How to use the Forum

1) Direct website access

The first way, and the way that affords the most direct access is to go directly to the website. Here you can read, post and interact with the messages and threads that others have posted, or start your own. As long as you have logged in, you have full access to all the features of the Forum and the website. Remember to check the box to "Remember me on this computer" just one time, you will automatically be logged in next time you go to the site.

Here is a short (3 min) video illustrating how to log into the Forum for the first time, how to navigate the different sub-forums, how to make a post, and how to change your Email Subscription options.

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2) Email digest subscription

The second way, and the way that most people have been utilizing the Forum up to this point is an email digest. A digest is an email that contains a summary and link to the posts made. You can select to have a digest sent that is compiled daily, or one compiled weekly. The selection of daily / weekly can be made from the My Subscriptions drop-down menu under The Forum. You can also select to not receive any email notifications.

From the digest email, each comment contains a link that allows you to head directly to the message in question, read in more detail, and post a response to it. The link will be at the bottom of the message, and take the form "(Click to view: link )". Just click the link to go to the post. If, when you log in, you remember to check the box to "Remember me on this computer" just one time, you will automatically be logged in and taken to the post.

The email digest allows you to review a collection of posts at your leisure. It doesn't allow for minute to minute following of trending topics of interest. If you are looking for near real-time notifications, we are introducing a third method for interacting with the Forum, RSS.

Here is a short (2 min) video showing you how to use the digest email to follow a thread and to post a reply.

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3) RSS

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", and is a way for you to receive information. This information can take any form - text, audio, video, etc. RSS allows for a website to "push" information to you, rather than having you go there and "pull" the information.

In order to receive the information, you need a program that can do just that. These programs are known as readers. Readers receive the information, known as a feed, and do the magic to present what is contained within. The feed is updated whenever the original site is updated.

Here are some quick resources for more information on RSS, readers and feeds:

Understanding RSS - A quick guide for the insanely busy executive
How to explain RSS the Oprah Way
What Is RSS?

Here are some quick videos to watch to explain what RSS is, and how to use it:

RSS in Plain English
Practical RSS - An introduction to RSS

Specific RSS examples

There are many programs available that make using RSS feeds easy. Most modern email programs and web browsers have this ability baked right in. Click any of the following to get specific instructions on how to use your program to read RSS.

Other options exist besides these. One popular option (and the one that I use most commonly) are web-based readers. These have the advantage of being available anywhere that you have a web-browser, regardless of the type of browser available. Some examples include:

Google Reader (my personal choice, with an excellent mobile version as well)
iGoogle (customizable personal google homepage)
My Yahoo (customizable personal yahoo homepage)

People who use these web portals as their home page may find it most convenient to subscribe to their RSS feeds there, so that their home page automatically includes information from their favorite feeds.

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Subscribing to Feeds

Here are the RSS feeds (in alphabetical order) for each of the sub-forums. Just mouse-over the link, right-click and click "copy link" or similar. You can then paste the link into whichever of the above you plan on using:

ACMT Announcements
General Discussion and Announcements
General Toxicology (Clinical)
International Toxicology
Legal Toxicology
Management Questions
Media Coverage
Opportunities
Tox Feeder (abstracted pooled toxicology news from multiple sources)

If you use Google Reader, you can easily add the following "subscription bundle."

Additionally, below the last post of each forum, you will find an RSS link. The link is the RSS symbol () followed by rss. If you are using a web-based reader, you can often just click on this link to subscribe.

Once your reader has the feed, you are all set. Every time you access the reader, it will automatically get updated with the most recent posts to that feed. You can browse them at any time. Just follow the links to post a response.

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Future Directions

We are currently working on a mobile optimized version of the Forum for use on mobile phones and other small screened devices. Please email if you have any other suggestions on how to make your experience using the Forum easier, or if you have any difficult with the steps above. Thanks.

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