ILTA’s wide array of e-groups — private, Web-based discussion forums — facilitate communication among peers.  They are delivered to your e-mail inbox in the format of your choice, plain text or HTML.  If you have not yet subscribed to ILTA's e-groups, you are missing out on one of the most tangible and immediate benefits of ILTA membership.

Our e-groups are designed to improve communication among members, offer a forum for exchanging ideas, and allow you to benefit from the experience, knowledge and wisdom of your peers.

WHO CAN SUBSCRIBE?  Any employee of a member law firm or law department can subscribe to any ILTA e-group.  A subscription "selection" is required – members are not auto-subscribed to any e-group.

To participate in any ILTA e-group, your firm or legal department must be a current member of ILTA.  Not sure whether your firm is a member?  Check your firm or law department's status.

CAN VENDORS PARTICIPATE ON ILTA E-GROUPS?  With rare exceptions (noted below), our e-groups are open to our members only.

These e-groups currently have vendor support personnel subscribed.  These "guest" subscriptions are at the request of the Peer Group Vice President and have the support of a majority vote of the subscriber base:

• InterAction Peer Group Listserv
• Open Source Software Peer Group Listserv
• Open Text Peer Group Listserv
• Thomson Elite Peer Group Listserv

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Subscribing
If you are an ILTA member with valid credentials established in our contact directory, visit our E-Groups Home Page at http://egroups.iltanet.org.  Click on "My Subscriptions" on the menu and locate the e-groups that interest you.  Use the radio buttons to select your mail delivery option and click Save.  You will receive a notification that your subscriptions have been updated.  Delivery options include:

• RT = Real Time.  Forward me the messages real time (as and when they are contributed).
• DD = Daily Digest.  Forward me a daily digest (only one e-mail per day which contains all of the contributed messages).
• NE = No Emails.  Do not send me any messages which are contributed to this E-Group.
• PDA = Subscribe me as a Mobile device user.  Real time, plain text format. 
• Unsubscribe = Discontinue my subscription to this E-Group.

Once you're subscribed, you may want to explore the options available to you and learn to manage your subscription.  Return to the E-Group Web Interface at any time to tweak your settings.

The E-Group Web Interface allows you to:

• Read Messages
• Post Messages
• Search Messages (Archives)
• Unsubscribe
• Change Your Settings

Unsubscribing
You can unsubscribe at any time by updating your mail delivery option in the "My Subscriptions" link on the menu (as noted above).

TIP:  Unless you truly want to discontinue an e-group subscription, you need not unsubscribe.  As a "best practice" so that you can always view the archived posts, please consider changing your mail delivery option to NE.

GOING MOBILE:  If you desire to POST messages to the e-groups from your PDA, you must have your mail delivery option set to the format.  If you only desire to read messages on your PDA, no change in your format is necessary.
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Our Policies

• Please respect your colleagues by maintaining the "closed" atmosphere.  DO NOT FORWARD E-MAIL MESSAGES FROM ILTA E-GROUPS to anyone outside of your own organization.  If you are the recipient of a message that is in violation of any of the above rules, please contact Executive Director Randi Mayes (512.795.4661) so that appropriate action can be taken.  All messages must add to the body of knowledge.
• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal commentary or materials are strictly prohibited.  Do not post anything in an e-group message that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. 
• Do not post commercial messages or messages pertaining to a political cause.
• When discussing products, services or vendors, refrain from discussing pricing.  While we do maintain closed lists, comments are subject to antitrust laws.
• When discussing products, services or vendors, please speak factually and objectively.  While we do maintain closed lists, comments are subject to libel and slander laws.
• Commentary is allowed as it pertains to the issue being discussed.  Personal remarks regarding the sender are not permitted.  Commentary should not reflect a persons preference for or against a specific party, group, cause or movement.
• ILTA reserves the right to reject any message for any reason.
• Send your message only to the most appropriate list(s).  Do not spam several lists with the same message.

Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted to the list.

E-Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line.  This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Identify yourself fully in your signature line.  If posting through the Web interface, we have enabled a templated signature block that links to your membership credentials.
• Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information from which everyone can benefit.
• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list.  Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link available in every message.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list through the e-group.  Instead, use the Web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list.  You may also contact our list administrator, Jeanne Martinez.

Photos, Images and Content Posted as Attachments
In utilizing the social networking aspects of the e-groups, we encourage you to include a photo of yourself in your profile.  Please provide a recent headshot of yourself that you would use for distribution within your own firm or legal department.  All photos, images and files attached to messages must comply to our policies and standards and must not be offensive in any way. 

The poster warrants that any content posted as an attachment:

• Is material to which the author owns the rights and freely provides to us for publication;
• Has no liens or other legal actions pending against the material;
• Is original work and free from any plagiarism or intent thereof;
• Contains proper citation or attribution for any information or references in the material to works of others.

The Legal Stuff
E-groups are provided by ILTA solely for the use of its members, and the electronic messages that appear on ILTA's e-groups are for informational purposes only.  Any message posted to the e-groups may represent the opinion of the author but does not represent the opinion of ILTA or its member firms.  ILTA does not accept responsibility for the content or the opinions expressed in any message posted to the e-groups, and the reader should not accept the opinion posted there as professional advice.

ILTA disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on the e-groups, whether posted by ILTAs volunteer officers, staff, members or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness.  In no event shall ILTA 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 posted on the e-groups.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner.  By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner.  In addition, the posting party grants ILTA the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade.  Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate:  prices, discounts or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; commissions; 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.

ILTA  monitors all e-groups for inappropriate postings, though ILTA does not undertake editorial control of postings.  However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to ILTA's attention, ILTA will take all appropriate action.

ILTA reserves the right to terminate access to any subscriber who does not abide by these guidelines.

There are specific consequences for violation of our rule that prohibits forwarding of messages.  Every reasonable effort will be expended to determine the forwarder.  If it can be determined that the sender acted with full knowledge and in violation of our rules, ILTA may take action, including removing the forwarder from the e-group.  Repeated violations may result in actions up to and including removal from ILTA membership.