Jordan, don't forget that this board is made up of individuals with very wide palette of oppinions. One might miss the elder's visit, the other might be bothered for example. Of course you can't please everyone, so that's part of the reason why you might see opposing views about the WTS.
Generalization, name calling, slander and so on, that you are accusing people on this board can all be found in Watchtower publications. Just look at the articles talking about "apostates", "worldly", and so on. This doesn't mean at all that it's acceptable by any party. It only means we're all imperfect humans, us on the board, and even the Watchtower writers. Yet there's one major difference between the majority of the people here, and Watchtower leaders: the forum users don't demand that you accept their oppinion. We have everything from devout beliver in God to atheist, to even satanists. All are welcome here, and generally as a board we try not to judge.
Now, the devout JWs are a bit different kind of animal (don't be offended, I'm just being informal ). As Broken Promises said above, the majority of us have been deeply hurt by the Society, and are feeling the psychological trauma caused by the WTS day by day. If someone comes here and defends them, we might get a bit touchy. Think of it like you were raped and beaten, and someone else would come and casually protect the raper, saying how nice of a person he is. That said, you are more than welcome, just don't expect "love bombing". If you find strength in you, please join in any conversation and filter out the responses that are too subjective.
As for me I think the JWs as persons can be nice persons, just like followers of any other religion. The problem is not in the persons, it's the highly controlling environment they're in. They have rules for technically every aspect of the life, down to minutiae. This highly hinders the expression of, and acts of true love.
Case in point, the elders wanted to come visit me. I asked them to send just one elder to have a friendly conversation with. Four months have passed and they debated over it, but it simply did not fit in their rulebook. Finally one elder showed actual christian love, ignored the decision, and came to visit me alone in an informal context. I know the other elders too, and they are not bad people. Day by day I have to struggle to remind myselft: it's not the JWs as persons, they are only forced to behave like this.
Oh, and btw, "mind control" is a very real and existing thing, accepted by psychologists as a working technique. I'd suggest you read general psychology books related to mind control - being general you won't find any reference to JWs, yet you might be surprised to find that the techniques match so well. Steven Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control" is a good starting point, but if you want something not religion specific, I found Kathleen Taylor's "Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control" a very good book. It details even the biology behind the mind control mechanisms.
