I currently own CFS-L based at NIHLIST which is a discussion group for
people who have chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic
encephalomyeltitis, and CFIDS, and formerly mis-named as chronic
Epstein-Barr virus syndrome).  The severity of this illness varies widely,
and some patients are so debilitated that they are unable to work or care
for themselves.  The illness affects the nervous system, the immune system
and the muscles.
 
The CFS-L list is doing well, however many of us recently have
wanted to discuss government policy and activist issues w.r.t. our
illness.  There is a conflict of interest here because the NIHLIST
Listserv is operated by an agency of the U.S. government and it would not
be appropriate for the government to pay for the distribution of messages
whose intent would be to promote changes in government policy.
 
Therefore I wish to create an additional list elsewhere in order to
discuss these topics and to be free of this conflict of interest.  I will
probably call the list CFIDS-L (CFIDS is a USA name for the illness).  The
current CFS-L list has some 270 subscribers and I am expecting that the
new CFIDS-L list will have a much, much fewer number of subscribers.  In
addition to message distribution, I would hope to have a monthly notebook
and possibly some storage space for special files, although depending on
the responses I get to this request, I could readily live without these
extra benefits.
 
Will anyone offer to host my proposed CFIDS-L list?  Please reply to me at
[log in to unmask]  Thank you for your consideration.
 
-- Roger Burns   [log in to unmask]
   List-owner, CFS-L and CFS-NEWS