Terms and Conditions

ASA Connect Terms and Conditions

Thank you for your interest in ASA Connect, the association’s communication platform for members. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established these Terms and Conditions for use of ASA Connect. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate access to ASA Connect for anyone who violates these Terms and Conditions. Below you will find the basic Dos and Don’ts, followed by the Legal Parameters of Use. By using ASA Connect, you affirm that you have read and will adhere to these Terms and Conditions in their entirety.

Do:

  • Use ASA Connect for its intended purposes. These include asking for and offering professional advice, sharing professional successes and challenges, sharing information about professional development opportunities and events, and learning from and with each other.
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate groups within ASA Connect. This helps ensure that messages receive the best responses by eliminating "noise."
  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  • Demonstrate professional collegiality and generosity of spirit. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them.
  • Respect intellectual property. Only post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and publicly post and have properly attributed to the content creator.
  • Include the ASA Job Bank ID for any job ads that you post.
  • Be sure your contributions to ASA Connect reflect the commitments expressed in the ASA Diversity Statement, which is incorporated into and made part of these Terms and Conditions by reference.
  • Adhere to the principles and ethical standards of the ASA Code of Ethics, which is incorporated into and made part of these Terms and Conditions by reference.
  • Use the ASA Connect self-moderation feature. If you see content on ASA Connect that you believe may violate these Terms and Conditions, please flag it as inappropriate. 
  • Be aware that ASA reserves the right to remove any content or user immediately and without notice if these Terms and Conditions are violated. Notwithstanding ASA’s reservation of the right to remove content, ASA has no affirmative obligation to monitor, review or remove content.
  • Be aware that the ASA Privacy Policy applies to ASA Connect, which is incorporated into and made part of these Terms and Conditions by reference.  

Don’t:

  • Do not post brief perfunctory messages. Comments such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too” should be sent to individuals using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.
  • Do not post administrative messages. Requests such as “remove me from the list” are not appropriate. Instead, use the ASA Connect web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, go to my.asanet.org to update your information; it will automatically be changed in ASA Connect (after a delay of approximately 30 minutes).
  • Do not engage in commercial advertising or attempt to sell goods or services through the site.  
  • Do not use or post materials that are contrary to the letter or spirit of these Terms and Conditions, including but not limited to content that is illegal, infringing of third party intellectual property rights, abusive, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, degrading, intimidating, insensitive, hateful, cruel, defamatory, false, pornographic.
  • Do not make posts supporting or opposing political candidates or elected officials.  This prohibition includes any and all statements supporting or opposing any elected official, political candidate running for a public office or political campaigns, and any statements about affiliations with any elected official, political candidates, or involvement in any political campaigns.

Legal Parameters of Use

This site is provided as a service for the members of the American Sociological Association (ASA). ASA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties regarding information posted on this site, whether posted by ASA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall ASA be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, and/or arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Scope of Use

You agree to reserve postings on ASA Connect to topics best suited to the medium as an on-line professional development and networking tool. The posting of commercial, defamatory, libelous, slanderous, profane, threatening, infringing and illegal materials is prohibited.

Copyright Compliance

You shall not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, you represent and warrant that you own the copyright with respect to such material or that you have received permission from the copyright owner to post the material. In addition, by posting such material the copyright owner grants ASA and ASA Connect users the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, certain groups within ASA Connect may engage in confidential discussions or posts that should not be reposted by ASA Connect users without specific permission.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the ASA Connect infringes their rights under US copyright law. ASA reserves the right to remove any material on ASA Connect which allegedly infringes another person’s copyright. Notices to ASA regarding any alleged copyright infringement on ASA Connect should be sent to Margaret Vitullo, ASA Deputy Director, at mvitullo@asanet.org. Please provide the following in your communication:

  1. a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
  2. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on ASA Connect;
  3. your address, telephone number, and email address;
  4. a statement that the use of the copyrighted work is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  5. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf; and
  6. an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest.

Antitrust Compliance

As a professional association, ASA is subject to anti-trust laws and regulations. To avoid violations of anti-trust laws, you shall not post messages which encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or implicitly leads to price fixing, a boycott of any business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages regarding the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, fundraising, 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.

Compliance with Laws

In all uses of ASA Connect, you shall act in compliance with all applicable rules and regulations of all regulatory bodies and with all laws, ordinances, orders, rules, and regulations of all local, state, federal and other jurisdictions having authority over the performance hereof.

Monitoring and Response to Violations

ASA may monitor ASA Connect for violations of these Terms and Conditions. ASA reserves the right to immediately remove any post and terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.  Notwithstanding ASA’s reservation of the right to remove content, ASA has no affirmative obligation to monitor, review or remove content.

Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

You agree that ASA will not be responsible to you for any indirect, consequential, special, or punitive damages or losses you may incur in connection with ASA Connect or any of the data or other materials transmitted or residing on ASA Connect, even if ASA has been advised of the possibility of such damage or loss. In addition, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold ASA, its officers, directors, employees, members and agents harmless from and against any and all claims, proceedings, damages, injuries, liabilities losses, costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees) relating to any acts or omissions by you or materials or information transmitted or posted by you in the use of ASA Connect leading wholly or partially to claims against ASA, its officers, directors, employees, members, or agents or ASA Connect by other users or third parties. The terms of this provision shall indefinitely survive the termination of your use of ASA Connect and the termination or expiration of these Terms and Conditions.

Governing Law; Venue

You agree that any disputes arising out of these Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia, United States of America without regard to principles of conflicts of laws. You agree that any dispute or action concerning these Terms and Conditions shall be handled exclusively through final and binding arbitration following the rules of commercial arbitration defined by the American Arbitration Association(the “AAA”) under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and, in the case of consumer disputes, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes ( the “AAA Consumer Rules”) (collectively the “AAA Rules”) with arbitration taking place at the ASA offices or other venue located in the District of Columbia as mutually agreed upon by the parties involved.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration or claim under these Terms and Conditions shall be joined to any other arbitration or claim, including any arbitration or claim involving any other current or former user of the site, and no class arbitration proceedings shall be permitted. In no event shall any claim, action or proceeding by you related in any way to ASA Connect (including your visit to or use of the ASA Connect site and/or the service) be instituted more than three (3) years after the cause of action arose.

Waiver

Waiver by ASA of any term or condition of Terms and Conditions or any breach shall not constitute a waiver of any other term or condition or breach of this Agreement or a waiver of such term, condition, or breach at a subsequent time.

Subsequent Invalidity

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall in no way be impaired or affected thereby.

ASA makes changes to its products and services from time to time; we may update Terms and Conditions to reflect these changes. We reserve the right to amend the ASA Connect Terms and Conditions at any time, for any reason, and may do so by posting a new version online. Your continued use of ASA Connect, and/or continued provision of Personal Data to us will be considered acceptance of any revised terms and subject to the terms of the then-current Terms and Conditions. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information.

Questions about ASA Connect should be directed to our member services department by emailing membership@asanet.org, or by calling 202-383-9005 Ext 1.  

By using this site, you acknowledge that you have read these Terms and Conditions, as well as the ASA Code of Ethics and Diversity Statement, that you understand them, and that you agree to be bound by them in all uses of ASA Connect.