Code of Conduct - Community Rules and Etiquette

Last updated: December 16, 2025

Thank you for being part of our online community. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) provides ADEA Connect as a means to facilitate the rapid exchange of information and the discussion of professional issues among ADEA’s members and the wider dental education community. To ensure the best possible experience for all, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these guidelines. You also agree only to post discussions and share files and other content suited for this medium. You are responsible for all activities and content that you post or share.

Read the rules and discussion group etiquette below. If you have questions, contact the community manager at ADEAConnect@adea.org.

To preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, ADEA reserves the right (in its sole discretion) to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

The ADEA Connect Community Rules and Etiquette may be revised at any time, and it’s the member’s responsibility to stay abreast of any changes. You are encouraged to review the Community Rules and Etiquette periodically to ensure compliance.

All activity in ADEA Connect is also governed by ADEA’s Privacy Policy and ADEA Code of Conduct. By using ADEA Connect, you abide by the ADEA Code of Conduct. Please read our ADEA’s Privacy Policy and ADEA Code of Conduct before using ADEA Connect.

The Rules

Respect others. Focus on the content of posts, and not on the individuals making them.
Safeguard privacy. Do not disclose any confidential or proprietary information, including information about any association, its employees, members or persons in need of care whom you have served in a clinical setting. Ensure that information posted complies with existing policies and laws governing privacy and the dissemination of data. Neither ADEA nor any member of the ADEA Connect community is under any obligation of confidentiality with respect to any information shared or posted within this community, so you should refrain from posting or sharing anything confidential.
Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions and goals instead of products or services you provide.
Posts from businesses or other entities that promote their non-ADEA product, service or cost-based event are prohibited. Questions and discussion initiated by community members about services, placements and position openings regarding jobs already posted on ADEA DentEd Jobs TM or available on ADEA’s print journals are appropriate. (Use DentEd Jobs for job postings.)
Do not post non-ADEA surveys or questionnaires in discussions, articles, library entries or elsewhere. Small ADEA polls within the discussion section are acceptable for ADEA sections, councils, SIGs or groups, but ADEA Connect should not be used for research and information-gathering purposes leading to statistical analysis and/or publication. Posting an invitation to participate in a non-ADEA survey is acceptable, provided the survey link itself is not included in ADEA Connect. Posing a question in the discussion section can lead to robust networking and communication; however, non-ADEA-related formal surveys and questionnaires are not appropriate for ADEA Connect.
Use caution when discussing products. Be aware that all comments are subject to libel, slander and antitrust laws.
Refrain from attacks. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening and offensive language or illegal materials are strictly prohibited.
Respect intellectual property. By posting content in this community, you are affirming that you have personally created, own, or have permission to use such content, and have provided proper attribution to the content creator.
Obtain written rights and permissions. Secure permission from the author/owner to post content that has not been shared publicly, such as photos, documents, web content, video and audio files. Credit the author/owner when content is not original content created by you.
Use caution when posting personal information. Remember that this is a public community. Don’t post information that could be used by others to steal your identity, such as your street address, phone number, social security number, or credit card number. Please review the ADEA Privacy Policy before providing any personally identifiable information.
Do not post or share harmful or illegal material. This includes, among other things, posting or spreading viruses, worms, malware or other software intended to harm another user’s computer, unlawful, deceptive, false or stolen materials, or content that is intended to harm or exploit minors in any way.
Use caution when clicking on links or opening files. While it is against the community rules to post or share harmful content, it is possible that a user posts or shares such content in violation of these rules. ADEA is not able to prevent such posting or sharing in all circumstances. You are responsible for protecting your computer against interference, spyware or viruses that may be encountered.

Other Processes and Procedures

If you are concerned that a post violates community guidelines, flag the post by marking it as inappropriate. The flagged post will be reviewed by a community administrator within one to two business days. From there, the post may be deemed (1) compliant and will remain in the community, or (2) non-compliant and subject to the Community Violation Policy below.
Community Ambassadors: Each community can have multiple community ambassadors responsible for initiating discussions, responding to questions and overseeing the peer-review process for posts that may be subject to the Community Violation Policy below.

Discussion Group Etiquette

State a clear and concise topic in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your post and makes it easier to search the archives by subject.
Search to see if a thread related to your topic already exists before creating a new thread.
Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. Do not share content contained within a closed community with individuals outside of that community.
Keep your contact information up-to-date and include a signature tag on all messages.
Do not send administrative messages, such as “Remove me from the community,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your digest settings or remove yourself from a community. If you are changing email addresses, modify your membership account.

The Legal Stuff

Disclaimer. This site is provided as a service for ADEA members only. ADEA Connect is provided to you on an “as is” and “as available” basis. ADEA disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by ADEA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, data accuracy, and quiet enjoyment.

