The first commandment of VIN is “VIN shall always be For Veterinarians, By Veterinarians and other colleagues who support the development of veterinarians and veterinary students (see VIN-Membership Eligibility Summary).” The Ten Commandments of VIN codify VIN’s governance and obligations to you, the VINners.

The second commandment states “VIN shall make choices based upon what is best long-term for VIN Members… not what is best for the short-term, for VIN or for "profit".” Commandment number eight says, “VIN shall never enter into a "partnering" relationship with another entity who is unwilling to sign and be bound by the Governance Document.” And the tenth commandment sums it all up: “VIN shall never betray the trust of the VIN membership in any way.”

All of these points boil down to one thing — VIN’s only master is you and your fellow VINners. What you might not realize is that you and all VINners play a role in keeping VIN free of commercial influences.

We all have loyalties and biases; that’s human nature. Although we believe we are independent thinkers, we are human. We want to help those who are kind to us or give us a “deal.” The subtle, and largely subconscious, potential conflicts these relationships foster worry me.

In the early days of VIN, we did accept sponsorships and advertising. I believed this income, small compared to what VIN memberships provide, would not alter my commitment to VIN members. I still like to believe that was true.

Though advertising and sponsorships never amounted to a significant portion of VIN’s income, developing and maintaining those relationships involved spending time interacting with and usually getting to like the people I was working with on the projects.

Although I don’t think it altered my choices, I did, around the turn of the century, find myself wondering how those providing advertising and sponsorships would respond to decisions I made. That those thoughts entered my mind convinced me that even this degree of potential conflict of interest was too much if VIN was to truly answer to VIN members only.

From that point on, VIN became advertising and sponsorship free. We’ve never regretted that decision.

To keep VIN independent and driven for veterinarians, by veterinarians, this same set of ethics needs to extend to all VINners. It isn’t easy to navigate this territory. We all use products and services. We all deal with sales people and support personnel that we grow to like — or dislike. It is valuable to share our experiences with products, equipment and services we utilize. But promoting products, equipment or services we are affiliated with or talking negatively about those we see as potential competition to an entity we are affiliated with crosses the line.

There should be no secrets or hidden agendas on VIN.

Over the past 2 decades, VIN staff and VIN members have evolved a set of policies on Commercialism on the VIN Message Boards. These policies are intended to make commercial affiliations and potential biases as transparent as possible and to keep VIN from having even the appearance of favoring any company.

As stated in the introduction to the policies, “These policies are not intended to deter discussion or recommendation of products you believe in or think need improvement.” But as it also says, if you have an affiliation with a company or product, it’s fair to ask yourself before posting. "Am I providing an informed neutral response?"”

Among other things, VIN’s policies on commercialism clearly state:

Posters with a commercial interest should identify their affiliation.

No individual or company may solicit, without invitation, business from another VIN member.

These policies also serve as a reminder that the VIN Community is self-policing. This is where you and all VINners come in. You can monitor and disclose your own allegiances, and if you see postings that you feel have commercial bias, report them by emailing feedback@vin.com.

Remember, VIN is your community, and it should always be an open and transparent community for all members. By keeping our biases and loyalties out in the open, we can all help provide the best possible information to each other.