I know I have made comments about the benefits of JWd but I have some thoughts about this.
For the person who is having doubts and is looking for some confirmation or information JWD provides a wealth of both. And if it isn't posted here on the board someone usually has a link to answer questions
For those who have been hurt by the shunning policy or been abused in some way JWD offers wonderful people who understand because they have "been there" too.
For those who are recently out of the WTS and are trying to build a new life there are many to encourage and support them.
Even those of us who have been here and out of the WTS for a long time there is encouragement and friendship.
For those who love a good debate, there is usually a willing JW to try to take them on.
There are some great sites on the internet that provide information. Some have discussion boards on them and others don't.
But something that I don't think people are totally aware of is that as JWs many of us were limited in social skills. I never knew what I liked or what I might be good at. I had no way of developing social skills with non-JWs. Contact was always limited to associating with a ready made community where everyone focussed on one thing - kingdom interests.
Really learning to connect with others on different levels other than religion is an important part of our healing. Learning some things (like what tradional things like birthdays, holidays, etc) feels awkward. I didn't know the traditions. It had been 22 years since I had celebrated a holiday. And it is sometimes a bit embarrasing to ask non-JWs what the routine is.
I think while we are a rather select group we know that others here have gone through the same learning process and therefore it might not be so awkward to ask "How do you..." or "What do you do when..." Let's face it we can't rely on TV to teach us everything.
I think the social benefits here are important. We call them the fluff threads, mostly playing around and just having a good time. It's more important than we might think at first. But as we learn about whatever interests we have the easier our transition to the real world can be. As we begin to relax and just have fun without the WTS-imposed guilt the easier it will be for us to move out into the world.
Not that that is all JWD is or should be. The wonderful knowledge, information and support here are helpful to so many.
But maybe the fluff has a bigger part to play in our recovery than we might think.
As JW there was no balance to life. Everything was the WTS and guilt when we were doing anything else.
Here you get to learn a little bit more about being real in a real world