Welcome to the American College of Rheumatology list serve network. The ACR would like all members to have a positive experience and therefore have established the following rules and etiquette guidelines.
By signing up and receiving these e-mails, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to follow the rules and etiquette guidelines that have been established. You also acknowledge that you have read and understand the disclaimer and general information printed below.
The ACR is happy to allow physicians an opportunity to discuss questions via an interactive network with ongoing communication across the various regions. Any questions directly related to the ACR should be sent through our contact page.
The ACR may moderate, temporarily suspend or terminate a member’s list serve ability if the member violates the rules. If you have any questions, please contact the list serve manager at .
The Rules
- Do not use any patient identifiable information on the lists.
- Do not discuss monetary amounts of reimbursement for procedures or medications.
- Do not post commercial messages on the lists.
- Please be careful when discussing commercial products. E-mails posted to the lists are available to numerous individuals and are subject to libel and antitrust laws.
- Do not post any abusive, threatening, offensive, defamatory, profane, or illegal materials on the list.
- Do not post any copyrighted materials without the permission of the copyright owner. It will be assumed by the ACR that with any copyrighted material posted on the list that the posting party warrants and represents that he/she owns the copyright or has received permission from the copyright owner. Additionally, by posting such information on the lists, the posting party grants the ACR and other list members the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
- Avoid any activity that could be construed as a violation of the antitrust laws. The ACR’s policy is to scrupulously comply with all antitrust laws and to prohibit any activity that facilitates price fixing, boycotts or any other conduct intended to restrict free trade. Do not post any material that:
- References specific fees charged or paid for professional services
- Discusses prices, discounts, terms or conditions of sale with regard to medical services, suppliers or other vendors or terms and conditions of provider agreements relating to reimbursement levels, bonus payments, and other price or cost-related items
- Addresses salaries or terms of employment
- Attempts to allocate patient markets or encourage collective or coercive activity, including rejection or termination, with regard to third party payors, hospitals, other health care providers, or suppliers
- Includes information that could otherwise be construed to impose a restraint on trade and inhibit free and fair competition
- Do not post jokes, humorous stories, or “pass-around” e-mails.
- Do not post anything to the lists that you would not want everyone to see.
- Send messages only to the most appropriate list. Do not send the same message to several different lists unless it is relevant to the list.
- Do not post irrelevant or off topic information to the list.
- Do not share content of the interchanges on the list serve nor the names and/or e-mail addresses of the participants with third parties (including employers).
List Serve Etiquette
- Be sure your name, affiliation, and location are listed on e-mails that you send.
- Include a specific and concise subject line for each e-mail. This will allow others to quickly delete e-mails that they feel are not relevant.
- When replying, make sure your response is listed at the top of the original e-mail.
- Send a personal message to the individual sender if the e-mail will only relate to the original sender. This includes such messages as “thanks” and “send the information to me too.”
- Allow everyone to express their concerns in a friendly manner. Do not be overly contentious.
- Send all messages relating directly to the functioning of the list to the list administrator. This includes messages such as remove me from the list or the list change my e-mail address.
- Try to keep the length of the e-mail to a minimum or warn recipients in the subject line that the body will be long by including the words, “Long Message.”
- Temporarily unsubscribe from the list if you are planning to use an automated reply, such as “out of office” for the time period the automated reply will be enabled.
Disclaimers
The ACR lists are provided as a benefit to members of the ACR and ARHP. The ACR and ARHP are not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site. The ACR does not guarantee the accuracy or adequacy of any opinion expressed on the lists. Accordingly, the ACR does not assume any liability for damages due to reliance on any information contained in messages on the lists.
The ACR will not actively monitor the site for inappropriate e-mails. If a member believes that an e-mail has been sent that is defamatory, abusive, threatening, profane, offensive, or illegal, the member should contact the ACR list administrator immediately. The ACR will take appropriate action to stop inappropriate e-mails as the ACR is notified. This includes the right to moderate, temporarily suspend, or terminate any user who does not abide by the guidelines and rules listed above.
