Div. 47 started its own email list for members and those interested in the field of exercise and sport psychology. The Div. 47 email list is specifically for members interested in postings on issues, questions, information and findings concerning, (a) research in exercise and sport psychology, and (b) professional practice issues in exercise and sport psychology.
Email List Guidelines
Guidelines for posting to the Div. 47 email list were developed by Frank Webbe and Doug Hirschorn in 2005. The basic rules as formulated by APA for use of its email list are as follows:
Rule 1
Do not use the forum for illegal purposes, including but not limited to defamation, violation of intellectual property laws, violation of antitrust or unfair competition laws or violation of criminal laws.
Rule 2
Do not intentionally interfere with or disrupt other forum members, network services, or network equipment. This includes distribution of unsolicited advertisement or chain letters, propagation of computer worms and viruses, and use of the network to make unauthorized entry to any other machine accessible via the Forum. Do not intentionally interfere with or disrupt other forum members, network services or network equipment. This includes distribution of unsolicited advertisement or chain letters, propagation of computer worms and viruses, and use of the network to make unauthorized entry to any other machine accessible via the Forum.
Rule 3
Do not use the Forum for commercial purposes. "Commercial" as used for purposes of evaluating email list messages means communications whose primary purpose is to advance the business or financial interests of any person or entity, or otherwise to promote a financial transaction for the benefit of the author directly or indirectly. Examples of prohibited communications include advertisements for products or services, notices regarding rental of office space or direct solicitations of email list members to purchase products or services.
Examples of messages that may be of financial benefit to email list members but are not prohibited because they do not inure to the financial benefit of the author include news of job listings or position openings, or discussion of professionally-related products or services where the email list member conveying the information is not in the business of selling the products or services. Announcements that provide useful professional information to List members but may also have some incidental commercial benefit to the sender (e.g. an author who is a list member merely advising the List of publication of a professional book) typically would not be "commercial" for purposes of this restriction.
Rule 4
Do not use this forum for any communication that could be construed in any way as support for or opposition to any candidate for a federal, state or local public office. The Federal law providing for the American Psychological Association's tax exempt status absolutely forbids the use of APA resources or facilities, including this forum, in any way that would even appear to support or oppose such a political candidate.
It is Rule 3 on commercialism that has caused the primary difficulty. Specifically, how should we determine whether or not a poster of a message stands to profit significantly versus incidentally from an announcement? Previously, we felt that the only way to adhere to Rule 3 was to limit announcements to third-party notices, as described in the first part of paragraph 2 above. However, we really saw no difference in Proprietor A asking Friend B to announce an event or service C, as opposed to the Proprietor making the announcement. That was really just hair-splitting of an obvious kind. The example given in the rules above regarding an author “merely advising the List of the publication of a professional book” is somewhat fuzzy in its difference from the previous example (yet still being acceptable), but also gives us an opening for the type of announcements that our List members have told us that they really want to see. By a margin of 11 to 1, our users spoke clearly that they want to see announcements of workshops and similar professional/educational activities and opportunities. It appears that as long as the poster simply announces the workshop (with a very brief description sufficient to inform of the nature of the event, as well as contact information), then it would conform to the letter and spirit of Rule 3. What would not be appropriate is rhetoric that advertises (in the marketing sense) the workshop in attempts to recruit participants. In the same vein, announcement of the publication of a new book that would be of interest to the List is acceptable, but added descriptions of how and why the book is the best one written since the passing of Coleman Griffith is inappropriate. Rather, any appropriate announcements should end with an off-list address where the poster may be contacted for further information.
We believe that our members are sharp enough to differentiate between announcements versus advertisement. The list moderator has been asked to remind participants when they violate these standards, and to remove participants who repeatedly violate the policies of use (an event we would all hate to have happen). Importantly, the moderator is only an email click away for consultation before a questionable announcement is posted. We encourage members to seek his or her advice in a proactive manner so as to avoid a public contretemps.
Our email list is a valuable communication and discussion adjunct that we all enjoy. We simply need to remember the policies and adhere to them.
Join the Email List
To join the list and receive email postings from list members, send an email message to: listserv@lists.apa.org. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message type: "subscribe div47" and then send the message. If you use a signature file with your message, please remember to remove it for this message. You will receive acknowledgement from Majordomo when your subscription has been approved.
Subsequently, to send a message to the list, simply address your message to the list to: div47@lists.apa.org. Your message will go out to everyone who subscribes to the list. Please use care and consideration in your messages.
The current Div. 47 list administrator is L. Kenneth Chew, Jr., PsyD, HSPP.
