It's been ten years since I first got connected to that Net thing.
I remember (not fondly) the old days of AOL dial-up, listening to the peculiar chirping noise that meant I was connected and then logging on to my favorite JW sites - at that time it was H20 and Witnesses.net.
I was three years too late for H20 as it was just starting to go downhill in the quality of postings.
Witnesses.net initially started out tame but suffered the same apostate malaise that all well-intentioned dub forums start out with - too many people asking too many questions. It disappeared sometime in 2000 I believe.
Back in '99 SilentLambs wasn't around and the child abuse issue was not at the forefront of anyone's mind, only being discussed online.
WT subscriptions were still available, the public talk was an hour and book studies were held in private homes! (OK, I know this only stopped as of last year)
The Daniel book was released in the summer of 1999 and there was much speculation on the identity of the King of the North. We were still using the "Organized to Accomplish our Ministry" to prepare for talks.
In November of that year the Society released their Kingdom Ministry guide to the Internet, email and chatrooms, with the intent to discourage anyone from using these and making Society websites. At that time JW online dating didn't exist as it does today and there was no counsel for it.
Ten years later, we're in the closing years of the first decade of the 21st century.
So much has changed since then - the generation teaching has changed again to mean the anointed, the 1935 date is gone, public talks are 30 minutes, the book study is now the bible study combined with the school and service meeting.
The xJW community has grown and grown - we have our long timers here who were at the forefront of exposing JWs, we have our researchers and scholars, our debaters, apologists and trolls not to mention the "sands of the sea" - the unknown number of lurkers who log on and read this forum.
The major teachings, having been thrashed out and dissected here hundreds of times and are required reading for all the newbies who want to break free of JW shackles and understand why the JW teachings are flawed and unworkable.
There has been a gradual decline on this discussion board and others regarding JW teachings as most of what is needed has already been talked about to death and is available in Lady Lee's "The Best Of Series"
I think much of the focus now is in helping our loved ones, family and friends to leave the Watchtower and on continuing to expose the false prophet nature of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.
ExJW meetups have proliferated and there is something for everyone, whatever their belief or lack of it.
Due to various circumstances, some of us never really developed the social skills we needed to cope with leaving the truth and we now need them to be comfortable in our dealings with others and to make new friends.
Regardless of where we were born and when, what we look like, our interests, experiences all of us share one common bond - we were all Jehovah's Witnesses at one time and we all ate at the same "spiritual" table. We all considered one another brothers and sisters. Perhaps there's still an element of that bond, real or imagined that we can carry with us as we begin or finish our journey out of the organization.
Did anyone else log on in '99 and what have been your reflections since then concerning the exJW and JW community?