Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education (FORE) has several active communities online, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and blog pages. We encourage you to take a look at them and get involved. We appreciate open discussions and look forward to your comments, stories and experiences.

Before you post, make sure to read the below policies.

Social Media Disclaimer

We do make reasonable efforts to monitor participation to ensure that you stay on topic, are courteous and avoid making offensive comments. Please remember that information posted on any of our social media platforms should not be considered medical advice and should not replace a consultation with a health care professional. Information or “following” should not be considered an endorsement for the respective person, brand, or concept.

Please be aware that once you post something online, there is the potential for many people to read your words, even years from now. As a result, we suggest that you exercise caution when posting medical information on any of our social media sites and that you not disclose personal identifiable information like your medical record number, financial information, etc.

The opinions and/or views expressed on FORE’s social media platforms, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and blog pages, represent the thoughts of individual bloggers, social media managers, and online communities, and not those necessarily of FORE or any of its affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, research staff, medical staff or members of its respective board of directors. The opinions and views expressed on these pages do not in any way reflect the views of the site they are posted on, other sites affiliated with the site, the staff involved with maintaining the site or any members of the site.

While Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education makes reasonable efforts to monitor and/or moderate content posted on its social media platforms, we do not moderate all comments and cannot always respond in a timely manner to online requests for information.

Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education reserves the sole right to review, edit and/or delete any comments it deems are inappropriate. Comments including, but not limited to, the following may be deleted or edited by the moderators:

  • Abusive or hurtful comments about a blogger or another participant
  • Off-topic and redundant comments (this includes promotion of events, groups, pages, Web sites, organizations and programs not related to or affiliated with the hospital)
  • Comments that use foul language or “hate speech” (for example, including but not limited to racial, ethnic or gender bashing language)
  • Personal attacks or defamatory statements or comments (i.e., making negative personal or untrue comments about a participant), instead of constructive criticism of his/her posting, opinion or comments
  • Comments that violate the privacy of our patients and their families

All links to other Web sites found linked from Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education’s social media sites are provided as a service to readers, but such linkage does not constitute endorsement of those sites by Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education, and as such we are not responsible for the content of external websites.

By submitting content to any of Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education’s social media sites, you understand and acknowledge that this information is available to the public, and that Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education may use this information for internal and external promotional purposes and fundraising purposes. Please note that other participants may use your posted information beyond the control of Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education. If you do not wish to have the information you have made available via this site used, published, copied and/or reprinted, please do not post on our pages.

FORE Social Computing Guidelines

  • Know and follow FORE’s Social Networking and Blogging Policy.
  • FORE employees/representatives are personally responsible for the content they publish on-line, whether in a blog, social computing site or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time—protect your privacy and take care to understand a site’s terms of service.
  • Identify yourself—name and, when relevant, role at FORE—when you discuss FORE or FORE-related matters, such as FORE products or services. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of FORE.
  • If you publish content online relevant to FORE in your personal capacity, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent FORE’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
  • Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
  • Don’t provide FORE’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information and never discuss FORE business performance or other sensitive matters publicly.
  • Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, link back to the source. Don’t publish anything that might allow inferences to be drawn which could embarrass or damage a client.
  • Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in FORE’s workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory—such as politics and religion.
  • Be aware of your association with FORE in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an employee/representative of FORE, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients.
  • Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes.
  • Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. FORE’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on FORE’s brand.
  • Don’t use FORE logos or trademarks unless approved to do so.

FORE regards blogs and other forms of online discourse as primarily a form of communication and relationship among individuals. When the company wishes to communicate publicly as a company—whether to the marketplace or to the general public—it has well established means to do so. Only those officially designated by FORE have the authorization to speak on behalf of the company.

However, FORE believes in dialogue among FORE employees/representatives and with our associates, clients, members of the many communities in which we participate, and the general public. We believe that FORE employees/representatives can both derive and provide important benefits from exchanges of perspective.

FORE trusts and expects FORE employees/representatives to exercise personal responsibility whenever they participate in social media. This includes not violating the trust of those with whom they are engaging. FORE employees/representatives should not use these media for covert marketing or public relations. If and when approved FORE employees/representatives engaged in advocacy for the company have the authorization to participate in social media, they should identify themselves as such.

When discussing topics relevant to FORE, you must use your real name, be clear who you are, and identify that you work for FORE. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, be the first to point it out, but also be smart about protecting yourself and your privacy. What you publish will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully and also be judicious in disclosing personal details.

The lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred in online social networks. By virtue of identifying yourself as a FORE employee/representative within a social network, you are now connected to your colleagues, managers and even FORE clients. You should ensure that content associated with you is consistent with your work at FORE. If you have joined FORE recently, be sure to update your social profiles to reflect FORE’s guidelines. You may not use FORE logos or trademarks as a part of your postings, including in your identity on a site, unless you are approved to do so.