Veterinary Ophthalmology (VOPH) and ACVO Member (ACVO) Email Discussion Lists Guidelines

Updated 12.19.2025

Please take a moment to review the VOPH and ACVO email discussion list guidelines to make sure that, when you are posting to the email discussion lists, you are following the proper guidelines. Submitting a post to either email discussion list is an agreement to abide by these guidelines. Abuse of email discussion lists guidelines may result in temporary or permanent withdrawal of email discussion list privileges for the offending participant from both lists.

Email Discussion Lists Participation

Initial membership in either email discussion list is subject to the approval of the ACVO administration (office@ACVO.org) or the chair of the ACVO Email Discussion List Committee found here.

• ACVO is open to all Diplomate Members of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

• VOPH is open to:  

  • ACVO or ECVO diplomates

  • ACVO or ECVO residents, and those who have completed their residency and are not yet boarded

  • Ophthalmologists in other countries with training similar to ACVO and residents of these ophthalmologists.

  • If someone is unsure if they may qualify for email discussion list membership, they can send the ACVO email discussion list committee chair their qualifications.  They may also send the ACVO email discussion list chair the name of a voph-l member in their country that can recommend them.

What the email discussion lists should provide

• Opportunities to benefit from the collective veterinary ophthalmology wisdom of the group.

• A chance to share commonly valuable information inexpensively and quickly (e.g. information on conference or regional meeting times and locations).

• Information specific to ACVO Diplomates only should be limited to the ACVO email discussion lists.

What the email discussion lists should refrain from

• Items whose principle premise does not have a veterinary ophthalmology related component. Subjects that may be important to society as a whole or to the larger veterinary community, but not specifically relevant to veterinary ophthalmology, are not appropriate for this platform.

• Items that principally involve communications that are germane to just a few people.

• Items that essentially lobby fellow email discussion list participants on an issue being debated within the veterinary profession.

• Anything that involves subjects of an anti-trust nature, or that violates US law.

• Any discussion or promotion of products, services, digital platforms, etc. that violate US law, including copyright and/or trademark use violations.

• Messages that contain information that is abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, profane, discriminatory, racist, sexist, political or otherwise inappropriate that could be offensive to one or more participants.

• Any advertisements from vendors regarding their products.

Email discussion list formatting

• When posting on the email discussion lists please include a signature with your message which should include your name, credentials, affiliation, location and email address. Signatures must not contain any images as that will cause them to be rejected. Exclude any signatures or auto signatures that are political, religious or otherwise state an affiliation that is unrelated to veterinary ophthalmology.

• The email discussion lists do not accept inclusion of images of any kind. If you wish to submit clinical images, these are posted by the ACVO office and can be referenced in your email discussion lists posting.

• Concisely and clearly state the specific topic of your email in the subject line, for quick and future reference.

• You should reply to the email discussion lists when the information you are sharing is something everyone can potentially benefit from (e.g. how you or your organization handles an issue which was posted as a question). You should reply only to the individual asking the question when your response is confidential, has application to only the person asking, and/or is seeking to determine your attendance at a function.

Email discussion list etiquette

• User agrees to refrain from posting information and/or participating in online discussions having antitrust implications, and that may lead to, whether expressed or implied, price fixing, boycotting of any industry, company or business, or any other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Discussion of specific prices or fees that could lead to price fixing is prohibited.

• User agrees to refrain from posting information and/or participating in online discussions that are, or could be, considered a breach of ethics or a violation of ACVO’s harassment policy, or violate US law, including copyright or trademark use law.

• Please note that when you select the "Reply" button on your email, the response will be distributed to everyone on the email discussion list. To respond to an individual, place that individual’s email address in the "To" box.

• Be professional at all times. As we all know, there are many ways to solve the same problem. We must all be able to “agree to disagree” without attacking anyone or anything on the email discussion list. If someone feels a professional or ethical line has been crossed, there are appropriate arenas to resolve that conflict, but it is NOT the email discussion list.

Email discussion list confidentiality

• Please do not forward email discussion list content to non-participants without the permission of the original sender.

• Please do not forward personal emails to the email discussion list without permission of the original sender.

• The email discussion list is “private” meaning that subscriptions have to be entered manually.

• Email discussion list users need to recognize that, even though the email discussion lists are considered “private and confidential”, there is nothing to prevent a user from violating email discussion list etiquette and forwarding a posted email to a non-participant. Such violations, if traceable, could lead to withdrawal of email discussion list privileges for the offending participant.

Violations of email discussion list guidelines

If an email discussion list participant feels that someone has access to the email discussion list without proper credentials or that email discussion list etiquette or rules have been violated, please contact the email discussion list committee. Members of the committee can be found here. Such matters will be considered by the entire ACVO email discussion list committee as needed. Abuse of the email discussion list guidelines may result in a warning for first offenders, followed by at least 6 months of temporary or permanent withdrawal of email discussion list privileges for the offending participant. Review the email discussion list ad hoc committee’s policies and procedures document for explanations of how violations will be handled.