Hi everyone,

That is, everyone that still gives a darn what I have to say.... ;)

We had a Big Medical/Patient uprising, oops, I mean discussion here on the Women's Forum this past week. It seems "Someone" ??? made the discussion to ask that jokes not be posted to the forum as the forum's purpose is to answer questions of a highly professional nature Only. WELLLL; That didn't last very long did it?

I received thousands, no hundreds, oh perhaps several very strong requests to my serious, (read stupid) post about no-more jokes. Snippets to follow.

Well it didn't take long, even for me to figure out that was a major mistake. The women and an un-named physician with the initials HM rallied to the defense of the Ann Marie, Official Joke Master, of OBGYN.net Women's Forum and the voting began. Gosh I only went to the movies, to see "The Full Monty"; by the way it's a scream! Oh please excuse me for loosing my train of thought...Now where was I? Oh yes the folks on the forum went crazy, I mean started writing in in support of "The Jokes Staying"... It gave me a headache; sorry I meant to say a reason to pause and re-think the situation...I really began to wonder why I Ever think at all!!!

The posts were touching, in fact sooo touching I was expecting the bullets to go whizzing by at any moment.. Being the fast thinker that I am known to be I made a, well thought out; seat of the pants decision to let the jokes stay. This was purely based on fact...The fact being, that if I ever wanted Anyone on this forum to even begin to like me again I'd better do it Now.

Here's how it went for anyone not familiar with the revolt; I mean discussion on the forum this week

First AnnMarie wrote:

I am sorry for using the forum to post jokes and other items. I understand that some of you may not be interested in anything but medical Q&A (This sounded good to me)

Then our leader Roberta wrote her .02 cents worth; excuse me I mean her thoughts:

I plead guilty in this area too. I tend to use the Women's Health Forum for social/business reasons too. I can now see that it does make it difficult for those trying to answer serious medical questions to wade through.

Then the tearful replies started coming in; I meant to say the letters of support!!

Joanne Bartling

Oh dear! Must have missed the post, but figure someone complained. How sad for me, as I just love the jokes I read on this forum. I am constantly forwarding them to my e-mail friends. Please, if you can't post them to the forum, could anyone with great jokes, post them to me privately. They really do make my day!! I realize this is a serious medical site, but as I've learned with my own job (nursing) laughter really is the best medicine. The jokes will be sorely missed.

KANDL whoever you are, wrote:

personally love the jokes.....it really brightens my day. I would love to see a new forum for this purpose!

And Words of Advice:

Hi AnnMarie,

I must second (or third) what Dr. M and Joanne have said. The jokes you (and Dr. M) provide add a lift to my day! I vote to keep the jokes coming. As was previously mentioned, those who don't care for them can hit the delete key or skip the posting. How about this - in the future, the subject line for joke postings start with JOKE:

Just my .02 worth :)

Mary Shoup

LFMorrin wrote:

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, WE ALL NEED TO LAUGH!

JoAnn wrote:

PLEASE KEEP THE JOKES COMING>

And Then The BIG GUY Wrote In:

Life without humor is no life. Humor is found at home, in religion, in schools, in law, in medicine, in marriage, in life and even in death. I don't feel that the Women's Forum to be excluded from this human, natural part of life. anyone who feels otherwise is free to hit the delete button on email or go to the next web page on the net without any offense taken by either party.

Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D. FACOG, FACS OBGYN.net U.S. Representative, New York Great Neck, New York

Then I, Afraid for My Life; I Mean My Job ; Wrote:

OK guys I'll fess up; but please don't throw stones at me!!! I voted for no jokes...I felt it was from popular demand and now I see the vote is definitely in For Jokes! A recount has been held and counted and it seems Everyone that voted has voted YES... Ann Marie you have been awarded the title of "Joke Master" followed our beloved Physician, Harvey Marchbein M.D. aka "Harvel The Marvel".

The Jokes Stay. I would ask just one thing; that's if anyone is still listening to anything I have to say about this forum, please follow the wise thought of our Dr. Harvey and add Joke to the Subject Line when posting.

This will enable our non-joke loving people to pass over this post and get on to the real stuff of life like, No Periods, Vaginal Discharge, Painful Intercourse and all the other interesting subjects that we write about so often.

Well I can see I'm beginning to sound like a joke myself so I'll end this post while I can still keep a straight face.

Your friend, Barbara

Well it was fun while it was going on and I did really learn a couple of wonderful things this week, 1. Don't Tell Moms To Not Take Children To The ObGyn' s Office and 2. Leave The Jokes To The People That Can Tell Them; and stop being sooo serious.

Thanks everyone for your support of each other; that's what make this place so special.

So this is how my week went; how was yours???

Barbara
Editor, Women's Health at OBGYN.net
Barbara.Nesbitt@obgyn.net

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