Simon
Many will read some of the claims made in this topic and believe them to be true, maybe even repeat them elsewhere.
Which it's why it's important that if an idea is put forward as supposition, then it is clearly stated as such. Admittedly I didn't do this too clearly in my earliest posts, but at least by the time you challenged me it was abundantly clear that this was a case of a "hunch" on my part, and nothing more. The record can therefore speak for itself.
If someone shows me evidence of non-JW WordPress sites being deluged with spam at the same time as those sites mentioned, then I shall recant instantly. Until then, as a grown man, I think I'm entitled to a hunch. And if discussion forums require hard evidence for every point made, then I am under a false impression.
As to the potential for lies and untrue claims spreading, I am learning quickly to resist my impulse to typex everything published on Ex-JW websites that I don't agree with, regardless of whether or how it will influence others.
Only yesterday some well-known Ex-JW activist, who I greatly respect, was suggesting that mind control among JWs is over-rated, and those who shun their former-believing relatives are at fault for the anguish caused because they have the "choice" to leave whenever they want. I couldn't disagree more strongly with this silly notion, which treads all over the hard work done by the likes of Steven Hassan. But if people want to agree with him and go spouting this nonsense to others, then what am I to do?
When we give hunches we must state these as hunches, and when we state previously unknown facts we must be prepared to give evidence. If people choose to read more into what we say and twist it into something else, unfortunately there is little you can do to stop them. It certainly won't silence me from saying what I think.
Cedars