-> JC> How do you feel about routine infant circumcisions?
-> Oh please! Do Not restart the 'circumcision wars' here on FidoNet's
-> GRAND_ROUNDS. That was one of the main reasons we disconnected from
-> sci.med.  If you want to argue over circumcision, please take it to
-> sci.med on the Internet.
JC> What do you mean by "restart"?
-> Everyone else - please do not reply to this topic.
JC> I am unaware of the confrence you discribe.
JC> I am also unaward that the subject of malpractice is off topic. 
    For a long time the UseNet newsgroup sci.med was ported into 
GRAND_ROUNDS. One of the ongoing topics - one that almost always was 
restarted by someone in sci.med rather than grand_rounds - was circumcision. 
It wouldn't have been so bad if the people participating in it would stick to 
medical or health related issues, but too many of the messages went off topic 
into religion and deteriorated into what looked (to me) like flame wars.  
Plus, everyone active in the 'circumcision wars' kept repeating the same 
thing over and over again until it got annoying. Many of us just quit reading 
it.
    There are some topics, abortion, euthanasia, religion, spouse abuse, and 
circumcision, which go off topic very quickly and in which participants will 
never accept the other sides information or views. They tend to disrupt the 
Echo by driving away medical and health personnel who don't have the time to 
wade through all the garbage messages.  For that reason alone I would like to 
keep the off topic msgs to a minimum.
    Personally, while I don't believe that circumcision is a necessary 
medical procedure, I don't believe that it is malpractice.  Even if it is, 
malpractice itself isn't exactly a medical or health issue and would probably 
be better to move to one of the legal Echoes.
   Now if you want to talk about the health benefits or hazards of 
circumcision, and don't keep repeating the same thing for six month, fine.  
Otherwise, thank you for your co-operation and understanding of the 
moderators request.
   Stu Turk, GRAND_ROUNDS co-moderator
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