Just because survey participants answered your question doesn't mean it's working "fine" and that everybody understands what you mean. And that's a problem.
You asked if I was ever pre-emptively shunned. Yes, I was and that is how I answered the question. It was well before I became inactive and faded. So Yes, is the appropriate answer. Underneath the surface, as you understand it, you have this "when you became inactive" clause attatched to the question. When you present your results, you will be portraying all of the yes answers as if they were shunned for fading, when that may not be the case.
Was the question about the Judicial committee also with the understanding that it was due to becoming inactive and/or differences in beliefs?
I did not answer your post on the other thread as there didn't seem to be much to say without arguing, but since you seem to be in that mood...
You believe this survey is attracting real JWs. 143 to be exact from last year's survey. I believe those aren't real JWs. I believe that to even be discovering and answering your survey says something about the people responding which skews the results. As it is, 143 (1 in 53,560) people hardly represent the 7.7 million JWs claimed on the annual report. And to make any sort of projection based on what actual JWs in an average congregation are feeling seems like it would be vastly inaccurate. I know it was only a few months and you hope for more next year. Yet you still have the "weak ones" factor, ex-JWs, disfellowshipped ones, and those who would even go to your site. It's like surveying hospitals, hospices, and nursing home patients about health issues and drawing the conclusion most people in the country are seriously ill.
I do think surveys are fun and it's great to see what people are thinking. But you've got to understand your demographics. You're trying to understand what JWs are thinking? Is the survey something most JWs would feel comfortable in participating in? Would they answer truthfully? As your site states, some people thought it was the JWs and they'd be tracked back for answering. And if I were a loyal JW, it would look like your site is just trying to back up apostates and make the JWs look bad for past mistakes. I might not even believe some of the claims (and some of those are vague).
There are just too many variables, IMO, for this survey to draw any accurate conclusions, except how ex-JWs feel.
But, you seem to think what you're doing is perfect and nobody can suggest you might have done things better. So go do what you're doing and ponder and publish your results. And good luck trying to present any of this to anybody of authority within the JW organization in hopes of reform.
And even your letter in the survey... You think most of the apostacy issues would go away and most of us would leave these sites with no more complaints if just they'd let up on the shunning and maybe change a belief and policy or two? That says a lot about what you know about this community. As if we're all just closet JWs and only a few minor tweaks would bring us back. Even the Governing Body isn't that deluded.
The JWs are a false religion and it is a waste of time trying to reform them. Even if they fix the issues you've hit on, they're still a false religion. You need to come to terms with that.
But if you want to joust this windmill, go ahead.
