Code of Conduct

VHMA Community and Directory Rules and Etiquette

MEMBER COMMUNITY

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, 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.

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

The Rules

  • Don't challenge or attack others. Discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may. 
  • Don't post commercial messages in any discussion thread, community, resource library entry, or other area where others might see it. Messages should not contain promotional material, special offers, job offers, product announcements, or solicitation for services or participation. VHMA reserves the right to determine what is appropriate and remove such messages, and potentially ban sources of those solicitations. Please review the MemberConnect Guidelines for Consultant Members.
  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted in the communities and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.  Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. 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. 
  • Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner.  Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted.  See the Legal Stuff below.
  • Do not post any information regarding fees, rates, prices or similar information. No comments may encourage or facilitate 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 about the following subjects are inappropriate and should not be posted: fees, 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.
  • Remember that other participants may reproduce postings from this site (see Legal Stuff below), and that content is not confidential. 
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities or libraries. Do not spam several communities or libraries with the same message.
  • Do not post job openings or candidates within the community space. The appropriate place to do this is on the Career Center.
  • All messages must add to the body of knowledge. We reserve the right to reject any message for any reason.

Discussion Group Etiquette

  • Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation (company), and location.
  • 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. 
  • Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from. 
  • If you concur with a previous post you do not need to reiterate the same message, simply click the recommend button to acknowledge your support of the response.
  • 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. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings. 

Anonymous Posting

VHMA's MemberConnect community is the go to resource for managers to connect with fellow management professionals where they can solicit answers and advice on topics they face daily in practice. As such we recognize that there may be circumstances where managers would love to get an opinion from their colleagues, but disclosing sensitive information associated with their name and/or practice may be detrimental. It is for this reason that the VHMA is pleased to provide an anonymous posting feature that will allow members to ask confidential questions without personal or professional risk.

Anonymous posting is available for our Open Forum discussions only. Anonymous posting is a fully moderated feature available for new posts and replies. All anonymous posts will be submitted to staff for review prior to being posted to the community to prevent misuse or abuse. User information will be logged for administrative auditing purposes only. Anonymous posting does not absolve the poster from legal risk. All posts are subject to libel, slander and antitrust laws.

Posts must adhere to the VHMA Code of Conduct.

DO NOT use the anonymous feature to promote products or services.

DO NOT use the anonymous feature to share fees, prices or similar information.

DO NOT use the anonymous feature to complain or make statements against other members.

Some examples of when anonymous posting may be utilized include:

  • When you have questions about dealing with staff behavior and you wish to protect the confidentiality of your staff.
  • When you have a specific regulatory question and need guidance but wish to keep your practice confidential.
  • When you have concerns about patient care offered in your practice but wish to keep your practice confidential.
  • When you have owner/manager issues that do not need to be made public.

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA). VHMA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by members. Opinions are those of the individual and do not represent the VHMA. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by VHMA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall VHMA 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 VHMA and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

VHMA may monitor the site for inappropriate postings and may remove any posts it deems inappropriate.

VHMA also reserves the right to limit, suspend, or terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines at the sole discretion of VHMA.

MEMBER DIRECTORY

To use the VHMA online membership directory, you must be a VHMA member in good standing, and you must agree to abide by and be bound by the Membership Directory Terms of Use and any subsequent modifications. If you decline to accept this agreement, you will not be granted permission to access the directory.

Membership Directory Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

  • Do utilize the directory for professional networking purposes.
  • Do contact a member for insight, ideas, and general feedback on how to handle a particular issue.
  • Do contact members to discuss news and topics relevant to the field.
  • Do share content with members that is solely informative or educational.


Don’ts

  • Don’t make unsolicited contact with other members to describe or promote your business or services, or to make a sale.
  • Don’t use the directory to promote your clients.
  • Don’t use the directory contents to generate bulk communications, direct mail, or e-blast lists.
  • Don’t share the directory with third parties.

Terms of Use
We encourage your use of the VHMA’s online membership directory for professional networking purposes with your peers for guidance and insight on best practices and experiences in practice. However, you are not permitted to use the VHMA name, or the name of a VHMA meeting, program, product, or service, in your communications with members in a way that implies the VHMA participates in, or approves of, the communication, or that implies VHMA endorsement or sponsorship of the content of your communications, without prior VHMA approval in writing.

The directory may not be used to sell or market a business, product, or service; to solicit contributions, sponsorships, or business opportunities; or for any unlawful use. The contents of the directory may not be used to generate mailing lists, e-mail lists, phone lists, or other lists for any commercial purposes. You agree not to solicit the members included on this list unless your solicitation is a direct result of having obtained the members’ contact information from another source in the ordinary course of your business. You agree not to release or sell the directory or its contents to any third parties.

The VHMA reserves the right to change the contents, format, or access of this directory or to discontinue it at any time, as well as the right to deny access to the directory to any person or organization the VHMA has reasonable grounds to believe may be using the directory for an unlawful or unauthorized purpose. Check back periodically for any modifications to the Terms of Use. Should you later object to the Terms of Use or subsequent modifications, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue your use of the directory. Your continued use of the directory after any change constitutes acceptance of the change.

The contents of the directory are owned by and are the exclusive property of the VHMA. Unauthorized use of the directory is prohibited and can subject you to damages plus attorney's fees. You acquire only a right to use the directory as authorized herein, and not any right of ownership in the directory.