Happy 20th birthday Simon and JWD / JWN.
You have proved to be a great source of news and leaks.
Happy 20th Birthday to JWD / JWN
by Simon 41 Replies latest forum announcements
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dubstepped
Happy birthday and thank you for all of the hard work that goes into this. I know that coding and maintaining the site is enough work, moderating can really take it out of you though. This is the place where I first woke up and now I get to help others do the same and I'll never forget that.
Any idea how many members you've had over the years? That would be an interesting number showing how many have been impacted, even if some were just trolls or what have you. It still made an impact.
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Simon
Sadly we have lost in death many wonderful people, but their words live on right here on this site and will benefit “overlapping generations” of doubting Jehovah’s witnesses to come.
It's actually quite moving sometimes when I'm working on the site and maybe importing posts to a new database - when I check on things I see a sped-up version of the site, posters joining, sharing their life with us and then at some point maybe passing away and a relative or another member who was in touch with them letting us know.
But yes, their words and the life they shared with us live on.
My wife and I have never been to Alberta (only BC) but would love to see the Canadian Rockies and invite you and Angharad to a nice dinner when we are in your area, if you can put up with me ... lol. I promise, no politics ... lol.
They are very nice, we're lucky to live so close to so many natural beauty spots.
I think many people would be surprised, I'm totally happy to hang out with people who have very different political and social views. Some of my best friends have extremely different views to mine, we can still get on great despite our differences because we respect each other's viewpoints.
I know that coding and maintaining the site is enough work, moderating can really take it out of you though.
I've always found the coding part more the 'fun' bit - even though it's my job, it's still also a hobby that I like doing. I literally stop work coding and then just switch projects to do fun-coding in an evening. How sad is that?!? LOL
But yeah, the moderating can be the biggest chore but honestly, I think I have that cracked now. The trick is to not care as much. If you do, people will endlessly jerk you around - when it's clear someone isn't genuine and just wants to cause issues, I delete them. I used to tolerate it for far too long and allow them to cause way more problems. That's why there are fewer issues now.
I've also tried very hard to judge each case on it's merit, with no concern for "how valuable a poster are they". I know some think people should be given allowance if they have been here longer or contributed 'great things' etc... but I see it more that people who have been here longest should really know what is and isn't acceptable.
Hopefully, I've learnt over the years and will keep improving. The aim is always to build better tools to more input can come from the community and even just having the ability to vote things down can act as a useful valve to stop things spilling over, a vote being less confrontational than a posted response, allowing people to voice their displeasure while avoiding things being sidetracked.
Any idea how many members you've had over the years? That would be an interesting number showing how many have been impacted, even if some were just trolls or what have you. It still made an impact.
I'd have to check, there's probably not that many really - most sites have orders of magnitude fewer people who contribute than who consume / read content.
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LV101
Amazing what you've accomplished especially w/a wealthy cult and it's protective religious' rights and the laws behind them. You know how to do it, Simon and Angharad, and we're so thankful.
Trust me - next time Simon says to get some food - "tinned," (lol) etc., and good idea to keep chocolate (which I do 24/7 -- no one can have enough fresh chocolate) and the restaurants might close down, I'll be the first one stockpiling and listening w/out outside opinions. I threw the radio out the door (had just ordered it) - I appreciate optimism but not when it comes to food/supplies. You're a household name around here and it's, "Simon, says!" I always keep few extras around but not like I use to - farmers were smart (overworked and no time for family) but they knew first hand.
THANKS and hope you have good cake/chocolate (everything you love) around for celebration. If this horror ends I'm running to the Cake Boss place on strip and buying a huge chocolate cake.
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Scully
Congratulations Simon and JWD!
It’s been a terrific 20 years, I wonder how many JWs became ex-JWs and ex-ex-JWs as a result of all your hard work?
cheers
Scully
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Simon
I like the "Simon, says!" part, but not the "Simple ..." bit:
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LV101
Forgot about that song! Nice share.
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Black Sheep
Happy Birthday and congratulations on a job well done. You certainly helped me a lot when I ripped the scabs off.
Cheers
Chris
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neat blue dog
Happy birthday, now who's head are we gonna cut off?
But seriously, thanks for the site, not only is it a very valuable resource of information, both past and ongoing, but also a great source of, er, 'good association' for us lonely PIMOs
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Las Malvinas son Argentinas
Thank you for creating and maintaining this site without a demand, either implicitly or implied, of being compensated for your time and effort by the members of this forum. It’s nice to know that something great can be created and built to last on its own merits, rather than guilt or oblige people to support you so you can drop your secular job. You are a great example to your own children. Bravo!