Morgellonsfriend -
It seems you are describing pretty much what the Morgellons Research Foundation does - i.e., collects donations to fund research. They have a Board of Directors which includes a medical staff. They conduct and publish research.
The Charles Holman Foundation is a little different, but they, too are a 501 (c)3 with a medical board. They do not develop their own research projects, but they fund other researchers, like Dr. Wymore at OSU. They put on the Annual Morgellons Scientific and Medical Conference.
Neither of these boards have a discussion site.
Despite the similiarity in name, MDR bears little resemblance to the MRF. There is no medical board of directors, does not sponsor any events, is not involved in any activism or professional scientific research.
MDR is more similar to Lymebusters, Morgellons Sanctum, or Morgellons Group in that it is a discussion site for sufferers and no more. MDR has only one moderator who has to manage an extremely busy site. As a result, in many respects the group itself manages certain problems that arise, such as routing out spammers who may find their way into the group a bit under the radar.
The group also manages issues like calling other members on certain types of behavior, like dominating the board through excessive posting. One poster can bury a board through post after post, thread after thread, making it very difficult for others to participate.
The ratio of moderator to activity is higher on other boards, so that members aren't as active in monitoring each other. But there is a downside to that, in that some boards get "over-moderated", almost to the point of censorship of ideas that don't conform to their own ideas.
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