If you have something to sell, you are very definitely in the wrong place!
Anyone posting advertisements to this list will be deleted immediately and
without warning. In addition, we may request that your ISP terminate your
account for willful abuse, and if we think you are making unsupported claims of
a cancer cure we may register a complaint with both the Federal Trade
Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration.
The ACOR lists are primarily for cancer patients, their supporters and
loved ones, and health professionals who wish to lend their support and
knowledge. If you are subscribing to the list for any other purpose, please
contact the list managers PRIOR TO
POSTING ANY MESSAGE or beginning any research project.
This includes people who want to post a survey or questionnaire of any
sort, or who want to post an announcement for a charity, or who wish to
archive or redistribute the contents of
any ACOR list.
We also request that
anyone observing our list for research purposes contact us. Attorneys
researching cases, or looking for clients are not permitted on
any ACOR list.
Anyone else who is not a cancer patient, supporter or health
professional should contact us at the above address. Requests will be
considered on a case by case basis.
RULE #3:
Respect Copyright
Posting of copyrighted material to the list without permission of the
copyright holder may be an infringement of copyright, and could subject you to
civil penalties including fines of tens of thousands of dollars. Please don't
post copyrighted material to the list! Although we want to obey the law, we
definitely don't want to discourage sharing of information which can save
lives. We also believe that sharing of vital information is possible within the
laws of copyright!
Your listowners are not copyright attorneys and cannot give you legal advice
as to what might be a copyright violation. We can give you our best layman's
guidance, but we can't give you a guarantee! If you are in doubt, don't post.
So here's the scoop (as we see it)
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In general, anything that anyone writes is automatically copyrighted by
them, even if there is no copyright notice. So in general don't post anything
written by someone else! There are some exceptions.
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Things which are always OK to post include:
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- Anything you write yourself, including a summary of a copyrighted
work.
- The URL of any page on the Internet (post the URL, not the content of the
page!).
- A reference to any paper in the medical literature.
- Quoting a message someone else posted to the list.
- Anything which you have permission of the copyright holder to post.
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Things which may be OK to post (and to which the list managers won't
object) include:
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- Medline Abstracts
- Short quotations from copyrighted material to illustrate a
point.
- Press releases or other material clearly intended to be distributed -
but remember advertising is not allowed! Only post PR
material if you have absolutely no interest or involvement, and are completely
sure it's relevant!
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Things which are not OK to post without permission
include:
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- News articles and other copyrighted material from web sites, newspapers and
the like
- Private correspondence
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RULE #4:
Don't Post Chain Letters, Virus Warnings, or Other Off Topic Material
By a chain letter we mean any message which asks you to forward it on to
others. Internet messages like this acquire a life of their own even though it
turns out they are usually hoaxes or scams. Typical examples include warnings
about computer viruses, or claims that you can help a charity by going to a
certain web site, or claims that there is to be a tax on e-mail. Even in the
rare case where one of these letters is actually accurate, they are off topic.
So before you forward a chain letter message on to the list, stop and
think:
- Is this on topic?
- Have I checked to be sure it's accurate?
Some places where you can check on the status of various hoaxes and virus
warnings are:
- Break The Chain
is an anti-chain letter site with good advice on recognizing e-mail chain
letters, and a searchable database of known chain letters. The site's author
will also check-out possible chain letters for you if after researching you
don't find anything definitive.
- Computer
Virus Hoax Page from Symantec Corporation. Symatec is one of the major
anti-virus companies, and if there is a real virus, you will certainly find
information on it in their Virus Encyclopedia
- VMyths Virus Myths Page
- a bit commercial but lots of info
- HoaxBusters is a
comprehensive site which covers myths, chain letters, fake virus warnings, and
much more.
- Urbanlegends.com - covers
various other stories you might find floating around on the net.
- Finally you can always go to a high quality search engine such as, Google, and type in a key phrase
from the chain letter you got. You'll almost always get telling results.
Of course, just because a chain letter isn't listed in
a database of hoaxes doesn't mean it's true! If you don't find it listed as a
Hoax, you need to find some way to verify it's true before you even think about
posting it to the list!
If, after this, you still want to post such a message to the list, please
contact the list managers first!
RULE #6:
Respect Religious and Political Diversity
Religion is a delicate topic! Faith is very important to many, especially
during a life crisis like cancer. No matter how strong your personal faith,
it's important to realize we have a great diversity of religious beliefs among
our members, and that not everyone shares your faith, whatever that might be.
Many people will be offended by posts which preach to them, or which assume
that they believe in the same God you do. Don't post messages which advise
people to pray, or tell them that they will be helped by a particular religion
or even by religion in general. Anything which might be considered
proselytizing should be avoided. At the same time asking people to pray for
you, or expressing how your faith has helped you should be fine.
Sometimes it's a very fine line - use your best judgment!
If disagreement occusr on the list regarding this topics, we ask that those involved in the disagreement take their discussions off-list
Politics is generally off topic and not an appropriate subject for the list.
Occasionally a legislative bill touches directly on cancer, and in this case,
careful discussion in your own words would be appropriate. If you do post on a
political issue, avoid blatantly partisan rhetoric. Again, please use your best
judgment! Forwarding calls to action relating to political causes that you've
gotten from someone else falls under Rule #4, above, on
chain letters. Please don't!
