@ NRFG: Motion thirded...
All in favor, say ""!
Is this possible...... Hundreds of Bethelites now engaged in major reform?
by koolaid-man 80 Replies latest jw friends
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Witness My Fury
As these are essentially SPAM threads ALWAYs linked to his own site(s) and information full of sensationalist drivel then I'm in agreement with kicking him off.
But if so, then the same goes for a few others here who also match this MO. You know who they are...
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cantleave
The original source was guess who? Johnny the Bethelite. Do you smell something Bovine?
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shamus100
Scam? Yeah, probably....
From Mean Mr. Mustard's post... JUST CALL IN! ;D
Because of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, LECs (local exchange carriers) are allowed to charge long distance carriers (like AT&T, Sprint, etc) a much higher rate for any calls terminating on their switches (10 to 20 cents per minute) in the form of an "access fee", especially if the LEC is in a more rural location. The original intent of this law was to help these smaller phone companies deal with operating costs. These companies tend to have only a small block of phone numbers allocated to them (and therefore a smaller client base), and they usually have higher/fixed maintenance costs. So when a long distance carrier (like AT&T) delivers a call to their switch from somewhere else in the world, they accept the call, deliver it to their customer, and then charge the long distance carrier 10 to 20 cents per minute as an access fee. This is all good and fine if the law is used as it was intended.
Once the access fees started pouring in, some LECs realized that the more long distance traffic they can get to terminate on their switch the better! One sure fire way to do that is to use some of their allocated numbers for - you guessed it - free conference call services. The rural LECs allocate some numbers for these service and allow people from all over the country (or the world) to dial in and participate in conference calls. The more people, the better. The longer the calls, the better.
Now, I'm not saying that Rick has his own conference call service. Rather, I think he has just partnered with one, or perhaps is using a conference call service that is requiring a certain amount of traffic for it to remain free to him (or low rate). This is not unheard of in the world of phone sex services. The phone sex service will set up shop somewhere with sexy sounding women, and partner with local LECs. They provide the traffic, charge a little fee for the call, AND get a kick back from the local exchange carrier - because the LEC really loves to charge those fees, and they appreciates the opportunity to let that traffic flow through their switches. Many of the rural carriers participating in these schemes are located in Iowa.. so it is of no surprise to me when you look into Rick's conference call phone number, it terminates in Iowa. I have available to me the Telcordia LERG Routing Guide. Telcorida is a company that tracks all the phone number blocks - who owns them, what switches they terminate on, etc. So looking at Rick's number:
(712) 432-8710
NPA = 712, NXX = 432
The OCN (operating carrier number) for this NPA/NXX combo is "345D" - which is registered to "GREAT LAKES COMMUNICATION CORP. - IA" in Iowa. They own the entire A block of lines, that is own all the numbers from 712-432-0000 to 712-432-9999. They are either offering the conference call service, or they are directing the call to another number (maybe even in another state)...
So the possibilities are this:
1) Rick is getting some sort of kick-back for the traffic he sends to whatever conference call service Great Lakes Communication Corp. is hosting. He then solicits donations on his website and keeps that too.
2) Rick is required to get a certain amount of traffic in order to keep his conference calls free. He can then solicit donations on his website and just keep them.
3) Rick can never get enough traffic to reach the free amount, and he would like to, but can't. So he tries to cover the rest with donations on his website.
In any of these three scenarios, the natural inclination would be to push for more traffic, as would be required by the financial pressure. There may be other financially based possibilities too.
MeanMrMustard
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Morbidzbaby
@ Witness My Fury, I could see if he actually made threads that encouraged rational conversation and drew attention to different concepts that encouraged critical thinking of the Watchtower and it's REAL policies. But every single thread he starts is an advertisement for his own site. Advertisers normally PAY for the amount of attention his threads receive here. When someone joins up and starts a thread simply to advertise, their thread is removed and so are they. Yet, Rick gets to stay on and force-feed us his drivel week after week. He's using a discussion forum as free advertising. It isn't right. I say that if he wants to advertise his Sideshow, he should have to pay for it.
I know there are others who post here and mostly only start threads linking to their blog or to their site (not including myself in that realm... I don't make any claims to be anywhere near the caliber of those who have been doing this for years)...however, their information is actually USEFUL. It's well-researched, well-written, a lot of times there is more than just one contributor for the site they link to, and they tend to be well-spoken and easy to read and follow. Not only that, but they have built themselves a solid reputation in our community as people who can be trusted to find as many facts as they can to support what they are saying. Many of us TRUST them because they have proven worthy of that trust by presenting facts in an unbiased manner. That, in my opinion, is completely different than advertising a call-in show where we are led to question whether the host gets a kick-back in some way. Others here do call-in shows/radio recordings, but they don't INSIST you call in to find out "the big news". They state right up-front exactly what they will be talking about...and then you can listen real-time or you can listen to an UNDOCTORED recording later on. Nothing is sensationalized. You aren't calling in to listen to 2 hours of people yakking and talking nonsense and conspiracy theories before you "get to the good stuff". And, as I've listened in before to Rick's conference call, usually the hype is just that... The reality of what is talked about falls flat. Nothing shocking, nothing revealing, just a bunch of speculation, made up characters with made up stories, and a lot of people who I suspect wear tinfoil hats. There is ZERO credibility. We don't trust Rick because he's proven he cannot be trusted. He's lied, made promises that went unfulfilled...He's the equivalent of the Watchtower Society itself in that way.
I'm not a fan of booting people off of a free forum unless they are either trolls or just plain trouble makers... But Rick SPAMs and tries to create traffic to his site and conference calls, which are completely dubious in nature... Any genuine person who is a JW and is seeking answers would come here, see his threads and say "Well, they were RIGHT! These apostates ARE crazy and just trying to make the Society look bad!!". We are trying to HELP people see the reality of the Watchtower, Rick completely undermines that effort when he posts crazy crap like this.
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Witness My Fury
Just to clarify I had OBVES and 1pnt (plus a few other nutters) in mind. I wasn't thinking of the useful ones... LOL
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yourmomma
the watchtower could reform themselves to death, it would make no difference to me. i wouldnt go back under any circumstances because no ammount of reform will change the fact that they core docterines are based on bullshit. they would not possibly be able to change that.
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Witness My Fury
to that Yourmomma!