Back
I am a ...
MENU

Back to ACVS Connect

ACVS Connect Online Community Rules & Policies

Rules  |  Policies

Thank you for being part of ACVS Connect, the ACVS online community. To ensure the best possible experience for all community users, ACVS has established basic rules for participation. 

What is ACVS Connect? 

ACVS Connect is a community for ACVS Diplomates and surgery residents to engage in discussion and seek and receive feedback and resources from peers in the veterinary surgery profession. ACVS encourages Diplomates and residents to share successes, challenges, provide constructive feedback, bring questions, and provide perspective in all matters related to veterinary surgery. Community users are asked to agree to follow the rules listed below to ensure ACVS Connect remains an open space to discuss issues and topics related to veterinary surgery. 

To preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, ACVS reserves the right to enforce the stated Policy for Online Community Violations on ACVS Connect users who violate these rules. 

The Rules

  • Engage in professional discourse and do not engage in personal attacks. The discussions on the community platform are meant to stimulate collegial, civil conversation between professionals. Differing viewpoints should be respected. Constructive criticism that provides feedback aimed at helping a person improve by providing specific, actionable suggestions in a supportive manner is permissible. Personal attacks are statements that target the character or motives of the person making a statement rather than the substance of the statement itself. Such statements are never permissible. Let others have their say, just as you may; and be courteous to your fellow community users. 
  • Do not post commercial messages, including promotional material, special offers, job offers/posts, product announcements, or solicitation for services. Contact people directly with product and service marketing information if they have requested it. ACVS reserves the right to remove such messages and potentially ban sources of those solicitations.
  • Promotional and advertising options available through ACVS channels can be found here: ACVS Advertising & Partnership Opportunities.
    • To post or seek a job, go to the ACVS Job Board.
    • For more information, contact ACVS at (301) 916-0200 or acvs@acvs.org.
  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on ACVS Connect is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
  • Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. 
  • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited and will be removed. 
  • Send your message only to the most appropriate community groups. Members can be part of multiple community groups. Avoid posting the same message across multiple community groups. Posting your message to one or two groups should reach all the community users you seek to get feedback from. 
  • To clarify or edit a posted message, ACVS recommends the original poster to reply to the existing message.
  • Do not post anything that you wouldn’t want to be publicly visible or that you wouldn’t be comfortable knowing came from you. 
  • Read carefully all items listed in the disclaimer below. 
  • Maintain good etiquette when reproducing content. ACVS and other community users have the right to reproduce posts. Be courteous and ask community users for permission to republish their words elsewhere (especially if elsewhere would be a publicly viewable setting). 
    • When citing ACVS Connect discussions, please include a link back to the original discussion or to the ACVS Connect homepage.  

Disclaimer

The ACVS Connect community groups are provided “as is” as a service of ACVS. All postings shall be of an informational nature and for informational purposes only. ACVS is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on the community by others. ACVS disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on the community, whether posted by ACVS or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ACVS be liable for any direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site. 

By posting material, you warrant and represent that you own the copyright with respect to such material, have received permission from the copyright owner, or that the material is in the public domain. You further warrant and represent that you otherwise have the full and unencumbered right to post such material and that such posting will not infringe any rights or interests of others. By posting material, you grant to ACVS and the users of this community the nonexclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material in any way and in any medium, including but not limited to print or electronic form. 

The community group shall not be utilized in any manner that violates the law, including antitrust laws. Content should not be posted if it encourages or facilitates community users to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Content that encourages or facilitates an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers. ACVS does not actively monitor community groups for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings; however, if any inappropriate posting is brought to ACVS’s attention, ACVS will take all appropriate action, in its sole discretion. At ACVS’s discretion, older messages that may cause confusion or contain outdated information may be archived or removed. 

ACVS reserves the right to block any community users who do not abide by these rules. 

Policy for Online Community Violations

ACVS Connect Community Rules should not be seen as all-inclusive, but rather to give community users a general idea of the guidelines one should follow when taking part in the online community. To preserve an environment that encourages both civil and meaningful dialogue, ACVS reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to remove content and/or suspend or terminate participation in all community groups for community users who violate these rules. 

Taking action against one of our community users, especially in the case of removing an account, is something ACVS strives to avoid. These restrictions are not meant to limit the professional networking and educational benefits of ACVS Connect. 

When unsure whether content is consistent with these policies, please err on the side of caution and do not post the content in ACVS Connect.  

ACVS reserves the right to remove a post if necessary, however posts will only be removed in cases of clear violations of the ACVS Connect Rules (as mentioned). 

If there are any questions on what content is appropriate to post, please contact the community manager. 

The community rules may be revised from time to time by ACVS in its sole discretion. Users are responsible for staying informed of any changes. 

Possible disciplinary actions for community rules violations 

The following disciplinary actions may be taken based on the number, frequency, or severity of the community rules violation(s): 

  • The community user will receive an email, private message, or phone call explaining the violation.  
  • The user’s ACVS Connect community account will be placed in a moderation queue, where messages are reviewed by a community moderator before they are posted, for a period of 30 days. 
  • The user’s ACVS Connect community account will be placed in a moderation queue, where messages are reviewed by a community moderator before they are posted, for a period of 90 days. 
  • The community user will be removed from specific community groups. 
  • The user’s ACVS Connect community account will be suspended for a period of 30 days. The user will not have access to ACVS Connect during this period. 
  • The user’s ACVS Connect community account will be suspended for a period of 90 days. The user will not have access to ACVS Connect during this period. 
  • The community user will receive written notification that access to ACVS Connect may be terminated. 
  • The community user will receive written notification that access to ACVS Connect has been terminated. The user will no longer have access to ACVS Connect. 

Appeal process 

A community user may not appeal ACVS’s decision to place them in moderation. A community user may appeal their removal from ACVS Connect or an ACVS Connect community group by contacting the community manager in writing; final decisions will be reviewed and decided upon by a panel of Diplomate members. 

Appeals must include the following information: 

  • First name 
  • Last name 
  • Email address 
  • Phone number 
  • Full disclosure of any previous ACVS Connect community violations 
  • Why you feel the community removal should be overturned, include any relevant or supporting evidence. 

For any further questions or comments please contact the community manager.