Academy Communities Rules, Etiquette, and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all participants, 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 those best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, provide advice, benefit from others’ experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve an environment that encourages civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

If you have questions about these guidelines, please contact us via the Contact Us link on this site or by e-mailing info@aahivm.org

The Rules

  • Academy Communities is a safe space. Treat other participants with respect. 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.

    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 the purpose of the community. Use the community to share your personal successes, challenges, research, constructive feedback, questions, and goals, but not 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. Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

    Postings about job opportunities should be made on the Academy's Career Center.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

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

The American Academy of HIV Medicine 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 Academy or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the Academy 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 Academy 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.

The Academy 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 the Academy we will take all appropriate action.

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

Privacy Policy

How do we protect the confidentiality and security of your information?

The American Academy of HIV Medicine and all its affiliates are committed to respecting the privacy of their members, credentialees and stakeholders (“The Academy”, “We”, or “Us”, as used in this Privacy Policy, may include the Academy, its affiliated organizations, and its websites.)  We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to ensure that your personal information is treated responsibly and in accordance with our Privacy Policy. We restrict access to your personal information within our organization to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. Our Privacy Policy governs the collection and use of personal information, whether gathered by our staff, from program participants, from website visitors, or through correspondence, and it reflects our approach to gathering and disseminating data. Our policy is to only use data collected for purposes that are integral to furthering the mission of the Academy.

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 and, with effect from 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, the data controller is Daniel Ebeling, dan@aahivm.org, 202-659-0699 x11.

What personal information do we collect?

We may collect information when you submit information directly to us, such as the submission of applications and other forms; transact with us; request or buy products or services; or interact with us through email, phone, or the use of the websites within the Academy. Through these actions, you may provide us with various personal information including: your name, address, email, phone number, demographic information, National Provider Identifier, credit card information, opinions, and individual personal preferences. Your credit card information is encrypted for security purposes.

Please note that we do not collect any personal information from users simply browsing our websites. Only aggregate data—such as the number of hits per page—is collected. Aggregate data is used for internal and marketing purposes and does not provide any personally identifying information.

How do we use the data collected?

Data collected in and transferred to the United States is used to help us better serve our credentialees and members. It is our general policy to collect and store only personal information that visitors, credentialees, and members knowingly provide. The Academy uses your personal information to process your orders; send your order to you or to the recipient you selected; send you the HIV Specialist Magazine; send you newsletters; notify you of discounts on third-party services; provide other membership services; and notify you of programs offered by the Academy, local chapters, and state affiliates. We also use data collected to improve our web content; to learn more about visitors’ interests, needs, and preferences; and to develop new products and services. Personal information is collected via a number of websites that are either operated by us or by authorized vendors.

How long do we retain your personal information for?

We normally retain information for 15 years after your last interaction with us.  We will retain your personal information at least as long as it is reasonably necessary to perform the services described above or as required by law. 

How can you control the personal information you provide to us?

We collect personal information on the basis of your written consent, which you may withdraw at any time. You may access your personal data, request additional information on how your information is being used, or update your personal information by logging into your account and/or contacting us at the mailing address, phone number, or email address below.  You may request the erasure of your personal information from our records and we will do so as long as we do not have a legal obligation to retain that information.  You may also request a copy of all your personal information that we currently have on record to be sent to you, or a third party of your choice, in a reasonable format specified by you. You may opt out of receiving promotional materials or marketing information by contacting us at the mailing address, phone number, or email address below or changing your account settings. If you don’t approve of certain ways we process your data, you may object to data processing activities and/or make a complaint with a data protection authority. In order to make any of these requests, or to contact us regarding privacy issues, you may reach us at:

Mailing Address American Academy of HIV Medicine
Attn: Member Services
1705 DeSales St NW, Ste 700
Washington, DC 20036
Phone Number 202-659-0699
Email Address info@aahivm.org

Recipients of emails and alerts via mailing lists and electronic newsletters also have the option to unsubscribe directly by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of any mailing list or electronic newsletter email. Those who choose to unsubscribe will not receive further mailings from that specific mailing list or electronic newsletter.

Do we share your information with third parties?

The Academy may occasionally provide limited data to partners that offer products and services as permitted by law. These limited data include names, mailing addresses, and email addresses.

We sometimes employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. For example to fulfill orders, deliver packages, send postal mail and email, provide marketing assistance (including direct and targeted marketing), process credit card payments, and provide customer service.

The Academy also makes some member contact information available through the Referral Link or Credential Verification directories on the Academy website. In addition, we may occasionally provide limited data to third parties that offer products and services if you consented to providing your information to a third party. These limited data include names, job titles, companies, and home and business addresses, but do not include business phone numbers, business fax numbers, or email addresses. We may also occasionally sell names and postal addresses to reputable organizations to provide you with information about products or services that may be of interest to you.

Academy websites occasionally provide links to other websites that may interest students and stakeholders we serve. Although we work hard to ensure we provide links to appropriate sites, and we take full responsibility for the content of our site and our own Privacy Policy, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of sites to which we link. No notice will be issued when a visitor has accessed a link to a website outside the realm of Academy websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of all third-party sites that are linked from any Academy website before submitting your personal information. The use of any personal data you choose to disclose to third-party websites will not be covered by this Privacy Policy.

How can you learn about future Privacy Policy updates?

From time to time, customer information may be used for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in this Privacy Policy. If our data protection practices change at some time in the future, those changes will be posted on all affected websites to notify users of the changes and provide an opportunity to opt out of the new uses. Those concerned about how their information is used should check our websites periodically, and review this Privacy Policy for any updates.

Still have questions or concerns?

We value our members, credentialees and stakeholders and want you to understand how we use the information we collect. If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at 202-659-0699 or info@aahivm.org.