Association News

Web site honored
The CFIDS Association’s web site, www.cfids.org, has been designated a "Cool Site" on the Netscape Open Directory. This is particularly impressive, given that the open directory is the largest human-edited directory of the web, an alternative to the standard Internet search engines. Volunteer content editors select sites for inclusion instead of com-puters, so www.cfids.org was singled out by an editor familiar with health care information on the Internet. All "Cool Sites" are designated with a star on the open directory.

eBay educates about CFIDS
The September/October issue of the Chronicle featured an article describing Ralph Perullo’s plans to sell off his collection of Joe DiMaggio sports memorabilia through eBay and donate part of the proceeds to the Association. On October 20, eBay posted information about the donation as part of the auction site. A link to the Association’s web site was included on the main page, and the fact that a portion of the proceeds will go to CFIDS was mentioned in the description of most items that were offered.

Publications changes planned
As is mentioned in the Founder’s Forum in this issue, you can expect to see some changes in The CFIDS Chronicle at the beginning of the year. Based partly on feedback you gave us in the reader survey, which was published in the Sept/Oct issue, improvements are being planned to help make the information presented more accessible and easy-to-read. Members will receive a new medical newsletter in addition to the Chronicle and it will also be mailed to hundreds of key health care professionals, government officials and policy makers, working toward improving health care providers’ understanding of CFIDS as a serious, complex and prevalent illness. Look for the debut of the retooled Chronicle and the new medical newsletter by mid-February.