Tuesday 23 December 2014

Spirit of the season

In the interest of peace, love, and goodwill toward idiots, I've decided to forgo a formal update this week and leave everyone with a few thoughts:

1) We're approaching 3 million page views here.  That's just unfathomable.
2) I'll probably do a post soon about personal confessions.  I have plenty from which to choose. 
3) I've been contemplating dropping the anonymity.  

With that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Joyous Festivus, and Happy Holidays.  

I would like to sincerely wish everyone who reads this a happy, healthy, and safe 2015. 

Best,
Doc

50 comments:

  1. Wow, Doc, this is...surprising. I'm wonder if this is some kind of pre-holiday prank, but if not, I would hope you're not just doing this for us as your fans, but rather do you can tell Paul, Dana, Lauriel and all the other pseudo "scientific" quacks where to shove an extra large minty candy canes, and they can't insult you about your anonymity anymore.

    Petty for me to hope that, definitely, but Twitter's stupid enough. Beliebers, KatyCats, Directioners, Swifties - them I can handle. They're just annoying, horny teenagers.

    Anyway, whatever you decide, I support you and look forward to your next post. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas... Kwanza... Hanukkah... Saturnalia... Yule...

    Whatever. Have a happy various holidays.

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  2. Happy holiday DrBastard.

    Please consider aborting dropping the anonymity idea, you are much saver without it. (Although getting to know you is much more fun)

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  3. 3M is impressive Doc' but I hope you're not thinking of quitting!

    Personally, I think that dropping the anonymity would be a mistake. My guess is that there are cases and views that you will feel reluctant to publish if you are easily identifiable. If we know who you are then we can find out which hospital and from there potentially identify the patients etc. And if you posted on a very contentious topic (like, say Jahi McMath) then there would always be that thought that some nutter might follow you home.

    But of course you know all of that, which makes me think that you would only drop your anonymity if you were thinking of quitting. I know they say quit while you're ahead but you'll be ahead for a long time yet! Don't do it Doc - quit at 300M rather than 3M!

    And whatever you call your midwinter celebration, I hope you and all here have a great one.

    Ugi

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  4. Congratulations.

    hope the Call gods give you a break for the holidays. it has become a tradition in my family to always carry my response gear to family holidays, because they consistently interrupt dinner - and with people traveling for the holidays, those of us who stay in town can't ignore them.

    as for the anonymity, as curious as I am, I also vote to retain it - it is a key element of your persona.

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  5. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

    Thank you for sharing a piece of yourself with us. :) Congratulations on the 3 million views. You certainly deserve it. :)

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  6. Happy Holidays to you and your family!! Really enjoy reading your blog.

    Don't drop the anonymity, if those idiot don't believe you're a real doctor now they won't believe you when you drop a name and credentials. Half the fun is guessing where you're from.

    At the very least let us all make bets first. ;)

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  7. As curious as I am about who you are and where you are from, I have to agree that you and your family and your patients are much saver without telling the whole internet who you are. Also I think it might make you reluctant to post certain stories in the future, in order to respect your patients privacy. But ultimately that's your decision. If you still decide to tell us all about you I'll go with Shark's comment and say: let us all take a guess first :)

    Congratulations on 3M views, you sure have earned them! I'm not particularly interested in medicine but I've been following your blog eagerly for years. Yes, you are that good!

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  8. Happy Holidays and New Year to you and your family!

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  9. If you do in fact drop your anonymity, can we guess where you are from geographically first? I think that would be fun.

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  10. You're the best, Doc! Thank you so much for this wonderful blog. Please continue with "not my real name." Sad to say, there are too many nut jobs out there who might stalk you and cause trouble. Merry & Happy Whatever to you, Mrs. Bastard, and the little Bastards. See you in 2015!

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  11. Congratulations on the nearly 3m views! Happy Christmas from Canada, Mr. Bastard! :)

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  12. Oh Dr Oz, we know it's been you all along! (thoughts of an uncouth American)

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  13. I think you should not tell people your real name, but a city where you live could be a nice holiday present!

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  14. As others have said, do not drop your anonymity. I am curious as to why you're playing with the idea, though.


    My jest is that the holiday spirit became so strong within you, the love for humanity came ripping out of your bosom in an attempt to connect with your fellow man on a deep, emotional level. In that singular moment, you could hear the rustle that is the very fabric of the universe. All upper cognitive functions begin to fade as you became one with the cosmos and transformed into love incarnate.

    In the throws of such an transcendent emotional fit, you hastily banged out item number three on your holiday list for your readers. Only after your trembling fingers click 'publish', you eased off of your celestial high and begin to hear a different, but familiar voice in the foreground of mind: your own.

    Your inner self has come to remind you that while humanity isn't stupid as a whole, there are some critically moronic individuals that manage to ungracefully cross paths with you. The types of individuals that make you wonder nearly out loud how they are able to tell their right shoe from their left.

    As you begin to reflect on all of the stupidity that occurred during the year as it dies and gives birth to 2015, a year that will quickly learn that some individuals don't fasten their seat belts, you give an ever so slight nod to your monitor in agreement to the comments that will soon follow. Comments that will implore: Don't drop the anonymity.


    Huge jest aside, if anyone manages to get this far please help better my English by finding grammatical mistakes. I'm a native writer/speaker, but there is always room for improvement. I have a feeling that I'm getting my tenses all mixed up and have run-on sentences.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My only comment would be "throes", not "throws".

      Delete
    2. Thank you, comment eagerly received. I'm glad that you read it. <3

      Delete
  15. I must say I'm surprised by the response here. I had expected everyone to say "Well, it's about time!" but not a single person has done so. Every single person who has commented and/or emailed me has implored me to keep the anonymity, and for several very good reasons.

