(From a poster in aus.jokes, 3 July 2003):

There has been an unfortunate development in aus.jokes over the years in that much discussion now takes place in the actual jokes newsgroup instead of the associated discussion group, aus.jokes.d. (Indeed, to the extent that it seems a.j.d may have died out!)

The second point that strikes me is that most of the discussion is instigated by people who never actually contribute a joke.

I notice this because I only ever look at stuff from the odds and sods sector. The never-ending streams of junk from Cerberus and that other bloke are too much to be bothered with. One result of this policy is that I find myself largely restricted to Rowland Croucher and one or two other miscellaneous contributors.

The final point is that there was a rule 10 or 12 years ago which demanded a joke from everyone who contributed in aus.jokes. So if you insisted on commenting on or discussing an earlier joke in the actual jokes group, you had to supply an “obligatory joke”. Like many great traditions, this “rule” seems to have vanished too. 🙁

ObJoke:

Did you hear about the recent accident on the Bruce Highway up this way? A prison van collide with a Ready Mix cement truck.

The drivers and the prison guards are okay, but police are searching for five hardened criminals.