Joe and Christine...forgive me

[RhondaH]

I have been a member of this site since 2/05 and while my "prognostic indicators" may not be as "dire" as others, unless I missed reading that "unless you HAVE/HAD Breast Cancer or are Stage IV" your opinion doesn't mean squat, I thought ALL were welcome. As long as the "required" information is given (TO JOE) to register, it is NOT REQUIRED to spill your guts on this site and to give every detail to people (sometime go on the "who's online" section and compare the # of lurkers to members at any given time) and sorry to say but, MANY people don't want everyone to know every thing about them as then it becomes personal and people tend to "attack you" when you expose yourself. The MAIN things I love about this site are the "familial" aspect AND the knowledge. When I first came to this site, I knew NOTHING, but I learned and I DIDN'T berate people for not "spelling it out for me". Also, there have been times when I would post something and go on to explain it for others, but because I was tired etc, maybe typed something wrong and rather than getting a polite correction, would get read the riot act. If something is of interest to you, read it, if it makes sense GREAT, if not you can "politely" ask the person to maybe elaborate or ask someone else, but SHUT UP if you can only criticize. We get a LOT of valuable information from people who DON'T spill their gutts to the community and prefer to keep their anonymity and I would HATE (I know this has happened to a couple of others that used to contribute, but got "beat up" for others not agreeing with them or finding their beliefs "wacky" which I can tell you have NOW been found to not be so "wacky") for us to loose valuable information because people don't either want to take the time to "learn" (I'm an insurance underwriter for God's sakes...now you know WHO I am... and have NO medical background, but I have still been able to learn things) or can only make "SMART ASS COMMENTS". I'll be honest, some of the people who "talk out of the side of their neck" have REALLY got a lot to talk about as some of the posts I've read are REALLY off the wall. I would LOVE to see more "members" than "lurkers", but I also know that prior to someone joining, they "test the waters" to see if they may be welcome (there are some boards where veritable CAT FIGHTS go on...not to mention the language...I know, I know I'm one to talk, but I'm MAD). There are people from ALL levels...it's one thing to "have an opinion",but it's another to "put down". I know I'm not perfect (the fact that I'm behind on my thank you cards...one in particular to a HER2 member who is very dear to me REALLY troubles me). I'll be honest, I've been lurking more than posting lately AND have read several good articles, BUT because I didn't have the time to "elaborate on them" AND seeing how others get beat up for it, I didn't post them. I'm going to keep it plain and simple...on the level of my 6 year old son (it's sad that it has to be explained so simplisticly), but "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all".

Rhonda