Are we losing our way a bit at JWN?

nicolaou

Firstly, I want to be crystal clear how grateful I am for JWN. It's been my place of support for over seventeen years and it's the first online space I direct anyone to if they are taking steps out of the cult.

I am not bashing JWN - I love this place and appreciate the hard work and expense Simon puts in to keep it going.

That being said, things seem to have have taken a turn around here. The first page of active topics is often dominated by political posts, Trump debates or arguments about immigration or Islamic extremism.

Conversations worth having for sure and I'm glad there are sub-forums here to cater for it all but is all this what lurking JW's need? I fear we're becoming a rather insular group of mostly white, middle aged men and are in danger of losing touch with the current wave of young PIMO Jw's.

Forgive me for saying it but they seem a more compassionate and tolerant bunch than us right now.

This isn't aimed at any individual and there is still tons of great content being posted here (Cofty's evolution topics spring instantly to mind). I'm not calling for any 'action' to be taken or changes to be made, that's not my place anyway.

Just don't want us to lose our way or lose focus on the JW's who may visit here.

Respectfully,

minimus

This is what I think. We have not been able to voice our political opinions as Jehovah’s Witnesses and we have evolved into a state where we can freely speak about things. We don’t have to fear being disfellowshipped and even if we accept ridicule at times. But that’s OK.

Simon

Some people just want to shout their anti-Trump message as thought we're here to listen to it and shouldn't respond. If it's removed, they claim censorship. If it's ignored or addressed, they just post more. It then encourages counter posts which of course escalates things.

I'm more than happy to put a stop to it although I think some is OK as long as it's contained in topics that people can ignore if they want.

Political discussion and debate used to be about the 'big things', like whether invading Iraq was right or wrong. Now it's about every little god damn thing and it's tiring and wearisome to the extreme.

nicolaou

Simon: Now it's about every little god damn thing and it's tiring and wearisome to the extreme.

True.

Minimus, I agree with your reply but my point is that just because we can speak freely about politics doesn't mean that should become the mainstay of a forum built for a more specific and focused purpose.

resolute Bandicoot

You may have noticed that I have a propensity to slug the worlds largest death cult at every suitable occasion, not the people but the ideology and its founder.

This may be wearisome to some and taken as racism by others and irrelevant to more, I do this because I have found that the level of ignorance about islam among dubs is breathtaking.

I believe that islam truly is the elephant in the room an will becoming the key shaping issue of our time.

LoveUniHateExams

Well, maybe I get too carried away when I comment on those sort of topics, perhaps I should just back off sometimes and chill out.

Those kinds of topics are about difficult topics for sure.

But this forum is still a place for people who have been treated like crap by the WTS.

dubstepped

I agree that the dominance of the political stuff on here is off-putting. At least keep it in one thread or two threads but it seems like person after person starts a new thread to debate sometimes even the same topics.

Now, I do think these things go in cycles and this is just the thing to talk about right now so it's dominating, but maybe some steps could be taken to minimize it's dominance over the forum by limiting the number of threads on a matter.

This place was a life saver for me when I needed it. If I had come today as a still-in JW that was searching and came across all of the politics that I was never exposed to and that seemed to be my first feel of this place, I'd be gone. It would have scared me away, to be honest. That's nothing against those that discuss it or the topics themselves but it would have been too much, too fast, and I would have just looked and said that "those people are no happier than I am and are miserable in the world around them. Look how awful it must be."

I don't think we should cater 100% to the JW out there that is looking around or even active and care what they all think, but it does seem like the place is taken over a bit lately with this political stuff that frankly is dividing us.

What we need right now is a good JW governing body scandal like pillowgate or tight pants Tony rant, maybe an ARC or something, to bring us together and get off this mess of politics.

Nice OP! I've been kind of feeling the same. If I want politics to dominate something I'll go to Facebook and get depressed there.

slimboyfat

I think it’s a number of things.

First of all young people just don’t seem to use old fashioned forums as much as older people now do. They use Facebook and reddit, so I’m told, and probably other stuff I don’t even know about.

Plus this forum seems to have drifted to the right, collectively and as individuals. Maybe that’s just because people have got older.

Plus JWs themselves are older on average, so it makes sense that the people who leave tend to be older too on average.

Whereas the young ones who leave JWs these days, some of them seem to just walk off without much fuss. No angst about doctrines such as mediator or 1914 or all that. It probably seems quite archane to most young people these days, inside or outside JWs.

Simon

I do think these things go in cycles

That's definitely true. There's not always big new things happening in the WTS world and people also like to discuss other things so the ratio of JW-specific topics naturally ebbs and flows.

Right now politics is the thing on most people's minds (although I think a lot of that is down to efforts by the media to hype certain things). It seems while people ratchet up the rhetoric elsewhere it's natural that it will come up for discussion here, especially if there are few JW goings-on at the same time.

slimboyfat

I don’t think there’s been any shortage of Watchtower news recently. Frankly it’s coming quicker than I can keep track. Ten or fifteen years ago a single leaked video would have been news of the year.

Are we losing our way a bit at JWN?

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