# Help me find these three message boards **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154 "2005-09-24T00:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/1 "2005-09-24T00:58:05Z")
Inspired by a thread a few weeks ago asking about favorite non-SDMB boards, I realized that there are three types of boards I’ve never found on the web. 1. Medical advice - Discuss your symptoms and treatment options. I once found a limited message board discussing some medication. That’s as close as I’ve ever come. 2. Virtual book club - Discuss not only recent publications, but also a specific older work. 3. Computer help: beginner level - When I’ve had complicated questions, especially about file sharing, the boards and the helpful souls are there. But for nontechies, (which is what I am 99% of the time) can’t find a thing. So, do any of these boards exist? ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/2 "2005-09-24T01:18:09Z")
1. [Open Tech Support](http://www.opentechsupport.net/) might be what you’re looking for. I just happened upon it today while trying to troubleshoot my e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/3 "2005-09-24T04:39:04Z")
Some Medical boards * * * Sample sites ACP Online -[http://www/acponline.org](http://www/acponline.org) [aidsnyc.org](http://aidsnyc.org) -[http://www.aidsnyc.org](http://www.aidsnyc.org) Ask Dr. Weil -[http://www.drweil.com](http://www.drweil.com) Go Ask Alice -[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/healthwise/alice.html](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/healthwise/alice.html) Health World -[http://www.healthy.com](http://www.healthy.com) Reuters Health -[http://www.reutershealth.com](http://www.reutershealth.com) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/4 "2005-09-24T13:33:04Z")
1. [Poasters Computer Forum](http://www.poasters.com/forum/index.php?page=home) has helped bail my butt out of a few situation I got myself into. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/5 "2005-09-24T17:56:42Z")
There are several book clubs on MSN Groups. Most of them are author specific, but there are a few more generalized types. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/6 "2005-09-24T20:19:40Z")
Maybe for 2) google for the genre books you like? Lit, mystery, comics, etc? 1. This one is great: [http://www.newbie.org/](http://www.newbie.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/7 "2005-09-25T18:35:17Z")
Thanks everyone! I haven’t had a chance to try any of them yet, but I’m sure they’ll be helpful. Love this board. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/8 "2005-09-25T19:07:28Z")
Dropping “War and Peace discussion”, “Moby Dick discussion”, and “An American Tragedy discussion” into Google™ brought up discussion boards for each of them, (although not every hit was a message board–Moby Dick, in particular had the message boards tucked well behind the “school aid” and “teacher” or “student” guide hits). Interestingly, An American tragedy turned up a whole website devoted to literary discussion, named (with how much irony, I do not know), [ConstantReader.com](http://ConstantReader.com). I do not know that there are a lot of message boards devoted to medical advice, but a lot of medical associations are providing “ask the doctor/nurse” web pages. Several of them have already been noted, but I have also seen sites linked to most of the major hospitals in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/9 "2005-09-26T01:29:16Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Dropping “War and Peace discussion”, “Moby Dick discussion”, and “An American Tragedy discussion” into Google™… I really should just get into the habit of trying Google first. Had an experience recently where I was looking for a certain type of club to hear music and asked every musician I met for about three months with no success. Went to Google and got multiple answers in less than a second. ---
**Author:** ![billfritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@billfritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfritter)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-these-three-message-boards/323154/10 "2005-09-26T20:27:55Z")
1. Medical advice - [Merck](http://www.merck.com/mmhe/index.html) 2. Virtual book club - Amazon has message queues for every title. Not active, except for this week’s best sellers, but you will eventually get notified of responses. 3. Computer help: beginner level - The biggest of these is [PC magazine’s](http://www.zdnet.com/)