ISEAI Members Forum Rules and Etiquette Guidelines

ISEAI has established rules and etiquette guidelines to ensure the Members Forum remains a useful and positive communication tool. Please also see the Forum User Guide.

If you have questions or comments about the Forum, or just want to reach out, please contact Co-Executive Directors Chris Graber and Lauren Duffy: cgraber@iseai.org, lduffy@iseai.org

Forum Purpose: The purpose of the Forum is to enable members of ISEAI to communicate with one another for the edification of all, with a primary focus on helping individuals affected by environmentally acquired illnesses. We strive to have an atmosphere of intelligent inquiry, intellectual humility, respect, and an exchange of ideas that will benefit all members.

Forum General Information: Feel free to ask questions and share important information with one another.  Marketing is not allowed unless approved in advance.  ISEAI reserves the right to moderate any Member’s post(s).  If members encounter any post which is concerning, you may “Flag for review,” or send an email to Chris or Lauren to file a complaint against a prohibited message.

Forum E-mail Rules and Etiquette Guidelines

Welcome
1. Do introduce yourself with a new member introduction. Update your user profile, signature, and preferences: You have the option to update your information prior to posting questions and responses on the Forum. You can also opt in to the internal member directory if you like. Please always include your basic credential(s) in your email signature so that other members understand the context in which any advice or input is given.  (e.g. advice from an environmental professional may be understood differently than advice from a medical professional, and vice versa).
2. Do use the Forum to ask questions and receive responses which relate to your own practice, or most any other subject relevant to the other members of our group.
3. Do “pay-it-forward” by answering questions as well as asking them, and sharing your expertise with less experienced members.

Confidentiality & Privacy
4. Do maintain confidentiality of all parties when posting, and avoid any identifiable private health information (PHI). Do not share patient names, for example, and remove this type of data from any attachments or content. If you need help with this process, please let us know.  Confidentiality also applies to potentially private health information that regards family members, friends, or self.  Please blind such information so that the person is not identifiable.
5. Do keep all postings confidential among members of ISEAI, and do not forward a member’s post or email to anyone outside the Forum without the express permission of the sender.  Likewise, do not cc or bcc a person who is not a member of ISEAI when responding to Forum posts via email.
6. Do request that others respond privately when needed, usually to further discussion which strays into territory which is individual or would not seem to benefit other members. Do not contact other members privately in a non-professional capacity unless invited to do so.  If another member at any point requests not to be contacted, then contacting them is prohibited.
7. Limitations – please understand that while sharing of forum material outside of ISEAI by any individual member is prohibited, there are real limitations to confidentiality in any group setting.  Please do not share information that would be significantly personally revealing and/or damaging if it got out.

Content
8. Do use the Forum to share your knowledge, experience and opinions which are solicited by other members.
9.  Do distinguish between opinions and facts in every instance possible.  If factually incorrect, incendiary or generally confusing information is contained in a post, it may be moderated by staff.  Moderation actions are final, and do not require justification in each instance.  However, if a member wishes to discuss or understand the policy or processes in greater depth, you are welcomed to reach out for a call or meeting with a designated staff member.
10. Do respond to others in ways which contribute to, and do not detract from, the atmosphere of intelligent inquiry and respect between members.  This is a space where it is safe to ask questions. Every interaction on the Forum matters when it comes to upholding this culture.  It is possible to be rigorous and thorough in your Forum interactions without being critical of others.
11. Do keep all posts to the forum (whether seeking advice or giving it) within your licensed scope of practice.
12.  The focus of the forum is clinical, and professional.  Personal disclosure may be appropriate at times, but please be mindful of tone and content.  Do not use the forum to seek personal medical advice.
13. Do not post personal “soapbox” type opinions. Please confine them to your own website, blog, or mailings.  Posts may be considered “soapbox-type” if they do not demonstrate intellectual humility, respect for the experiences and opinions of others, and/or do not leave room for a diversity of thought on a subject.  These type of posts and responses tend to close the door to further conversation and intelligent inquiry, and therefore do not fit in this Forum.
See specific content that is not allowed under Prohibitions.
14. Direct marketing is not allowed (or requires approval) but members may use the Forum to interact with other members about upcoming conferences or networking events where ISEAI members may wish to connect with one another. Please do this in the General Announcements category.  If you are the host of the event or financially connected to it, please seek permission before posting.

Communication and Atmosphere
15. Do seek to establish and maintain rapport with other members, help new members get acclimated, and help others get to know you.  This is a members-only Forum, so getting to know others on a personal level is one of the primary benefits.
16. Do use best practices for online communication, where tone can be harder to discern than in other mediums of communication.  Use friendly language, clarifying adjectives, punctuation, and even emojis as needed to show benevolent intent.  Try to avoid sending messages especially hastily, where language structure and tone may become especially muddled.  Try to use good grammar, punctuation, and spelling to ensure clarity for all who read your messages now and later, as well as for use in future “best of the forum”-type compilations.  Avoiding writing entire messages in all caps, which can be viewed as shouting.

Prohibitions
17. Do not use the Forum in a way that could be alleged to violate any laws.  Do not attack others, whether members of the Forum or not. All disparaging, confrontational, defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, potentially offensive, or illegal messages are strictly prohibited.  Whether a post falls into such categories will be a subjective determination of designated staff and/or members of the Board of Directors.
18. Do not use the Forum for advertising, either your own practice or any other event, group, or product, unless another member has requested a referral and you are responding to such request.  If you would like to request permission to share something with ISEAI’s list, you can email Chris Graber or Lauren Duffy and the request will additionally be reviewed by the Board if needed.  Be advised, we get a fairly high volume of these requests, so to protect the volume of email and integrity of the clinically-focused forum, we are only able to approve those that appear to help other members with needs we feel have been previously expressed.
19. As in all professional settings, please avoid political, religious, and sexual references. The Forum is not the appropriate place for those types of posts as they can alienate others.

Attachments & Copyright
20. Please be careful as to any attachments you use. We do not want to expose members to any viruses. If an attachment is not strictly necessary, please remove it before posting.
21. Do not post copyrighted material without the express permission of the copyright holder.
22. Please ensure all attachments are free of any patient or client identifying or sensitive data that could be protected under HIPAA.
23.  The forum itself and all content is property of ISEAI, a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit.
24.  Forum content is sometimes discussed in other settings of ISEAI (member meetings, etc) or translated to other formats for educational use within ISEAI.
25. All forum posts remain part of the forum archive and materials indefinitely, whether the member is a current member of ISEAI or not.  Posts are accessible to current and future members of ISEAI.

Our Forum has been a vibrant, substantive exchange between committed healers.  The vast majority of members deeply understand and contribute meaningfully to this environment.  In the rare event a rule or rules are violated (as determined upon review by designated members of the ISEAI Board of Directors) ISEAI reserves the right to moderate and/or remove the member from participation in the Forum.