No. It is entirely web-based.

We anticipate turning on the lights for beta early in 2005, and go into full service by late spring.

It starts when we go live. The beta period is free to subscribers.

As many as you like.

I actually tried this before, with no fees. I realized that to do this right, the project requires a staff, technical and legal expertise, servers, editors, technical backup people, software licenses Ð an array of things that add up to serious costs.
In the context of healthcare education, though, the costs are quite moderate.

Indeed we do. We are eager for volunteers and interns. Please email us.

Any group can have a private conference. You can decide who is allowed to participate and who is not. You can have as many as you like, actually. A hospital system, for instance, might want a conference for their own hospitals, no outsiders. Within that, they might want one just for the nurses, or just for the managers of their outpatient clinics.

Suppose you want to ask a hypothetical questions without disclosing your business plans or current problems. You can post it anonymously through us (to guard against any possible abuse through anonymous posts).

The staff of Imagine What If, Inc., sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the web site is ruled by a General Non-Disclosure Agreement that no staff member may reveal or act on any information gathered under circumstances of privacy or confidentiality.

It is against the ethics of the site for any member to mention anything discovered in a private conference outside that conference. The system administrators will erase any such post as soon as it is brought to their attention. The poster will be warned. If the same poster makes the same mistake again, they will be barred from the system.

Every member has a brief bio, so that you can judge for yourself. Besides, over time, you will get a sense of who gives good, thoughtful advice and information.

Each expert has a brief bio, so that you can judge for yourself whether they are qualified. All of them make their living, and their reputation, by giving advice about the field, or by doing what they are giving advice about. In the end, your own judgment, as always, is what counts.

We ask them to respond within 24 hours. The responses need not be elaborate, but they should be to the point and they should be quick.

Very few questions would be appropriate for all the experts. Most of these folks have a specialty, such as IT, or nurse retention. Ideally we will have several in any given subject area. The questions will be directed to those who have expertise in that area.

If people use a message board, it can be extremely valuable. If they don't, it's useless. But the differences between this site and "just another message board" are precisely the differences that will lead to greater use, by making it more convenient, providing greater value beyond just what is posted by peers, by pulling people in through emails targeted to their specific interests--indeed, the whole range of features shown on the features page address exactly this issue: What will draw people in and cause them to use it? The fact that your message board does not draw much business is a vivid illustration of the need for this site. And to do what we do here, you need a staff. It can't be done for free.