Community Rules

PAA Community Rules and Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

 

We created the Community Guidelines so our members can help us foster and protect an engaging community for our members. Respect other members on Collaborate and always follow the law. Respect the purpose of our community by posting relevant information and do not use the community for commercial purposes. This community is exclusively available to currently active members of PAA. Do not reproduce, copy, or share anything posted on Collaborate outside of Collaborate without the express permission of the original poster.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the member services department. To preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

What is Collaborate?

Collaborate is a secure online community for discussions, libraries of shared resources, blogs, events calendars, our member directory, polls, and much more. Together we can discuss issues, plans, and share ideas to better support your needs as members. Psychologists are in the business of relationships, and we are providing you with a secure setting to stay connected as colleagues in this ever-changing environment. By connecting our members, we are supporting PAA’s Mission to advance the science-based profession of psychology and to promote the well-being and potential of all Albertans.

PAA Collaborate Rules

  1. 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.

 

  1. Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, resources, questions, and goals instead of the 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.

 

  1. Do not use the community for commercial purposes. “Commercial” as used for the purposes of evaluating community messages means communications whose primary purpose is to advance the business or financial interests of any person or entity, or otherwise to promote a financial transaction for the benefit of the author directly or indirectly. Announcements that provide useful professional information to community members but may also have some incidental commercial benefit to the sender (e.g. an author who is a community member posting about a professional book) typically would not be “commercial” for the purposes of this restriction.

 

  1. 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.

 

  1. 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.

 

  1. Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.

 

  1. Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

 

  1. This community is closed to the public. Members should not forward, copy, or provide posts/resources/content from the community to those who are not members without the express consent of the member who originally posted. Members should realize, however, that our communities are not “confidential”, and it is possible any community post could be disseminated to a non-member, the public, and even plaintiffs’ attorneys.

 

  1. Content on this community is not shared outside of this community. No part of the content on this community can be reproduced, used for promotional mailings, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise).

 

  1. The Psychologists’ Association of Alberta, Engagement Executives, administrators, staff, or contributors can not be held liable in any way for any information or data made available or omitted from all information distributed through this community. Please note that posts made by community members are not representative of the opinions of PAA as an organization.           

 

Etiquette and Expression of Personal Opinions on Political and Social Issues

PAA members are asked to fully review any political and social article or statement before posting it in the community to ensure the post’s focus and references address the science or profession of psychology and relate to the mission of PAA. While it is not forbidden to refer to politicians by name, members are cautioned that doing so can cause tensions and lead to divisive dialogue. Members who want to discuss political issues that have a significant connection to psychological issues are encouraged to speak about policy rather than a particular politician.

What is Permitted:

  • Posting information about a political party that is factual
  • Posting information about the amount of money a political party or third party has raised on behalf of a political party that is factual
  • Posting information about which candidates have been supported by third parties that is factual
  • For example, a communication on Collaborate can:
    • Explain the laws and regulations that govern candidates, political parties, and third parties that raise funds on behalf of political parties
    • Post information about the amount of money a candidate has raised, or the amount of money a political party has raised, the number of contributors, and the number of candidates supported
    • Post candidates who have been supported by third parties as along as the message does not suggest that financial contributions would aid a candidate to win or cause a candidate to lose

 

 

What is Not Permitted:

  • Messages requesting others to advocate for issues that are not directly relevant to PAA, or psychology, no matter how worthy the cause
  • Using derogatory or offensive language about a specific candidate or individuals who support a specific candidate
  • Any straightforward request for financial contributions to a candidate or political party
  • Encouraging other members to vote for a specific candidate
  • Post information about a candidate or political party if it:
    • Publicizes the candidate or political party in a way that encourages contributions to the candidate or political party
    • Provides information on how to contribute to the candidate or political party
    • Encourages financial support for the candidate or political party
    • For example, a message on the community that commends individuals who have contributed to a specific candidate is not allowed because it encourages financial support

 

Group Discussion 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.

 

       Role of Moderators

 

The Psychologists’ Association of Alberta Moderators, made up of a select few volunteer members, are charged with monitoring the activity in this community to ensure that our member participants follow the PAA-implemented community rules and guidelines.

  • Community members can expect that corrective feedback will be provided by the Moderators in a constructive, respectful manner to maintain a comfortable, safe, and professional environment for all PAA members.
  • Moderators and the member services department reserve the right to remove posts/comments, suspend a user’s access to the community, or remove a user altogether if community rules are violated.
  • Members may be provided with the option to edit their post/comment instead of removing it if only part of their post/comment violates the community rules and 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 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 member services department via the Contact Us link on this site.

Legal Disclaimer

This site is provided as a service for the members of Psychologists' Association of Alberta.  The Psychologists' Association of Alberta is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties about information posted on this site, whether posted by Psychologists' Association of Alberta or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall Psychologists' Association of Alberta 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. Posts and comments created by the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta staff and members cannot be construed as professional or legal advice.

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 Psychologists' Association of Alberta 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.

Psychologists' Association of Alberta does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, if any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of Psychologists' Association of Alberta we will take all appropriate action.

Psychologists' Association of Alberta reserves the right to suspend or terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us including and like 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

A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc.). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news feeds.

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.

 

Psychologists’ Association of Alberta

Suite 101, 1259 91 St SW Edmonton

780-424-0294

paa@paa-ab.ca

Toll- free: 1-888-424-0297