AHA Member Online Community Etiquette Rules and Privacy Guidelines
Thank you for being part of our AHA Member Online Community! To ensure the best possible experience for all Community 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 medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in ongoing conversations. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact ahahelp@aha.org or call 800-424-4301.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, AHA reserves the right to edit or delete posted messages for any reason, including those we consider inappropriate, off-topic, or self-promotional, and may suspend or terminate membership in this community for any reason.
The Rules
Do’s
- Keep discussions professional, relevant to the topic, and focused on best practices and key findings, as opposed to self-promotion. Any information you share or link to should be informational in nature, adding to the body of knowledge.
- 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.
- State your full name, title, and organization in your signature. You may include your e-mail address and website in your signature, but refrain from encouraging offline contact by using phrases such as “call me” or “e-mail me.”
- Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from. Use the “Reply to Sender” link when appropriate, including messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me too.”
- Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate lists or libraries, instead of spamming several lists or libraries with the same message.
- Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the lists and in the libraries is available for AHA Member Online Community users to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
- Note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted, illegal agreements and the prohibition of HIPAA-covered content.
Don’ts
- Refrain from aggressive challenges or attacking others. Discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention.
- Do not post commercial messages. Community members may not solicit or self-promote any individual, company, product, or service.
- Do not post job advertisements.
- Do not link to content or events that require users to provide their contact information.
- Do not conduct surveys unless pre-approved by AHA Member Online Community.
- Do not post content containing information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner.
- No defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal content. 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.
- Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list.” Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list.
Disclaimer
This site is provided as a service for the members of the AHA. AHA 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 AHA, Community members or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall AHA 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.
By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants AHA 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 Community 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; market behavior of a competitor; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; nonpublic plans for expansion of facilities or services; allocation of geographic or service markets; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers, suppliers, specific health plans, or self-funded employers.
The Community is not intended to be a place for the exchange of any information or data that would be regulated by the federal Health Insurance and Portability Act (HIPAA) and its implementing regulations. Do not post any Protected Health Information, as that term is defined in HIPAA, to the Community. AHA shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of Protected Health Information in violation of HIPAA through the Community, including, but not limited to, the transmission of Protected Health Information to an unintended recipient.
AHA 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 AHA, we will take all appropriate action. AHA reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.
Privacy Policy
By visiting AHA websites, you are accepting the practices described in the AHA Privacy Policy: www.aha.org/help/privacy.shtml and Terms of Use: www.aha.org/help/termsofuse.shtml.
These guidelines may change at any time. Be sure to review these guidelines periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version.