Dear AVAPL Members, Allow me to be one of the first to wish each of you a Happy New Year! I hope that each of you had an enjoyable holiday and I hope to see many of you in 2011 in San Antonio at the VA Psychology Leadership Conference (www.conference.avapl.org <http://www.conference.avapl.org> ). Registration is already open! Recently some of you have been concerned that messages sent via the AVAPL listserv are able to be accessed through Internet search engines and have suggested the Executive Committee consider options to make the emails we share more private. Thank you for raising this issue for discussion. The Executive Committee met with our Advisory Committee to discuss the problem and options to resolve it. I am pleased to announce the implementation of a change that we believe will resolve the concern. We have decided to move our listserv to Google Groups. Google Groups is a free service that includes an option to allow archiving that keeps the messages private and undiscoverable by search engines, including Google itself. We place a high value on our email list as a tool of communication among our members, and we want to continue to provide a space where we can have important open, public discussions. Moving to Google Groups allows us to continue our discussions outside the reach of Internet search engines. That being said, I feel it is very important that we not convey a false sense of privacy with this change. Please remember that Emails, by their very nature, are not confidential. As part of our transition to Google Groups, you will soon receive an Email from "noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" This Email will announce the addition of your Email address to Google Groups. There is nothing that you need to do. You will continue to address your messages to the AVAPL listserv by using the "members1@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:members1@xxxxxxxxx> " e-mail address. Although we don't anticipate any problems with this new listserv, I do hope you'll let us know of any you discover. Sincerely, George Shorter, Ph.D. AVAPL, President North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System 1601 SW Archer Rd. Gainesville, FL 32608-1197 (352) 376-1611 ext. 6020 "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country." -George Washington