User Guidelines
CounselorTalk is an email listserv for asking questions and sharing information among Indiana K-12 school counselors and others in student services offices.
These guidelines allow participants to have a good experience using CounselorTalk.
1
Manage your subscription.
CounselorTalk users are in control of their subscriptions. You can unsubscribe at any time by visiting Simplelists and entering your email address. You will receive an email with link where you may also:
- Change your delivery from every message to a daily digest.
- Pause and resume delivery (this is helpful if you will be away and have an auto-responder set).
- View an archive of all messages from a certain date forward.
2
Consider using a descriptive subject heading that includes building grade levels.
If your email is specific to a building or grade level, please include that in the subject. For example, “HS – Graduation Pathways waiver.”
3
Use “Reply” instead of “Reply All” when appropriate.
Responses to many email list questions and discussion topics are of interest to the entire list, so it is appropriate to “reply all.” Remember to use “reply” to reply to specific individuals or for short statements such as “Thank you!” or “Ditto.”
4
- Political activities.
- Hate speech. The UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech defines hate speech as “…any kind of communication in speech, writing, or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, or other identity factor.” UN Strategy & Plan of Action
- Harassing conduct. Harassing conduct includes epithets, slurs, or negative stereotyping; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes, and written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group. Harassment on the basis of any protected characteristic is strictly prohibited.
- Unprofessional/inappropriate messages. Respectful disagreements and constructive criticism are permissible. If you disagree or become upset with someone’s response or use of the list, consider replying to that person directly.
5
Help keep CounselorTalk spam-free.
To maintain the integrity of the listserv, CounselorTalk members with products or services to sell may become sponsors and have their products/services included in periodic emails to members. See our sponsor page to find out more about becoming a sponsor.
To cover the costs of upkeep and ensure the listserv remains a free service for school counselors, the Advisory Board instituted a set of policies for users promoting or advertising good or services, as follows:
- Non-profit Education Organizations. For $50 annually, non-profit organizations and higher education institutions may feature information in the weekly CounselorTalk newsletter up to three times per year. That is equal to ONE message of up to 75 words featured for three weeks OR three differently worded messages featured for one week each. Non-profits wishing to promote MORE than three events, products, services, etc. per year would need to become an Ally or Sponsor at the level that fits the organization/institution best. See the CounselorTalk Ally/Sponsor website for more information.
- For-profit Businesses/Organizations. For-profit businesses and organizations are also welcome to promote or advertise products/services by becoming a CounselorTalk Ally or Sponsor. Please review the levels of support and complete the application to become an Ally or Sponsor.
The CounselorTalk Advisory Board believes Indiana school counselors are interested in quality services and products and has initiated these policies only to maintain the integrity and popularity of the listserv as a true, helpful resource for school counselors. A limited number of individuals from an organization may remain as listserv members as long as all promotion and advertising is conducted through one of the processes listed above.
6
Research Studies
Emails requesting school counselor participation in research students should be sent to Aimee Portteus for inclusion in our weekly newsletter News for School Counselors.
7
Legal Issues
CounselorTalk is provided as a non-profit service of Inspire Success and the Indiana School Counselor Association (ISCA). Neither party is responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. These organizations disclaim all warranties regarding information posted on this site including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. Inspire Success and ISCA are not 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.
Members may not post defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. Copyrighted material may not be posted without the permission of the copyright owner. Inspire Success and ISCA do not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and do not undertake editorial control of postings. All inappropriate postings should be brought to the attention of Inspire Success and/or ISCA in order for the organizations to take appropriate actions. Inspire Success and ISCA reserve the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.