How to fade quickly and get off the JW "radar screen"

by sir82 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sir82

  So you want to fade quickly, and keep the elders off your back? Here's an easy way to do it:

  1) Recruit a sympathetic friend - doesn't have to be an elder, heck, doesn't even have to be a JW - to pose as the secretary for the "XYZ" congregation.

  2) Tell your congregation secretary you are moving to the "XYZ" congregation. "XYZ" should be a congregation either out of state, or at the very least far enough away that no one from your congregation will have ever heard of it. Make up a congregation name if you like.

  3) A few weeks later, tell your friend to call your current congregation secretary and request your publisher cards and a letter of introduction. You may need to coach him a bit on what a "real" elder would sound like.

  4) Publisher cards are supposed to be requested in writing, but in practice, 99% of the time the request is made via telephone. There is virtually never any verification whatsoever that either party is talking to a "real" congregation secretary - so long as the other person knows the lingo, it is just assumed to be the case.

  5) Your cards should arrive to your friend's house a few weeks later. You can then destroy them or do whatever you like with them. From this point on, you are "off the JW grid" - no congregation is responsible for you, so it is quite unlikely that you would ever be DF (unless you are seen on TV attending a Satanic ritual or something equally attention-grabbing).

  6) As an extra added bonus, you can read the letter of introductio to find out what your congregation elders really thought of you!

  This works better if you really do move far away, and also works better if you don't have lots of nosy relatives "checking up" on you, but with care, it could work in even less than perfect circumstances.
• 

  minimus

  You're evil, trying to teach people to get ahold of their records.
• 

  Dune

  I wanted to try this when i was fading but never really got to the point.

  I've heard stories about people trying to get their publisher cards when they left the borg. Not sure if anyone was successful though.
• 

  Farkel

  Dang! You've just alerted Borg Central(tm) that they need to close another loophole in their publisher strangulation system.

  I almost did the same thing as you suggested, but just because I got lucky. My CO gave me my publisher's record card (that's all the paperwork they had on me back then) because I was moving out of the area and didn't have a new Congregation yet. I was already irregular, bordering on inactive. I got in my moving van and tore up the paperwork and tossed it out the window on my way out of town!

  I disappeared from WT radar and slide into the comfortable realm of demonized apostate.

  Farkel, Got Out Easy Class
• 

  IP_SEC

  ithinkisee and his old lady did this a while back. it worked. someone from the board pretended to be the Sec' from the new congo.
• 

  Doubting Bro

  It can be done. I was a secretary for a few years and when a secretary from somewhere else called, I would make small talk and just send him the cards. Actually, depending on the CO, there is pressure to make sure that the cards are moved in a timely fashion. A word of warning, you'd probably want to recruit someone who was a JW, preferably an ex-elder. The small talk could easily back-fire if the person requesting the cards says something that doesn't sound right. With caller id, you'd want to be sure that the person calling is from the same area you told the old secretary that your moving to and that the name of the congregation is close but a little off.

  The problem I see is if there is any suspicion or if someone knows someone else in the area (JW land is pretty small), it could back fire big time. If your goal is to fade, that sort of action could probably get you df'ed.

  I probably wouldn't do it. It would be easier to go to a hall in the new area, give them your name to request the cards and then a bad address and a bad phone number. Go to 2 or 3 meetings and once you confirm they have your records, quit going. Any follow-up would result in the wrong address and phone number. If you don't list your number, I highly doubt there would be an elder that doesn't know you that is going to bother tracking you down.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I met a lady who was at Bethel with her husband. They left and went to a congregation,
  but really started fading. He was appointed and the fade was kind of slow because of
  the appointment, but it was part of the plan.

  After less than 6 months at that cong., they said they were moving. They had always
  said from the beginning that they intended to go to another area to a foreign language
  congregation. He said they found a house in the land where the need is great somewhere
  else, but didn't have the secretary's contact address. Since he was a trusted elder, they
  just gave him the records for him and his wife. (They did this for me once, but I was still
  a full-time believer)

  They never gave the records to anyone and nobody ever asked. It was so long ago and
  they are completely off the radar.
• 

  Doubting Bro

  OTWO - wow, that's pretty slick. After all, who would think a Bethelite was trying to fade?
• 

  hihopes2008

  You Guy's or to funny
• 

  Bubblie

  I moved to a new area, I went to the congregation were I lived, but it was too far me to drive alone at night, so I changed to a closer one. Since, I didn't live it the territory they kinda lost me when I stopped coming. Of course, I am a woman and they we don't matter that much to the elders. So, as long as you aren't an elder you can slip through the radar screen.