what would you think

by John Doe 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  tijkmo

  Honestly Johnny? You want my honest opinion? I think the only thing that matters in a board, is ease of navigation, and number of familiar "faces".

  u mean like yours lol
• 

  hillary_step

  John,

  I think your perception of a good forum is interesting. Yes, dissemination of information is certainly valuable. However, did I not read a post recently where you said you thought the face of xjws was chaning, that the new ones are a more social group? How does that fit into the picture?

  Give them 'chat' John. That is what they want. However, the heart of any XJW site is information. Without it the site will die.

  Yes, we are seeing a new demographic of XJW's the past few years as more people find the internet and find a voice. These are frankly much more emotionally needy than those I have seen in the past. They are far less informed about WTS matters, which is often the reason that many want a 'Kingdom Hall' atmosphere without the religion. Many are extremely dysfunctional and their time would be better spent searching for a therapist rather than doodling on discussion Boards.

  An informational site with meatier and yes, vigorous debates, will be of little interest to such people. Chat will attract them more than anything and with the demise of JWD their will be plenty of 'social' XJW discussion boards to fill that need anyway.

  What I have not seen is any person yet with some sort of serious vision for a definitive XJW board that provides an outlet for informative and serious posts.

  HS
• 

  John Doe

  Give them 'chat' John. That is what they want. However, the heart of any XJW site is information. Without it the site will die.

  Good points. To attract new people who are looking for information, the information and discussion needs to be readily accessible and visible. I think this could be accomplished, in addition to inviting knowledgeable posters, by

  • organizing sub forums into clean and productive divisions
  • making sure topics are kept in the correct forums
  • making sure the forum has a search engine that is effective and readily accessible

  I like the idea of providing chat, but I wonder if having a fluff only portion of the board would not work equally as well. Perhaps have it viewable only by members?
• 

  hillary_step

  Burn,

  Your comments are all from your own experience and perspective. Mine are looking at the wider picture.

  You may not be interested in informational threads regarding the WTS any more, but there are still six million JW's who may be. I am well past my WTS experiences, but I also see that there are many who are not.

  Is it the fluff threads?

  The fluff threads appeal to many, I have already noted that. That is why a 'chat' feature is essential as it would serve to remove at least 50% of the threads that clutter a board.

  Information is the heart of any XJW site, lose site of that and you lose your focus and your site.

  On JWD in the past we have had posts from authors, scientists, artists, musicians etc. etc. But we see so few of such posts these days. Is this due to the people being past their 'scientific' or 'musical' expereinces, or are they no longer authors? Or perhaps that they work hard to produce useful information only to have it buried under a ton of chat and think, 'What is the point'?

  HS
• 

  changeling

  I found JWD by accident. I stumbled in here, saw the "scandal" section and read about the UN debacle. I then did my own research on the UN's site and checked out the UN friendly articles in the Awake for the time period the WT was an NGO. I then became an active poster on JWD.

  With my eyes opened I began my fade and after seven months left the WT for good.

  JWD became my lifeline. It not only supplied me with info about the WT (which I try to verify on my own) but it provided me with a group of people that had been where I had been.

  So yes, info is the prime objective, but a social network and the support it brings is not to be minimized nor overlooked, IMO.

  JD, if you start your own forum, rest assured I will join and will try my best to help you succeed.

  changeling :)
• 

  llbh

  I think the sucess is combination of chat and infomation plus vigorous and rigorous debate.

  I came here even after long since leaving the wts. I found this site helped me put into place some issues i had, both doctrinal and personal. The information i gained across the broad spectrum ot posts and threads was useful to me.

  I also do like the socail side and have made some real life friends here.

  One key element here is that there are quite divergent posters with thier differing views.

  On a personal note i dislkie the rudeness of some posters, and either tell them or ignore them

  A point system is by nature subjective, and as Jackie has pointed cliques are inevtiable

  Regards David