed (to find out what others want to change) and made
formal
sound reasonable?
David Lang
On Thu, 23 Oct 2025, David S Flores wrote:
> Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:33:40 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David S Flores <david.ser...@gmail.com>
> Subject: [HSL] Re: [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
>
> *Social Media*
> Link: https://forms.gle/74kL9RutY2e3WDtZA
>> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
>> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
about what the people who are doing it want to change.
Then it can be discussed (to find out what others want to change) and made
formal
sound reasonable?
David Lang
On Thu, 23 Oct 2025, David S Flores wrote:
> Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:33:40 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David S Flores <david.ser...@gmail.com>
> Subject: [HSL] Re: [CFP] Social Media/Comms Policy
>
> *Social Media*
> For more than 5 years we have been working on standardizing and
> streamlining HeatSync Labs' social media presence.
> We try to post regularly, if we are able to get content, we also try to
> provide some pertinent information on photos and posts.
> We try to stay away from material that some might find offensive, political
> views and religious views since we have a very diverse following.
> When people ask questions, we try to be polite in answering.
> Some members and partner organizations frequently tag us on posts or share
> them with us and we are able to repost/share on our feeds.
>
> To be accessible to everyone, have set up the email pho...@HeatSyncLabs.org
> so that anyone can send photos with a short description. Photos usually get
> added to HetSync Labs photo albums and get shared on Facebook, Instagram,
> Bluesky, and X. We have had about 200 submissions of photos.
>
> *This is our current follower count::*
> streamlining HeatSync Labs' social media presence.
> We try to post regularly, if we are able to get content, we also try to
> provide some pertinent information on photos and posts.
> We try to stay away from material that some might find offensive, political
> views and religious views since we have a very diverse following.
> When people ask questions, we try to be polite in answering.
> Some members and partner organizations frequently tag us on posts or share
> them with us and we are able to repost/share on our feeds.
>
> To be accessible to everyone, have set up the email pho...@HeatSyncLabs.org
> so that anyone can send photos with a short description. Photos usually get
> added to HetSync Labs photo albums and get shared on Facebook, Instagram,
> Bluesky, and X. We have had about 200 submissions of photos.
>
>
> 3161 -Facebook Page
> 1000+ -Facebook Group
> 1185 -Instagram
> 2420 -X
> 85 -Bluesky
>
>
> *Events and Classes*
> 3161 -Facebook Page
> 1000+ -Facebook Group
> 1185 -Instagram
> 2420 -X
> 85 -Bluesky
>
>
> We have also been working on making it easy for anyone to set up events and
> classes.
> There is an Events Form which is easy to fill out to get the process
> started. Anything that is unclear gets cleared up through an email exchange
> and hopefully a few photos are included to enhance the appeal of the event
> or class. Some events and classes also get posted on Facebook and
> Instagram. And they also get a mention on Bluesky and X.
> Calendar entries now have a more consistent look and feel. Many get to be
> posted on our large screens in the front windows.
>
> Event Request Form <https://forms.gle/74kL9RutY2e3WDtZA>
> classes.
> There is an Events Form which is easy to fill out to get the process
> started. Anything that is unclear gets cleared up through an email exchange
> and hopefully a few photos are included to enhance the appeal of the event
> or class. Some events and classes also get posted on Facebook and
> Instagram. And they also get a mention on Bluesky and X.
> Calendar entries now have a more consistent look and feel. Many get to be
> posted on our large screens in the front windows.
>
> Link: https://forms.gle/74kL9RutY2e3WDtZA
> <https://forms.gle/74kL9RutY2e3WDtZA>
>
> Since this process was started, we have had more than 400 events/classes
> scheduled.
>
> ***************************************************
>
> Over the years both of these processes have been discussed numerous times
> at HYH and with different boards. It did not happen overnight, and
> many members have been involved in one part or another.
>
> Unfortunately, all this never got properly documented. Meeting notes were
> not taken or saved.
> The only thing to make it to the Wiki was the Event Request Form!
>
> Everything has just been happening in the background without anyone really
> knowing.
>
> -David
>
> On Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 10:14:05 PM UTC-7 brett...@heatsynclabs.org
> wrote:
>
>> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official
>> policy on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
>> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
>> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
>> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
>> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
>> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
>> community. Some ideas so far include:
>>
>> - Only the board should have access to our social media
>
> Since this process was started, we have had more than 400 events/classes
> scheduled.
>
> ***************************************************
>
> Over the years both of these processes have been discussed numerous times
> at HYH and with different boards. It did not happen overnight, and
> many members have been involved in one part or another.
>
> Unfortunately, all this never got properly documented. Meeting notes were
> not taken or saved.
> The only thing to make it to the Wiki was the Event Request Form!
>
> Everything has just been happening in the background without anyone really
> knowing.
>
> -David
>
> On Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 10:14:05 PM UTC-7 brett...@heatsynclabs.org
> wrote:
>
>> It has come to the board's attention that we are lacking an official
>> policy on the use of our social media accounts. As a board, we're legally
>> responsible for protecting the lab's assets, including our social media
>> accounts. We want to delegate access without creating unnecessary barriers,
>> but we're not sure what that should look like in practice—and we don't want
>> to shoulder all the work ourselves! Since this affects everyone, we don't
>> think it's right to decide by ourselves. So, we'd like to hear from the
>> community. Some ideas so far include:
>>
>> - Every card member should have admin access to all of our social media
>> - We should encourage members to tag HSL in social media and simply
>> repost, or use automated systems to post
>> - We should form an Events/Communication/Social Media committee and
>> only they should have access to our social media
>> - How, then, are members of this committee picked? By the board? By
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