ADEA does not recommend or endorse any specific health care providers, products, services, procedures, tests, methods, or other information that may be mentioned in the content provided by ADEA or any user of ADEA Connect. ADEA is not responsible or liable for any advice, course of treatment or diagnosis based on the information available through ADEA Connect.

The information available through ADEA Connect is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should always seek the advice of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this site. Medical professionals are encouraged to use the information on this site in conjunction with, and not as a replacement for, their best clinical judgment.

ADEA Connect is not a storage service and ADEA does not promise or guarantee that any content that you post or share, or that you access through ADEA Connect, will be available at any later point in time.

Limitation of Liability. ADEA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. Your use of ADEA Connect is at your sole risk. In no event shall ADEA 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, even if ADEA has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Some jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of liability for certain types of damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations may not apply to you to the extent prohibited by law. In such cases, ADEA’s liability will be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Compliance With Law. You are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, including antitrust laws.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or implicitly 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 also prohibited: 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.

Relationship With ADEA. Nothing related to your participation in the ADEA Connect community will be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship, a partnership, joint venture, association, or agency relationship. ADEA shall not be obligated to provide, and you have no expectation of receiving, any compensation in any form for your voluntary participation in the community, or for your submissions or contributions.

Monitoring and Enforcement. ADEA does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not, on its own, undertake editorial control of postings. However, if any inappropriate posting is brought to ADEA’s attention, we may take any or all of the actions to enforce the Community Rules and Etiquette as outlined in the Community Violation Policy below. ADEA shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor content posted or shared within ADEA Connect to improve its performance, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and to determine compliance with these Community Rules and Etiquette and other applicable policies.

Copyright Enforcement. If you believe that your rights under copyright law are being infringed by the uploading, posting, display or other distribution of your copyrighted content to this site, please provide a written, signed notice of the alleged infringement. Notice must made in writing and include the following information:

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
Identification of the copyrighted work or work(s) you claim have been infringed;
Identification of where the material or activity you claim to be infringing is located (url) or is occurring (description of the location of the material);
Your contact information, reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you;
That you have a good faith belief that use of the work on this site in the manner of which you are complaining is not authorized by the copyright owner, any agent of the copyright owner, or the law; and
You state, under penalty of perjury, that the information provided in your notice is accurate and that you are either the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Your notice must be sent to: Carolyn Vincent, Senior Director of Online Community and Web Services, ADEA, 655 K Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20001 or a file(s) with the above-stated information can be uploaded to ADEA Connect Contact Us form.

Reservation of Rights. ADEA reserves the right to suspend or terminate the access of any user who does not abide by these guidelines. ADEA reserves the right to seek all remedies available at law and in equity for violations of these rules, our Terms of Use, or applicable law.

Community Violation Policy

Policy for ADEA Connect Community Violations

The ADEA Connect Community Rules and Etiquette are not all-inclusive, but rather are intended to give ADEA Connect users a general idea of the guidelines to follow when participating in the online community.

Acting against an ADEA Connect user, particularly in removing an account, is something ADEA would like to avoid, but will do to protect the quality of service we strive to provide to our members. This restriction is not intended to limit in any way the professional networking and educational advantages of ADEA Connect.

When unsure whether content is consistent with these policies, please err on the side of caution and do not post the content in ADEA Connect. If there are any questions on what content is appropriate to post, please contact the community manager at ADEAConnect@adea.org or via the Feedback form.

Possible disciplinary actions for Community Rules and Etiquette violations:

An email, private message, phone call or formal letter may be sent to the ADEA Connect user explaining the violation that occurred.
The user’s ADEA Connect community account may be put into a 90-day moderation queue, where messages from his/her account are reviewed by the community administrator before they are posted online.
The ADEA Connect user may be removed from participating in some or all ADEA Connect communities when in violation.
ADEA reserves the right to edit or delete a post. However, ADEA generally will not edit or delete posts unless there has been a severe violation of the rules and terms of etiquette.
Repeated and/or severe violations may result in the indefinite suspension or termination of an ADEA Connect user’s account.

Appeal Process

An ADEA Connect user may not appeal any moderation reprimand. However, an ADEA Connect user may appeal a removal from an ADEA Connect community by contacting the community administrator in writing. Final decisions will be reviewed and decided by a panel of peers within ten business days.

Requests for appeals should be submitted to the community manager and should include the following information:

First name,
Last name,
Email address,
Phone number,
Full disclosure of any previous violations, and
Why you feel the community removal should be overturned, including any relevant or supporting evidence.

For any further questions or comments, please contact the community manager at ADEAConnect@adea.org or via the Feedback form.