    Honestly, if I were to drop the anonymity I would have to severely alter the way I write. I don't want to do that, and it seems no one else wants that either.

    And I didn't mean to imply that we were at 3 million views - not quite yet. But it's coming up soon. I'll keep everyone posted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You shouldn't drop the anonymity but if you can, you should tell us the country in which you live and work, and if it's a big country such as Canada, also tell us the province.

      Delete
    2. what you have is working well - which is good reason to keep doing it.

      Delete
  16. Definitely keep the anonymity: it's what makes this blog so fun to read because you're not having to censor yourself for the sake of your job. By keeping the shroud of mystery firmly wrapped around your persona, you can tell us the awesome, hilarious stories that otherwise might get you in trouble.

    And just in case I forget to check when it happens, Congratulations on 3,000,000 views! I've read just about every article here (I may have missed a few), but I hope to read even more in the future.

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  17. I say keep the anonymity. Wouldn't mind knowing simply what country you lve in though :)

    Congratulations on almost-but-not-quite 3 Million views Doc, I've been reading your blog since way-back-when, when you restarted the blog however many years ago that was and it's been a bloody good read.

    Hope to keep readin til at least 6M views, it's always nice to have a giggle at both your writing style and at other people's expense

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  18. Yeah, keep the anonymity Doc, you don't know what kind of crazies there might be out there on the interwebs.

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  19. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and yours Doc.
    May the call gods develop blindness, deafness and amnesia at the mention of your name.

    Please keep your anonymity, it allows for free rein of your creative juices and also maintains your privacy and that of your patients and fellow staff.
    It also means we can continue to use our imaginations to picture you in scrubs raising your fist to the call gods in a superhero type fashion.
    Thanks for a great blog and for sharing your sometimes warped sense of humor.

    Hugs and smooches for a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2015 xx

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  20. Hi Doc,
    First time commenter , long time reader here.
    I felt the need to join my fellow docbastard blog enthusiasts in imploring you to keep your anonymity. As curious as I am about your identity and where you are from, you have people everywhere wondering 'oh god, could he be my doctor?'. There are people wearing seatbelts, quitting smoking and cancelling appointments with homeopaths for fear of ending up as one of your 'idiots'.
    You're doing some good here, don't change a thing.
    Happy new year!
    (But, as previously suggested, if you wanted to tell us your country of origin perhaps a contest with the winners name being used as your next 'not his/her real name'?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that seems to me (not my real name) to be a rather dubious honor.

      Delete
    2. I think I would actually feel honored to have my name used in a post. It seems like a good idea to me.

      Delete
  21. Definitely anonymous : makes for much better blogging / honesty...

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  22. I would also agree with everyone else above to keep the anonymity. It makes it easier to blog and share your stories in my opinion.
    AnonRN

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  23. Heya doc, I recommend keeping the anonymity for many different reasons.

    P.S. Happy Holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I do have to agree with everybody. I just like it more, as you the DocBastard cringing at people on FML or the bastard keeping idiots in check or just plain grammatically correcting nuisance. It's better that way, to think of one person out there, that stands, watching almost helplessly at the world being only able to commentate on some blog

    ReplyDelete
  25. Please do not drop anonymity, Doc. As you become more popular, you would need to worry about prior posts as well. Just deleting/editing them would not be enough, as there are a couple of websites that crawl the internet and archive web pages (such as the Wayback Machine [http://archive.org/web/], which can be really useful if, for example, Website A references a recipe from the now-deleted Website B). Even giving your country might be enough for someone to figure out your identity, release it, and open you up to all sorts of legal trouble. Keep doing everything you can to disguise your identity and location.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hey Doc! Happy New Year right back at ya!

    I'm with everyone else on not dropping your anonymity. I'd much rather you remain protected, but feel free to tell us your patients' real names ;)

    If we ever start taking bets as to your location, I get first dibs on Australia, with New Zealand running a close second. No particular reason.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww... My first guess was Australia. >:(

      Fine. I'll go with a British guy working in America because the money is better. :P

      Delete
    2. Does Doc appear to have a British vernacular? Please!

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    3. he makes a point of using a british turn of phrase at least once in each post.

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    4. Yes, and I can understand a medical professional thinking in terms of liters and milligrams, but when they start misspelling words like "favourite" and "colour," you just know they also pronounce schedule as shed-ule and aluminum as al-you-min-ium. Crikey! Or blimey! Or something like that.

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    5. There's only one way to settle this. >:D

      Doc, if you're reading, what are these called?

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    6. @gristle; or he spells it that way with the intention of having you thinking he calls the car a jag-you-ah.

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    7. No more speculation, please.

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    8. not speculating - just pointing out that your writing may not be in your real accent.

      Delete
    9. Fair enough. We were just playing. ;)

      Delete
  27. http://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com/2007/05/doctor-flea-settles-malpractice-suit-after-blog-exposed-in-court.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This would be a perfect example of an idiot doctor. Blogging about your own malpractice case as it is ongoing isn't just stupid, it's reckless and endangers his case, as he found out the hard way.

      Delete
  28. Doc, I call dibs on the United States. I am betting on California.

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    Replies
    1. Nah, I bet it's in Europe

      Delete
    2. While I enjoy the game, I've said before that speculation about my whereabouts won't be entertained. Please let this end now.

      Delete
  29. C'mon guys!

    Everyone seems to agree that the Doc' should remain anonymous, so let's all give him the chance to do that! I've said it before, but the only thing that speculating could achieve is to stop the Doc' from posting - and none of us want that.

    Happy New Year to all and let's hope 2015 keeps us all (save the Doc') well away from the trauma bay!

    Ugi

    ReplyDelete

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