Terms and Conditions

AOTA CommunOT Terms and Conditions

Thank you for being part of AOTA CommunOT, a place for AOTA members to interact, engage, and share to build a professional online community. This is a place to ask occupational therapy questions, share ideas, and respond to others. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using CommunOT, you agree that you have read and will follow these guidelines and terms. Please also review AOTA’s website terms of use and privacy policy. Questions about CommunOT should be directed to the Community Manager.

In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, AOTA may suspend or terminate access to CommunOT for anyone who violates these rules (see Terms and Conditions Violations, below). All messages must add to the body of knowledge and the membership community. We reserve the right to reject any post for any reason.

Rules and Etiquette

  • Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them.
  • Respect the purpose of CommunOT. Use CommunOT to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals.
  • Respectful disagreement makes for a healthy and robust discussion and overall community. No one’s opinion is right or wrong. Please refrain from posting a response repeatedly if you disagree.
  • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
  • Do not post anything that violates the Sherman Act or other antitrust laws, such as messages that encourage or facilitate discussions or agreements about the following subjects: prices, discounts, salaries, profits, or the costs of occupational therapy professional services. 
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response.  
  • Respect intellectual property. Only post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed.
  • When posting items such as articles, tables, graphics, etc., please indicate whether they are available for others to use, and the attribution required for this use.
  • If you would like to post a survey link for research or projects, you may do so only in the Survey Requests threads in the General Forum or in an SIS community. Any survey links posted outside of these specific threads will not be permitted. Requests for interviews or participants for qualitative research must be posted in 1-1 Conversations: Interviews and Research Requests thread in the General Forum. When posting your survey/research request, please follow this format:

    • Audience: 
    • Research subject: 
    • Brief introduction& description: 
    • Link to survey: 
  • We discourage class assignments to post to CommunOT, as these discussions tend to dilute other content. Posts that appear to be class assignments will be removed.
  • Use the “post message anonymously” option sparingly. It is appropriate if sharing your name could identify a patient or client, or if there’s a compelling reason to not identify your workplace or educational program. In general, sharing your identity helps make our community stronger and more cohesive.

Additional Guidelines

  • Please do not post the same content multiple times if you do not see your post appear in the community immediately.
  • CommunOT may not be used for the sale or promotion of external services or products, but members may make suggestions in direct response to a posted question, such as recommending the use of a specific assessment, or naming a company where a product may be found. Members may also use the External OT Resources library folder in AOTA General Forum to upload external materials that would benefit other AOTA Members but are not permitted in discussion threads. Use caution when discussing products, as comments posted on CommunOT are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
  • CommunOT may not be used for job advertising or for recruiting employees. Recruitment notices may be posted on OTJobLink.
  • Use the settings feature to change how often you receive notices, or to add or remove yourself from a discussion group. Do not post administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list” to a discussion group. 
  • Ensure that discussion topics are specific to occupational therapy.
  • If using or building upon any content, please be aware that the original author holds any potential copyright, and their work requires proper citation and referencing.

Terms and Conditions Violations

If a participant violates the rules provided in the CommunOT Terms and Conditions, The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA) may take any and all appropriate actions to address the violation based on AOTA’s sole discretion and legal reporting requirement (if any), including but not limited to immediate termination or suspension of the offending user’s access to CommunOT.

It is AOTA’s general policy to follow the “three strikes” policy concerning participants who violate the Terms and Conditions, as further outlined below:

  • First time: AOTA will remove the post. The participant will be notified by email or private message that they have violated the AOTA CommunOT Terms and Conditions and will cite the rule broken. The participant will be asked to discontinue similar actions. The participant will be asked to confirm they understand the violation. The participant will be notified that any subsequent violation will result in participant being put on probation, with posts being moderated prior to posting for a period of 30 days.
  • Second time: In addition to taking all actions applicable for first-time violation, the participant will be put on probation, with posts being moderated prior to posting for a period of 60 days.
  • Third time: AOTA will remove the post, terminate the offending participant’s access to CommunOT, and then notify the participant by email or phone that their access to AOTA CommunOT has been terminated as a result of violating the CommunOT Terms and Conditions. 

AOTA reserves the right to change the resolution process at any time and without notice.

The Legal Stuff

By posting materials to CommunOT, you grant to the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA) the nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, transferable right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material in any way and in any medium, including but not limited to print or electronic form. You further represent and warrant that the materials posted to CommunOT do not contain content that violates any third-party proprietary rights or privacy rights.

The opinions and information posted on CommunOT by AOTA members, participants, moderators, and commentators are their own, and not necessarily those of AOTA. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by AOTA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall AOTA 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 or statements posted on this site.

AOTA CommunOT (and all of the material that it contains) is owned by AOTA, Inc., or its third-party licensors and is protected by intellectual property and other laws throughout the world. In addition, the trademarks, logos, and service marks displayed on AOTA CommunOT are the property of AOTA or its licensors.

Unauthorized use, copying, reproduction, modification, republishing, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting, distributing, or duplicating or any other misuse of any part of AOTA CommunOT is prohibited. Nothing contained in the Terms and Conditions or in the materials on this site should be construed as granting any license or right to use any material in any manner without the prior written consent of AOTA or such third party that may own the material or intellectual property displayed on this site.