Not all types of letters to the elders and to the WT will get a person labeled as disassociated, even if they express difficulties with what is written in WT literature and ask for explanations of such.
Years ago (after I faded) I wrote a letter to the WT in which I quoted things in the WT's KIT and the 2006 printing edition of the NWT Bible, and WT literature pertaining to evolution, which puzzled me because they looked very problematic (and I stated detailed reasons why they were problematic to me). In the letter I asked the WT to please provide me with explanations/answers in their defense. In that letter I also asked for the sources used for quotes of scientists mentioned in the Creator book. The WT never wrote back to me. I later phone called their headquarters regarding my request and a man told me (on the phone) he has the answers to the questions but that he won't tell me the answers. After asking if I was baptized (something which I thought the WT would already know the answer to) I told him I was, then the man on the phone told me to go the elders and ask them the answers,
saying they might have them. I told them I do not see how they could possibly have
these specific answers since only the WT would know what sources they
used and why they worded things a certain way in their literature (unless of course, the WT later sent a letter to the congregation providing such information). The man said he questioned my motivates and he asked me if I was trying to change the views of the WT society. I said I was not trying to change the WT views; I only wanted answers to my questions. But, he said he didn't believe me. The man at WT/JW headquarters later told me that unless the congregation's elders (who thus personally know me, unlike the man at headquarters) asks the WT/JW headquarters to provide the information to me, the WT will not provide the information to me. I then reluctantly contacted the elders to obtain the answers and the elders gave various ideas as answers to me but they were inadequate.I talked to the elders in person and I corresponded with one of them via email about the matter. After a week or so I stopped receiving replies from the elder I was emailing.
The WT never provided the answers to me. Eventually I wrote a letter to the elders saying I resign from the Theocratic Ministry School and from voluntary servitude to the WT organization and from being a publisher (this was years after I stopped participating in the school, from attending the Memorial, and as a publisher, but I wanted to make the status official). I asked that either my publisher record card be destroyed or that it have notes added to it saying I have resigned from the school and from being a publisher. I received no reply to that letter.
Not long ago an elder, in the congregation of my JW immediate family members, told other elders in that congregation that I have disassociated myself (a JW family member of mine told me such). The other elders of that congregation said they had been aware I had disassociated, thus they later inquired about the matter with those of my former congregation. The elders of my former congregation then informed the elders of the other congregation that I am classified as inactive - not disassociated (a JW family member of mine told me such).
Years ago I told my JW immediate family members that I am now an atheist who is convinced that nothing (and no one) supernatural exists at all. I also told them that I am convinced of evolution, and that I am writing a book that tries to convince all types of god-believers that their is no god, nor anything else supernatural (but that my book is far from being finished). It was a huge shock for them to learn those things, but they still associate with me. They sometimes try to convince me that I am wrong (despite me asking them not to, though now they more reserved in their efforts and now I am far less offended by their efforts) and that they want me to survive through the great tribulation and Armageddon. They don't want me to disassociate from the religion because they say that if I did so they would have to do what the WT (and in their minds, also Jehovah) says in regards of how to treat disassociated ones. They also don't want me to disassociate because it would make it harder for me to become active in the religion again (and, in their minds, to become saved through Armageddon). I also think they would feel very sad and embarrassed if JWs heard I had become disassociated (or an officially ex-JW whether or not they knew it is from disassociation).
