Networks Code of Conduct

ESA Networks Participation Guidelines

Thank you for being part of the ESA Networks, where you can share your thoughts on all-things entomological, and gain insights from others who share your passion. To ensure the best possible experience for all users, we have established some basic guidelines for participation. By joining and using this online community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. Questions should be directed to our Member Services department at esa@entsoc.org or through the Contact Us link. 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 attack others. The discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
  • Don't post job announcements or commercial messages on any discussion list, resource library entry, or other area where others might see it. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them. If ESA receives complaints about commercial spam coming from a Networks member, we reserve the right to remove that individual from the community. 
  • Don't post private or confidential information about another individual without obtain his or her permission to do so.
  • Don't use another individual's login or password to access the ESA Networks or any group therein.
  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the lists and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. 
  • 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. 
  • Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted. 
  • Remember that other users have the right to reproduce postings to this site unless you specify otherwise.

GROUP ETIQUETTE

  • Be courteous. Please ask users for permission to republish their words elsewhere (especially if elsewhere would be a publicly viewable setting).
  • When citing another discussion, please include a link back to the original discussion or to the group homepage.
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate lists or libraries. Do not spam several lists or libraries with the same message.
  • All messages must add to the body of knowledge. We reserve the right to reject any message for any reason.
  • Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name and affiliation.
  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows users to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier to search the archives by subject.
  • Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting.
  • Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from. 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" in every message.
  • Do not send administrative messages such as "remove me from the list" to the entire list. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you need assistance from staff, contact esa@entsoc.org.  
  • If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the Networks and rejoin under your new email address. Simply update your email address in your ESA Networks user profile. (Click "My Page" in the main navigation menu.)
  • Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says "Long Message."

HARASSMENT AND SAFETY

ESA is dedicated to providing a safe, hospitable, and productive environment for everyone participating in our Networks and online communities, regardless of race, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender, or sexual orientation. It is important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is neither healthy nor productive. Accordingly, ESA prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct within our Networks and online communities. This policy applies to all users, including ESA members, nonmembers, and staff. Users violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the Networks or online communities, at the discretion of ESA leadership.

Harassment of users will not be tolerated in any form. Harassment includes comments related to race, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, gender, or sexual orientation in public channels or private Network or community messages, deliberate intimidation, and unwelcome attention. Users asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, ESA leadership may take any action they deem appropriate, ranging from a simple warning to the offender to expulsion from the Networks and online communities. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to contact ESA staff, who can work with appropriate ESA leadership to resolve the situation.

We value your participation in our Networks and online communities and want to make your experience as productive and professionally stimulating as possible. If you need to file a complaint, please contact Rosina Romano, ESA director of meetings and membership, at rromano@entsoc.org or 1-301-731-4535 ext. 3010.

[For ESA's extended code of conduct, see https://www.entsoc.org/conduct.]

ESA PRIVACY POLICY

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) maintains a database of all current Society members. Additionally, the same database might contain past members, prospective members, and non-member customers, including advertisers, vendors, subscribers, exhibitors, and others with whom ESA has or has had a business relationship. The database includes such data as contact information (i.e., name, postal address, email address, phone, fax), Section, Branch, records of all payments (e.g. dues, BCE fees, Annual Meeting registration), and volunteer activities (e.g., committee membership). This type of database is similar to that used by most professional societies and associations. For the purposes of this document, all individuals maintained in the ESA database will be referred to as customers.

We value our customers' right to privacy and will do what we can to protect and preserve it. We do not intentionally "spam" customers by fax, email, mail, or telephone. ESA does not hire telemarketing firms nor do we hire fax broadcasters. That being said, we will on occasion contact our customers with information that we feel is of importance or urgency. Examples of this include impending meeting deadlines, election announcements, and dues renewal notices. While some of this might be done online through our online communities, others might be emailed or mailed directly to the customers.

The primary modes of communication will be through the mail and via email. The federal government, as defined by the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM), identifies three types of emails, only one of which is subject to the restrictive provisions of the act (those identified as "commercial messages"). Relationship or transactional messages are excluded from the act. The vast majority of communication between the Society and its customers is considered to be transactional in nature. Despite this fact, ESA filters messages in-house and only sends notices to members that we deem to be significantly important. Current members have the right to control the receipt of email from the Society by editing their record in the membership preferences portion of the website.

Additionally, in rare circumstances and as a means of ensuring the accuracy of our data, we would consider hiring a marketing services company to contact customers to either implement a customer satisfaction survey, update membership profiles, or similar membership-related activities.

ESA, whenever possible, will seek to maintain multiple means of contact for all customers to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge about the entomological sciences and any commercial transactions that are undertaken between ESA and our customers. We have the ability to contact our customers via their preferred means of contact and encourage our customers to provide us with their preferred means of contact. 

[For ESA's extended privacy statement, see https://www.entsoc.org/Membership/overview/privacy.]

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This community platform is provided as a service for the members of Entomological Society of America (ESA). ESA 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 ESA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall ESA 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 ESA 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.

ESA does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of ESA we will take all appropriate action.

ESA reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

[For ESA's extended legal disclaimer, see https://www.entsoc.org/disclaimer.]

COOKIE DECLARATION

See https://www.entsoc.org/cookie-statement.