by dozy 12 Replies latest jw friends
Bethel confirmation that from 2008 anyone can download the JW & public editions of the WT online in audio from the JW website.
Lots of JWs already get the tapes or CDs from the cong - now the encouragement is that they will download them from the Net. MP3 & other formats will be available. Could this be another step towards the printed editions being published online?
Dozy, for a regular church, that would print regular rags each month, I would agree totally with you.
But the witnesses are so much different. I can't see them wanting everybody have a computer. I thnk they would really like to BAN computers for JW's.
How much money does the rags make for them? When we used to buy them, I think it was a profit, though small, for Brooklyn. Now that they are free, I remember my mom told me that the society makes more money now, from donations at the door. (but that was 10 years ago) (also propaganda)
Maybe they think they can't squeeze any more money out of these people, and if they give the same amount, whether they hand them a paper copy, have them download them. OR.....
How and why do these people get the tapes?? They are shut ins, and somebody has to deliver them. Taking up too much time, away from the "real" preaching work. Those people are already suckered in, don't need to waste time, and they aren't giving money anyway, They're sick!!!!
I still think the WTS is making money on the mags, but they have a profit margin that
they have to watch. They are trying to increase the margin by reducing the total
number of materials they have to produce. Here's my theory of what they are thinking:
Reducing production of tapes or CD's or whatever audio medium will further reduce costs.
The JW's that don't have computers are so rare now. Most will have no problem with this
provision, and they will see value in actually going to a WT website. The equipment to
produce "hard" copies of audio mags will not be replaced as it wears out. Eventually, all
will either get the download or nothing at all.
I don't know the details as I haven't gone there, but don't you have to register or sign in
somehow? This will also allow them to have email addresses and some information on
who is receiving the downloads. It will allow them to spread that information and "count"
that distribution somehow. They are obsessed with "counting" placements and growth.
They also know that the average person will not want this download, only JW's. That
means that it won't effect magazine placements. Plus, once every congregation is used
to this provision, they can introduce the "members only" print magazine to the download
crowd, as proclaimed already here. They can stop printing it altogether and pass the
cost of producing it on to the congregations or the members, and still "count" it.
Edited to add: If there is no more profit in distributing magazines, they will abandon the
public editions and offer tracts and left-over literature, then just tracts. It will happen eventually.
Good. That means that apostates are going to be able to download the litter-ature for those Comments You Will Not Hear sessions. And, I hope some of them make a typo, as tired as they are from all the field circus, and land on an apostate web site instead of the official site.
Onthewayout, so do you think Brooklyn will just be a rank an file donation religion? Like all other religions? People won't give a donation at the door, for a pamphlet.
People won't give a donation at the door, for a pamphlet.
That is generally but not totally true. People are giving less and less for the
literature at the doors, but there is still some giving. We cannot view it simply
from our own experiences. Worldwide, many poor people feel good giving what
little they can to help others, even though they could use it, themselves.
Many developing countries probably do fairly well in contributing. But for the
largest part, you are correct that the pressure will be placed on the rank and
file.
District conventions are still huge cash-makers for the WTS. That's where they
will put their efforts as the literature production is reduced. They will try to
retain members and their children. That will eventually fail and their numbers
will go down slowly. The whole process will be slow. They have much new
equipment for printing now, so they will keep printing as long as it works and
pays for itself. Along the way, they will continue to reduce production to stretch
out the use of equipment. I expect the online Kingdom Ministry to be a reality
in a short time.
These are just all guesses, but a corporation doesn't produce things at a loss for
very long. They must still be making money, but are trying to figure out how to
be more efficient and profitable.
Dang it OTWO!
Stop giving them good ideas!
Open Mind
Onthewayout, so do you think Brooklyn will just be a rank an file donation religion? Like all other religions? People won't give a donation at the door, for a pamphlet.
That's already happened. On the SM demos, of course everyone doing the demo always asks for a donation. At the door (at least in my experience), that rarely happens. The only time I ever asked is if I got stuck at the door with the CO. Usually, the only time I've received donations is when the householder would ask how much the rags are, I'd say, we leave them without cost but do accept donations, and they would generally give a buck for them. Out of say 1000 mags I've left with folks over the last 10 years, I'll bet I maybe got $20 total.
If the WTS was making any more on the mags, it would be because they pressure JWs to donate for the literature when they pick it up and then drop anything they receive in service in the box as well. But, that works on the assumption that JWs will donate the same amount (plus inflation) as they did when they "paid" for the literature. Having dealt with congregation books (mainly auditing) up until earlier this year, I don't think the funds sent to the WTS have increased since they went to strictly donations and when you take inflation into account, they've likely dropped.
I don't think there's much chance of getting people accidentally seeing apostate stuff, before the orginization goes online they'll be sure to drill into everyone's head what site to go to.
I also think it does really well for the quoting stuff because they can always just deny it and say someone either edited the literature on their own or photoshopped it to make it look worse for them. Plus if the library is only available online that makes it MUCH easier for revisionist history.
The only thing I would say is that for me if someone came to my door giving me a tract and said that the books and stuff was available online, I would think they were a pretty shoddy group. While Internet is a great source of information, everyone knows not to believe everything they read online, especially if there's no references along with it. I will say that is a double edged sword because if they do use references with an online document anyone could read the full quote, which will at least prove interesting for all the mis-quotes found in every publication.
Even though most of the r&f have computers, quite a large number of them do not have internet service - at least not the ones I have come across. I could never fathom the wisdom of buying such an expensive piece of technology, and then not planning to use it to its fullest potential...but that's just my point of view.
