Listserv Participation Guidelines
AOTA's online listservs provide opportunities for members to network, exchange ideas, share experiences, and offer solutions to everyday workplace issues via e-mail. While AOTA retains the right to remove any messages from this site that do not meet the purposes stated above, AOTA staff and the SIS Standing Committee members cannot review each message to determine its accuracy or truthfulness, or determine if the content of any message contains any prohibited material referenced in the following guidelines.
Consequently, any reader who is offended by any message, or who finds that any message violates the guidelines should report the message to helpdesk@aota.org.
Listserv participants who disregard these guidelines will be warned privately by e-mail on the first incident and unsubscribed from the list on the second incident.
The following guidelines are intended to help you get the most benefit from the listservs and to protect the good of all parties.
- When asking for assistance with programming or a project (school or work) make your request for assistance as specific as possible and show that you have already done some work (e.g. don't ask "Can someone recommend articles that I should read?" or "How would I start programming in…?" You may ask for people with experience in a particular area to contact you "off list" providing your e-mail and asking them to e-mail you directly. Don't ask others to do basic work for you.
- Keep listserv discussions relevant to their practice domains (e.g., administrative and management issues on the AMSIS listserv). Members are encouraged to participate by asking and answering questions and sharing resources and information. You may post the same question on more than one listserv.
- Note that AOTA, as sponsor and administrator of the listservs, from time to time will alert members of products and services available from AOTA or make requests for assistance when in the best interests of AOTA members.
- Maintain professional standards and common courtesy in e-mail messages, avoiding the use of insults, slander, profanity, or obscenities. Do not divulge confidential information or information that may cause harm to a consumer or client. Review postings before sending, especially on topics which may be controversial as hastily composed, unclear messages can easily be misinterpreted.
- Remember that e-mail, although relatively new, is a permanent form of communication which may also be used as evidence in a legal proceeding.
- Be careful when using "reply" and/or "reply all" and remember if you want to reply to JUST the person who sent the message, you must cut their address from the message and post it in the "to" frame of your e-mail. Please do not use the listserv to send personal messages to other users.
- The listservs may not be used for job advertising or for recruiting occupational therapy practitioners. The listservs also may not be used for the sale of services or products but members may make suggestions in direct response to a posted question such as recommending the use of a specific assessment or naming a company where a product may be found. In addition, they may not be used to compare the prices of occupational therapy professional services as this might be construed as "price setting" and a violation of federal or state laws.
- The listservs may not be used as a primary source to conduct research although members may post notices of research studies and inform members that wish to participate who to contact and how to enroll.
- The listservs may not be used to post surveys. Members who are interested in publicizing a survey or who are soliciting participants may do a posting of 2-3 sentences which announce/summarize the survey, provide a link to the survey and private contact information (e-mail or phone) for reader follow up.
- Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. An exception to this is that it is possible to quote a portion of copyrighted material where it is quoted in connection with a scholarly analysis, research, or comment on the work.
- Do not post messages 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 or that results in illegally restricting free trade.
- Do not facilitate or engage in inappropriate discussions relating to people, entities, products, costs, rumors, and other similar matters. Information posted on the lists is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, antitrust, and a variety of other laws.
- 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, as the discussions are meant to stimulate conversation, not create contention.
Listserv Archives
- Listserv postings are archived indefinitely. Checking the archives can be useful to see responses to frequently asked questions as many topics recur on a regular basis.
- To access archives, go to the AOTA Web site, www.aota.org, Click on "Listservs" and after log in, you will get to the listserv subscription page which lists all the listservs.
- Click on any listserv and you will see previous posts for that group or Special Interest Section listed by topic
- You may also utilize the "search" function on the subscription page to search by topic, author, date, listserv title etc. across all listservs.
List Etiquette
- Restrict discussions to topics best suited to the medium. Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information from which everyone can benefit.
- Clearly state the specific topic of the comments in the subject line to allow members to respond more appropriately and for automatic message archiving
- Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, location, and e-mail address.
- Do not send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to the entire list; these are messages for individuals. To send a message to an individual, forward the message, then type in the e-mail address of the individual to whom you want to respond.