Shared Interest Groups (SIGs)
Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines
Thank you for being part of our community. SIGs are an online community for members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) to discuss key clinical and practice management issues in pediatric dentistry. SIGs are organized into various topic areas, which can be updated at any time by the Board of Trustees. Any AAPD member may participate in as many SIGS as desired.
SIGS are intended to promote conversations and meaningful dialogue among AAPD members that shape the scope of pediatric dentistry practice. Further, SIG chairs can bring important issues to attention of AAPD Board of Trustees, Council on Clinical Affairs, Council on Scientific Affairs, and Evidence-based Dentistry Committee.
SIG postings may cover issues such as: clinical cases of interest (without breaching privacy laws), personal experiences in clinical practice, research on effective clinical care, and innovative clinical or practice management products and services.
To ensure the best possible experience for all AAPD 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 an ongoing conversation. Questions should be directed to our Membership Services department via the Contact Us link on this site.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the Membership Services department. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to remove comments and if necessary suspend or terminate membership in the SIG community for anyone who violate these rules, etiquette or guidelines. The AAPD reserves the right to modify these rules, etiquette, and guidelines at any time.
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 or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.
- Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the SIG group community is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. Do not attempt to induce AAPD members to purchase goods or services, commercial or otherwise.
- All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal 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.
- 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 SIG communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."
- Do not ask members to support a proprietary or charitable cause not affiliated with the AAPD, its foundation, or its chapters.
- Do not announce or advertise employment openings/positions.
- Do not promote organizations external to the AAPD, its foundation, and its chapters, including continuing education providers.
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.
The Legal Stuff
This site is provided as a service for the members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). The AAPD 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 AAPD or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the AAPD 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 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 the AAPD 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.
While the AAPD does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings, each SIG chair will moderate discussions as needed and each SIG staff liaison will periodically review postings. In the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the AAPD, we will take all appropriate action.
The AAPD reserves the right to terminate SIG access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.
When posting comments on a clinical or practice management situation, do not provide any protected health information, which is defined under HIPAA law as:
“all individually identifiable health information, including demographic data, medical histories, test results, insurance information, and other information used to identify a patient or provide healthcare services or healthcare coverage.”
Comments posted on LTC may be discoverable in litigation. If you are involved in any legal action, such as but not limited to a state dental licensing board investigation or a medical/dental malpractice lawsuit, do not post information related to your case on LTC. Consult your own attorney and notify your professional liability insurance carrier. The AAPD does not provide legal advice to or representation of pediatric dentists.
Privacy Policy
Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.
With Whom Do We Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Site:
Our Service Providers
We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.
Business Transfers
Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.
Government and Legal Disclosures
We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.
External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.
Cookies
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Remember The Risks Whenever You Use the Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.