[Dysphagia] Announcing Dysphagia Web Forum Service

[ppalmer at medonline.com (Phyllis M. Palmer)]

Dear Dysphagia Mail List members,

For the last 11 years, I've been operating this dysphagia mail list and 
its corresponding web site, the Dysphagia Resource Center (DRC), 
http://www.dysphagia.com. During this time, the mail list has grown 
tremendously and I thank all of you for being a part of this growing 
community. To accommodate the increasing number of users and their 
interests, I've decided to provide an additional service: the DRC web 
forum.

With the new DRC web forum, users who prefer using a web browser
compared to email can be better accommodated. Further, compared to the
email list, the forum allows one to easily browse threads of
discussion and separate topics into individual areas (e.g.,
treatment). Further, I am working on providing multimedia resources by
allowing uploads of images, videos, and audio files - something which
the mail list can not support. I'd also like to thank, Kevin Rosenberg
MD, who has an interest in dysphagia and has volunteered to help
co-administer this expansion of our community.

The new web forum is available at http://www.dysphagia.com/forum. You
may come and browse the posts anonymously. However, please consider
joining and participating in the online forum. Membership is open to
those with interest in swallowing and its disorders and is free of
charge.

The new web forum is designed to supplement, but *not* replace the
dysphagia mail list. My expectation is that a large number of people
will continue to prefer email-based discussion and that the mail list
will remain open and active for decades to come. I further expect the
web forum to provide additional levels of service and attract members
who do not enjoy email as much as some of us do.

On a related topic, I've begun to post dysphagia related news on the
Dysphagia Resource Center (http://www.dysphagia.com). I appreciate the
news postings on this mail list. This helps keep the news on the DRC
current with the latest important dysphagia information. Similarly,
there is a "News" area on the DRC web forum where members can
directly post and browse dysphagia news.

I look forward to our future discussions on
http://www.dysphagia.com/forum.

Phyllis M. Palmer, Ph.D.
Dysphagia Resource Center
http://www.dysphagia.com