Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines 

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the needs of your fellow ACVIM members. This is a great platform to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions about your ACVIM membership, training programs, education, certification or other ACVIM sanctioned activities should be directed to our member services department at ACVIM@ACVIM.org.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the member services department. We reserve the right to remove posts or suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

The Rules

• Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
• Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products, programs or services that you another entity provide. Unpaid advertising for products, programs or services is not allowed.
• Members of the Community should use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
• Companies seeking to promote products or services should reach out to Leah@ACVIM.org for how to share information with ACVIM members. The community is reserved for the uses stated in these guidelines, and not for advertising, promotion or other sales activity.
• We understand the value of peer-to-peer sharing of professional opportunities such as locums and internships. However, formal job postings should be placed with the ACVIM Career Center by emailing Membership@ACVIM.org.
• Requests to distribute surveys to members of the community are generally reserved for ACVIM members, although survey requests from other specialty colleges or researchers will be considered. Survey requests should be sent to Research@ACVIM.org.
• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, harassing, misleading, or illegal messages and materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
• Political statements, candidate endorsements, or other political activity is not aligned with the purpose of this community and is therefore prohibited.
• Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
• When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
• Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."
• Images and content generated by AI must be disclosed.

Discussion Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

Reporting Inappropriate Behavior or Content

• Start with direct communication: If you feel comfortable, consider reaching out privately to the member involved to clarify misunderstandings or express concerns respectfully.
• Avoid public escalation: Do not use the discussion board to air grievances, call out individuals, or continue contentious exchanges.
• Report concerns: If a post or interaction violates community guidelines or makes you feel unsafe, please report it to our membership team at Membership@ACVIM.org. Include as much detail as possible (e.g., date, community post name, name of individual, nature of concern).

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine be liable for any 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.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that they own the copyright with respect to such material or have received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members 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. Messages that encourage or facilitate 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.

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine we will take all appropriate action.

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.