OpenForum

In case you haven't heard yet, WorldVistA invites you to become a member of WorldVistA and participate on OpenFORUM with most of the same capabilities that exist on FORUM. There are a number of advantages, not the least of which is the opportunity for users of VistA beyond the walls of the VA to participate side-by-side in asking and answering questions, sharing ideas in advancing the cause of affordable health care and keeping the Spirit of VistA alive for the future. There is no charge for membership in WorldVistA or for participation on OpenFORUM. The following information will guide you.

Instructions for submitting a request for membership to WorldVistA:

Use a tool that supports an SSH connection to OpenFORUM. PuTTY is an excellent opensource tool and can be found at a number of web pages. You may Google on PuTTY or simply go to

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
Then select the latest development snapshot for your client.

Windows clients are at:

http://www.tartarus.org/~simon/putty-snapshots/x86/putty.exe

Download, execute and install PuTTY then use a Host Name of openforum.worldvista.org and port 22 using SSH and open the connection. You will be given a prompt of 'login as:' enter "forum" (without the quotes and hit enter, this & the next in lowercase). The next prompt is

'forum@openforum.worldvista.org's password:'  where you enter "vista"

(again without the quotes and hit enter). You will then be prompted with VistA's familiar ACCESS CODE: and VERIFY CODE: prompts. When signing up for membership you need use these access and verify codes only once. They are respectively: "membership4" and "openforum=1" (without the quotes).

You will then be given a series of prompts to fill out in the usual VA FileMan template form. Complete all fields to the end and the system will log you out. When your membership request is processed, you will be given your own ACCESS CODE and you may use the same login and password of 'forum' and 'vista' to get to OpenFORUM. Your VERIFY CODE will be null to begin with and you will need to create one of your own to proceed.

The fields you will be prompted to answer are:

NAME
INITIALS
STREET ADDRESS 1
STREET ADDRESS 2
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
POSTAL CODE
PHONE (HOME)
PHONE (DAYTIME)
EMAIL ADDRESS
DEMOGRAPHICS MAY BE DISPLAYED
   (Answer Yes if you want others to see the above data, No if 
    you want others to see only your name and e-mail address.)
AGREE TO CODE OF CONDUCT
   (All WorldVistA members and OpenFORUM participants must agree
    to the code of conduct.)

All are required fields except the Address 2 entry.

The OpenForum Code of Conduct must be followed.

The WorldVistA members and OpenFORUM users look forward to meeting you there!

--- Cameron Schlehuber