Terms and Conditions

Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for joining the Society of Surgical Oncology’s (SSO) community, “My SSO 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 as well as our website Terms of Use and Disclaimers and Privacy Policy. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to this online format. My SSO Community is a great way to share your expertise, solicit the advice of your peers, and participate in an ongoing conversation. General questions about the workings of the community should be directed to our Community Manager.

In order to preserve an environment that encourages a professional, friendly and relevant dialogue, SSO reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access in this community if postings do not adhere to SSO’s expectation for professional behavior. Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules. We may change these rules from time to time; the rules posted at the time of your use of the website will apply.

The Rules

  • Respect others. 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. Do not post harassing or bullying content

  • Respect the purpose of the community. This community is a collaborative environment to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals. It is not intended to promote products and services. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience in a non-promotional way.

  • Remember that once you post your content your postings are public within the My SSO Community, so be careful what you post. SSO is not responsible for keeping any posted content confidential so if you do not want anyone to read or see that content, do not submit or post it. Use caution when discussing products or patient information that may violate of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) laws. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and you are solely responsible for the consequences arising from your posts. Comments are subject to libel, slander, antitrust laws and breach of patient confidentiality.

  • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited.

  • Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator. Remember that other participants have the right to reproduce your postings unless you specify otherwise.

  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

Discussion Group Etiquette

  • Identify yourself when posting. Do not create a false identity or impersonate any other person.

  • 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.

Legalities

  • This site is provided as a service for the members of the SSO. SSO does not endorse, or support any views, opinions, recommendations, information or advice that may be in posted in My SSO Community, nor do we vouch for any post’s accuracy or reliability, usefulness, safety or the intellectual property rights of any posted content. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.

  • SSO disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by SSO or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall SSO 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.

  • Members must comply at all times with the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) and the Electronic Security Rule (“Security Rule”) established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to implement the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Information posted here will not be treated as confidential and, therefore, should not identify any patient by name or other identifying features, characteristics or any other individually identifiable Patient Health Information, as defined under the Privacy Rule. In fact, since any information posted here may be downloaded, reproduced, and disseminated without the knowledge of the sender(s), members should use extreme care when posting or sending such information.

  • Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. Do not post messages or images that may be interpreted as hateful, prejudicial, or promoting or encouraging illegal activity. Do not post commercial messages. 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 SSO 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; job postings; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of patients, customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

  • SSO reserves the right, but not the obligation to monitor postings to this site. In the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of SSO we will take such action as we deem appropriate in our sole discretion.

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