Now that the teeth-care thread has been thoroughly hijacked... wink

Suggestion: a small reorganization of the Forums page.

Remove that button at the top with the checkmark that goes to Archives/FAQs. If you're a newly diagnosed patient or family member, you're not going to notice it -- you're going straight to the forum topics to see where you fit in. Also, on a lot of sites, "Frequently Asked Questions" refers to the mechanics of the site, not to questions that are frequently asked about the topic of the site.

Put the Search function in a far more prominent location, between the recent visitors and the forum topics -- maybe something simple, like this one, found on the site of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego.

Make the check-off boxes for the forums and the main site, allowing visitors to search either or both. Make the default for the forum search "all open forums" and allow search within specific forums as part of the advanced search function, assuming the software allows it. (Do many people search specifically by forum?)

The software used by the SKCC site mentioned above appears to be available here: www.copernic.com .

Or you could do something simpler, like that found at the top of CNET or on university home pages -- a search button and text box, with check-off boxes or dropdown menus to search specific parts of the site. I expect that Google offers something like this that would also include an advanced search.

Whatever you do (and I know I'm repeating myself), make the search function more prominent and put it right above the forum topics.

Then, either right above or right below your new location for searching, put a new forum topic for archived messages on common subjects -- maybe something like this:

Archives
Answers to our most common questions: How long until taste sensations return after radiation? How can I avoid the side effects of Ethyol (amofostine)? How do I pack the greatest number of calories and nutrients into PEG feedings? etc. etc.


Then set up the FAQs (but don't call it that) not by forum topic (Introduce Yourself, Currently in Treatment, etc.) but by subject matter -- whatever questions keep coming up over and over and over. (This could, of course, require occasional updates, given improvements in treatments, etc.)

This may help cut down on repetitive questions. At least it would make the answers easier to find. But remember that there is, as David points out, great value for newbies (and even for oldies) in being wished well, right now, by those who have been there and done that and gotten through it.


Leslie

April 2006: Husband dx by dentist with leukoplakia on tongue. Oral surgeon's biopsy 4/28/06: Moderate dysplasia; pathology report warned of possible "skip effect." ENT's excisional biopsy (got it all) 5/31/06: SCC in situ/small bit superficially invasive. Early detection saves lives.