The CAT Forum is a mail server ("listserv") program for the on-line exchange and discussion of issues related to toxicology. CAT members who subscribe to the Forum may post queries, information, etc. which will be automatically sent to all other subscribed members, who can then respond either to the sender or to all subscribers. This is intended to expedite the sort of networking that takes place at the quarterly meetings and make it accessible to those who are unable to attend the meetings.

The CAT Forum and the Southwestern Association of Toxicologists' listserv are interlinked. A message posted to either will be distributed to both. [The exact mechanism is evolving.] A single listserv would be simpler, but the present arrangement maintains the autonomy of the two organizations' listservs.

HISTORY
The CAT Forum was first set up in the Summer of 1998 on CoolList.com, which went out of service not long after. It was then moved to OneList.com, which subsequently merged with eGroups.com, which recently merged with Yahoo!Groups. In the course of the recent moves, all the old functionalities have been preserved, and the old E-mail links still work. You can post messages to catforum@onelist.com or to catforum@egroups.com, and it will work exactly the same as posting them to catforum@yahoogroups.com. The only difference will be in accessing the shared files area, which will require new passwords. Complete instructions are given below in the section on how to post or read a shared file.

FORUM ETIQUETTE
This is an unmoderated listserv and it is anticipated that very little in the way of formal rules will be required to ensure appropriate use by members. The basic etiquette of mailing lists obtains here--do not use inappropriate language, do not engage in defamation, do not make commercial use of the Forum, and minimize your quotations from the previous letter when responding to a posting. Consider whether your reply should go only to the person who sent a message or to all subscribers and respond appropriately. [N.B.: Depending on your particular E-mail program, when you click on "Reply" after reading a posted E-letter, you may be presented with the choice of replying to either the group or the sender. If you are not presented with such a choice, your reply is probably going to be delivered to all the members of the CAT and SAT listservs. In such a case, if you wish only to respond to the sender, you will have to manually address the reply.]

If necessary, the rules will be updated and distributed to subscribers. If a particular subscriber becomes troublesome and does not mend his or her ways, he or she will be unsubscribed by the administrator.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
To subscribe to the Forum, click here to E-mail the Forum administrator. All you normally have to do is to put "subscribe CAT" in the subject line and your name in the message. If you are sending the E-mail from an address you would not normally use for participation in the Forum, please give your normal e-mail address in the body of the letter. Members who are not yet listed in the (currently distributed) CAT membership roster please put "new member" in the body of the letter. Addition of subscribers to the Forum is not automated, so there will be some delay; you will be notified when you are added to the list of subscribers.

HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE
You can unsubscribe from the Forum by clicking here to E-mail the Forum administrator. All you normally have to do is to put "unsubscribe CAT" in the subject line. If you are sending the E-mail from an address you would not normally use for participation in the Forum, please give your normal e-mail address in the body of the letter. [You can also unsubscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com, but it is rather more complicated.]

HOW TO POST A MESSAGE
Send Forum messages to catforum@yahoogroups.com with your regular E-mail program or with this link.

HOW TO POST A MASS SPECTRUM OR OTHER FILE TO THE SHARED FILES AREA, OR DOWNLOAD ONE THAT HAS BEEN POSTED
This is a great idea from Nadina Giorgi, who was seeking help identifying a compound from its mass spectrum. She first tried attaching the mass spectrum [as a *.tif (fax format) file] to her E-mail letter to CAT Forum, but the server wouldn't accept it because it was too big. It turns out that the listserv provides space for shared files, which we have used to good effect.

To access the shared files area use your browser to go to http://groups.yahoo.com [www.yahoogroups.com, www.onelist.com, and www.egroups.com also work], enter your Yahoo! ID and password and press "Sign in!" If you don't have an ID and password or have forgotten them, click the "Trouble Signing In?" link and follow the directions. After you have signed in, click on "catforum" under the "My Groups" heading on the left. On the next page, click on "files." Then select the file you want to see (if it has already been posted) or click on "Add File" to post a file for others to see.

The best way to see the files seems to depend on your particular computer setup. On mine a *.tif file takes a LONG time to download, and a *.jpg file is not a whole lot better; a *.gif file much works faster. For Bob Abrams the *.tif file was the only one that displayed properly. We have all three versions of Nadina's file in the shared files area; test them and see what works for you. I have also uploaded a sample ASCII (text) file and a sample HTML file for you to see and experiment with; they work quite well. A *.pdf (Adobe Acrobat) file has been added and seems to work well. There are some CAT-related files, in addition to spectra and various other files.

Bob Abrams and I, as administrators, can delete or modify files. Perhaps those who post them can, too; I would welcome feedback on this and any related items.--Alan Barbour

PROBLEMS?
There will probably be some unanticipated problems with the listserv from time to time, but they have proven remarkably few. Such problems are certainly an appropriate subject for discussion in the Forum itself, and can also be brought to the attention of the Forum Administrator.