Seriously: Was this board for active JWs?? (page 2)

nytelecom1

yeah...but .i use the same reasoning when trying to place
magazines to a catholic....

nytelecom1-still using the same presentation he used
15 years ago

Amway products is a classic example. You become a distributor of their products (cleaning stuff, etc.). When you sell to somebody, anybody, you try to get them "signed on" as an additional distributor. From then on, you get a "cut" of anything that this person sells. And on and on. It's supposed to be easy money, but usually it's just free advertising for the manufacturers of the products.

Could you do me a favor and tell me what a "penguin" is?

thanks, lauralisa

Simon

Yes, it was/is for active JWs as they are the ones most in need of support if they want information and esp. if they want to leave.

I did try to keep the site 'safe' for JW's early on so that they weren't putoff from visiting hence the banning of Shaun who was very understanding about it and the late Joe Mesko (?) who also went along with the banning because of the motive behind it. I bet the other 'JW boards' wondered how I got so few attacks at the time, LOL.

I bet you all think I'm a real devious guy now eh? Hope this doesn't dissallusion anyone too much...

BTW: What does MLM stand for?

Eyebrow

MLM=Multi Level Marketing...like Amway, Shaklee, Maleuka, etc...I only mentioned it because I know so many witnesses that have thought that MLM businesses were the way to work for themselves and not to have a secular boss.

Simon, sorry if I gave you the impression that I felt this was a devious board. It is just that I remember when people starting spending more time on the internet that we were strongly warned at the meetings about staying away from any boards, sites, etc., that were not officially associated with the WTS. I still have to fight off the programmed guilt reflex every time I read anything that is not from the WTS about witnesses.

It makes me glad that there ARE active witnesses reading and posting. While I chose to fade away, the one thing that has bothered me is when people who have never been witnesses automatically lump all JWs together. There is such a strong warning against reading apostate lits, that I honestly thought before I ever started looking at a board such as this that there would be few, if any active witnesses.

Thanks for all the replies!

philo

I took the introduction to the site on face value mostly:

The place for Jehovahs Witnesses around the world to meet and make new friends. Any Jehovahs Witness or interested person can participate.

Things have certainly changed since I came here (when H20[2] started acting up), in some ways better, in some ways not.

philo

bboyneko

lol @ Dan:
MLM= multi-level-marketing

You Mean Pyramid Schemes? Sheesh even JW literature warns against it and they still fall for it. It is illegal in the US for the most part. We discuessed this at length before, Ill bring that topic back to the top for you.
-Dan

ChuckD

While a true Pyramid scheme or Ponsi operation is indeed illegal, MLM is not. The difference is that to qualify as MLM, there must be an actual product or service which is sold to people who are outside of the program. It still isn't exactly the way to fame and fortune, since it does count on being able to recruit enough underlings to support it and make a profit, which very few MLMers ever do. In practice, most sales of AMWAY products end up being purchases by the distributors themselves for personal use, hoping to keep their sales volums up until they are promoted to another level. The products are expensive, and non-competitive when compared to what you could buy the same stuff for at any department store.

For some reason, many JW's are attracted to such programs. Perhaps it is from the connections they have with others in the organization, or perhaps because it is something that can be done at odd-hours. Can't say why, but more than once someone at the old Hall would stumble into it and be on a recruiting drive for a few weeks, until they burned out.

It is interesting to note that Amway has an implied "Christian" theme running through it, and the bulk of its distributors proclaim their Christianity quite openly in sales meetings.

TweetieBird

I feel that I am somewhat of an expert on MLM's since my husband and I were sucked into a couple of them in the past. What a waste of time and money.

What is interesting about it, though, is that the last one we were in was a lightbulb moment for us. Sitting at an MLM meeting/convention is just like sitting in the Kingdom Hall/conventions. It pretty much dawned on both of us that being a JW is just like being in a MLM.

Here are the similarities:

1) Meetings 2 to 3 times a week
2) Share the product (message) with anybody and everybody...the 3 ft. rule
3) It all sounds good from the podium but in real life it's just a dream

There were more but it's late and I can't think of them right now.

But to answer a question posed above, that is why JW's are so attracted to them, because it's familiar to them. In fact, several MLM's that I have either looked into or been sucked into, oftentimes I thought to myself that a witness must have been behind the meeting thing as there were just too many similarities.

"By doubting we come at truth" -Cicero

Stephanus

A site about Amway once said that even a Diamond distributor in Amway would only make about $25000US in a year - the big money was in selling books and tapes at conventions for your "downlines" - many of whom came along to learn your "secrets of success".

Seriously: Was this board for active JWs??

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