As promised several months ago we are pleased to announce that the FAPA Online Discussion Group, the FAPA Forum, is now ready for use as of September 16, 2006. This online discussion group or forum will be limited to FAPA members on a volunteer basis. This article will detail how to use the new FAPA Forum. It will operate like other online forums. It will be administrated by Wyn Bryant in the FAPA office and moderated by Ron Pace, the FAPA Webmaster, and will run through our server via the FAPA website system.

We have one group for the general membership and a separate private group for the Board of Directors. The FAPA Forum groups are private forums and membership is not accessible to the public, only to the FAPA membership as a membership benefit. These Forums will give the membership another way to communicate with each other, and the Board of Directors. If a non-member wants to participate as well, then that it easy - just join FAPA. Only those FAPA members with a valid username and password will have access to the message groups.

Here is a printable FAPA Forum User Guide:

FAPA Forum User Guide (PDF)

If you have participated in other online Forums you will find this one operates in a similar manner, but for those who have not done so in the past, here is how you do it:

1. To access the FAPAOnline discussion groups click on the FAPA Forum link in the dropdown box under the MyFAPA or Membership tabs on the top of any page on the website.

For FAPA members, all User Names are the same as your MyFAPA User Names. The new system requires passwords be at least 7 characters, so the passwords are the same for those whose MyFAPA passwords are already 7 characters. For those that weren't, we added the letters 'fapa' on the end of their password.

If for some reason you have any trouble, you can use the password lookup function which is available at:

www.nuke.fapaonline.org/Home/tabid/36/ctl/SendPassword/Default.aspx

Just enter your User Name (again, this will be the same as your MyFAPA User Name) and it will e-mail you your password.

2. The FAPA Forum home page will pop up. Click on the “Login” button in the upper right hand corner of the window. The Login window will pop up and you will type in your User Name and Password, then click on the “Login” button below that.

3. You will return to the main window now. The “Login: button is now a “Logout” button. On the left hand side you will see a box entitled “Links”. Below that are links to the FAPA Homepage, the MyFAPA login page, and Discussion Forums.

4. Click on the Discussion Forums. You will see one Forum, Members, and under that will be one Group, entitled General. At present we just have the General group, but we can add others later on more specific issues as the need and desires of the group develop. 5. Next click on the “My Settings” box at the top. A “User Settings” box will appear. The sections for General Information, and User Profile are optional for completion.

6. Complete the Signature section and then click on the icon to the right and it will be included in your posts automatically. In the signature include your name and email address. You must identify yourself to the group in this manner. Optionally you could include your address and phone number for others to contact you if you so desire. Remember, only FAPA members have access to the FAPA Forum. Sample signature:

John Q. Public, PA-C
Jqp#email.com
123 Any Street
Someplace, FL 12345
407-123-5678

7. Next click on the “Tracking/Subscription”. By checking the box next to Members you can select to receive an email notification of when a post is made to that Forum, or to a special interest group in that section if we add other groups. If you do not select one you will not receive email notification of a post and will just have to log in to check for new postings.

8. To post a message, called a “thread”: Click on the specific group you want to post the thread to and that window will pop up. Click on the “New Thread”. A message window will appear that looks much like an email program window. Type in the subject and then the message or comment that you wish to post.

9. After typing your message or post, click on the “Update” button below to post it, or you can “Preview” it, or you can “Cancel” it. And as you can see in the window there are a number of formatting options available. In the near future we hope to add a function where you can send a private email to the person who posted a comment rather than put a comment on the Forum for all to see.

We sincerely hope you will enjoy using the FAPA Forum and communicating with your fellow FAPA members about Academy issues and PA issues here in Florida. Please feel free to contact us with your comments about the FAPA Forum.