Message from Designer Stubble to the former JWR members

Designer Stubble

First of all I am glad to see that many of you have found your way to this great forum, facilitated by Simon. I am sure that after the dust of the JWR shutdown has settled, you will find this to be a good new home.

I would like to apologize for the sudden closure of JWR. In hindsight I should have been more vocal about giving a few days proper warning – you deserved it. I had a one week notice and am still trying to comprehend. It is like having had to bury a good friend.

JWR will unfortunately not be brought back online for the few days I proposed – the decision was final and I too have to respect that. I am sure that as you have been able to find each other here, at least the contacts can continue.

I hope we all can learn a valuable lesson from this – for me it is to stand up more for those not able to speak their voice, for you it may be to keep offline copies of anything you put online.

I decided not to write my farewell on JWR, as Palimpsest and Zeus had already done this, so I will take the liberty of doing it here. Thank you for eight wonderful years and the many virtual friendships, for being able to share my deepest thoughts with you and vice versa. I know that I was able to make a positive difference in the lives of many, knowing that in some cases, with the information I shared people had been able to leave as a family with their spouses and children. In other cases, persons were simply able to get closure. Collaborating with you on JWR meant a lot to me and that is why, despite all hardships of administering and moderating the site, I continued to participate on a daily basis.

It however is not my intention to swap JWR for another forum, as I have reached the point that I want to leave everything JW related behind – and that means also leaving this forum, which I have set my own deadline for, which is at the end of the month. Until then I will check my PMs and am happy to share on an individual basis my email of social media details.

So, in summary – thanks for the great times and please try to look back on the positives, as will I. The closure was less than graceful, I know – but over time I hope you can look past that and remember the many positives. Live long and prosper!

slimboyfat

"I have to respect that."

Why? I wouldn't respect it. "Respect" it in the sense that there's nothing you can do to stop it I suppose. Not respect it in the sense that it's in any way a reasonable way to treat people.

Sure members ought to be grateful to owners of forums for creating and running them. But forum owners should also be grateful to ordinary members for the content they provide. The owners may have lost interest in the forum now. But presumably when it began they were interested. And they relied on ordinary members to get it off the ground. What gratitude have they shown for that initial support? Closing the forum without warning may technically be the prerogative of the owners, but it also shows disrespect or contempt. So right back at them.

Gargamel

Hi DS. Nothing lasts forever, not even the universe itself :) . Thanks for posting this here. The lack of warning was the only issue I had - I didn't even get around to copying Pally's email address. There were a few people I would like to have exchanged email addresses with had I known of the imminent closure, but it didn't seem necessary as there was a perfectly good PM system in place.

I didn't really need the site for ex JW stuff much for myself - it was more about lending a hand to the odd new person. I will miss the science/evolution posts though.

I doubt I'll be posting much here as it's time to move on for me too, but I'll drop in occasionally I think.

Worldling9

DS, I want to thank you for coming over here to help facilitate our transitions, but mostly for everything you did at JWR. You've been such a great help to me and so many others...I will always be grateful. You won't be forgotten, dear man. My very best wishes to you and your family.

Hugs,

Wl9

LoisLane looking for Superman

Designer Stubble, I do not know you. I have never been on or read anything from your former site, however that being the case, I can only relate to what you have done, which in my eyes, you have greatly disrespected a group of people that did not deserve to be treated that way. No excuse to be unkind. You do not treat human beings like yesterday's trash. Friendships made on sites like this, can be the difference between feeling one has friends, to feeling like one is truly alone in this world. WT wants us to feel alone. Why did anyone enter your domain in the first place? Would they not have been looking for help, encouragement, camaraderie? Your site to them, was a haven on a dark and cold and windy night. Then, without warning, you decide to chuck everyone out. I do not like what you have done.

LoisLane

PS For all the new ones coming over from DS's closed site, I am very happy to meet all of you.

Mickey mouse

It wasn't DS's site or his decision to make, please don't unfairly criticise him. He spent years helping run the forum and did a very good job. At least he has come here to explain and passed the request to temporarily reopen on to the owner.

Gargamel

LoisLane. It wasn't Designer Stubble's site. Personally, I'm grateful for the work he put in over there.

I think that one problem is that the sudden cutting off of the website could feel reminiscent of what people felt when they were first cut off from the religion/cult. Things that happen along the same theme tend to feel amplified.

I do feel that removing the site with no warning was a wrong move on the owner's (not DS's) part, but I wasn't party to the discussion behind that i.e. there are probably reasons of which I'm unaware.

So, I'm guessing it will feel more hurtful to those who still have severe, unresolved pain from leaving/being kicked out of the organisation.

The way it looks to me is that JWR ain't coming back, so maybe it's time to open up the deeper-lying stuff.

Designer Stubble

Slimboyfat - I respect it indeed in the sense that I have tried to reverse it (and still am) without success (so far).

LoisLane - It was not my site, I was one of the site admin/moderators and frequent posters there. My mistake, that I have to live with, is to let unannounced closure happen and not being more vocal about it. Eight years of greatness down the drain by bowing out disgracefully.

Designer Stubble

Welcome to the JWR members who have made it over to this forum.
For anyone who needs to grab info from JWR, the pages archived at the Wayback Machine may be useful.
These are the archived pages from April 14, 2016:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160414040502/https://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/forum/index.php

Mickey mouse

DS I also regret not being more forceful but it doesn't detract from what the site was. I hope when people's anger and upset fades that legacy will be remembered.

Message from Designer Stubble to the former JWR members

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