Peace Psychology Listserv Guidelines

Rule 1: Do not use this discussion list for illegal purposes, including but not limited to defamation, violation of intellectual property laws, or violation of criminal laws.

Rule 2: Do not intentionally interfere with or disrupt other list participants, network services, or network equipment. This includes distribution of unsolicited advertisements, chain letters, and intentional propagation of computer viruses.

Rule 3: "Spamming" is a network term invented to describe the act of cross-posting the same message to as many newsgroups and/or mailing lists as possible, whether or not the message is germane to the stated topic of the newsgroups or mailing lists that are being targeted. Spamming by list members is unacceptable. Perhaps the best policy an individual subscriber can adopt toward spammers is simply to ignore them and allow list owners and moderators to take care of the problem.

Rule 4: Do not use the list for commercial purposes. "Commercial" as used for purposes of evaluating posted 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. Examples of prohibited communications include advertisements for products or direct solicitations of list members to purchase products or services. Examples of messages that may be of benefit to list members include job listings or position openings, the discussion of professionally-related products or services where the list member posting the information is not in the business of selling the products or services, and announcements that provide useful professional information to list members but may also have some incidental commercial benefit to the sender (e.g., announcements of conferences or workshops or an author who is a list member merely advising the List of publication of a professional book typically would not be "commercial" for purposes of this restriction).

Rule 5: Intentional insults and personal criticism directed at an individual (often referred to as "flaming") will not be tolerated. Rebuttals to another person's opinions or beliefs should always be made in a rational, logical and mature manner, whether they are made publicly or privately. What is a flame can range from the obvious (ranting and raving, abusive comments, etc.) to the not-so-obvious (e.g., comments about how many "newbies" seem to be on the list these days). Subscribers should refrain from abusive or derogatory language.

Rule 6: Because the Internet is international, it is important for list members to recognize and accept cultural and linguistic differences. Not all list members may understand and use English well. For example, the use of slang and idioms may be misunderstood.

Rule 7: All messages must have a subject line that is descriptive of the content. Please maintain the same subject line used by the original poster in your replies unless the reply is intended to significantly change the direction of a discussion.

Rule 8: All messages should be signed with your name and email address in order to allow fellow list members to contact you privately.

Rule 9: If you wish to reply to a message that has been posted to the list, please be aware of where your reply is going before sending it. You may check this by looking at the address in the TO: line of your reply. The default "reply to" option for messages is to go back to the list itself. If you wish to make a personal or private reply to a message, be sure it is his or her address in the TO: line before sending it. Avoid sending a personal reply to the entire list!

Rule 10: List members should avoid sending attachments with a message. Because of the variability in email program capabilities, many subscribers are unable to access an attachment and feel left out. Whenever possible, include the content within a message.

Rule 11: List members should just include relevant quotes and avoid including the entire content previous messages when responding to a message. According to Nathalie F. P. Gilfoyle, General Counsel, American Psychological Association, "Copyright -- Not infrequently a list member wants to tell others about an article or news item related to the issues discussed on the List. It may surprise you to learn that sending the entire article to the list, without the permission of the author or publisher, makes you guilty of copyright violation. It's okay to provide a brief quote from the copyrighted material or to provide a link to the story if it is published electronically but refrain from posting the whole item to the List. "

Rule 12: Anti-Trust Concerns. According to Nathalie F. P. Gilfoyle, General Counsel, American Psychological Association, "The antitrust laws are broad and complex but on a very basic level they operate to prohibit and even in some cases criminalize certain anticompetitive agreements between competitors. A professional association like APA is almost by definition a group of competitors that has come together to pursue common interests. Where those common interests involve agreements on such terms of competition as rates charged, salaries paid, standards applicable to members of the profession, and other issues of the marketplace, the antitrust laws apply. Listservs provide a written record of statements that can create an antitrust risk even when there is no anti-competitive intent. Thus for the protection of everyone discussions about rates charged in a given area, efforts to exert collective pressure on payors, terms of contracts with insurance companies, internship salaries, etc, all are prohibited. "

Rule 13: Rule related to tax exemption: According to Nathalie F. P. Gilfoyle, General Counsel, American Psychological Association, "While using the list to endorse political candidates in a federal, state, or local election or for commercial purposes likely won't expose a member to personal legal risk, it can jeopardize APA's tax exempt status under section 501 (c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code. To keep this advantageous tax status, APA cannot ever be involved in electioneering or endorse a candidate for federal, state, or local political office. APA must assure that its activities are focused on the scientific, educative, and charitable purposes for which it gained tax exempt status. "

Rule 14: Any solicitation for participants in a research study must include all information related to Institutional Review Board (IRB) Status, IRB contact information, and relevant information related to informed consent.

Violation of these guidelines will result in removal from the Society's listservs. Depending on the seriousness of the violation, a warning may or may not be given prior to removal.

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