This thread reminds me of what Moshe pointed out about a year ago concerning faders.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/190184/1/Faders-are-indeed-a-very-large-doormat
On some level, I can understand Rick's frustration. Witnesses like my wife will always think highly of the WT and very lowly of former witnesses and even more lowly of those who fade. To the faders especially, she thinks that they are a big bunch of hyprocrites for going to the KH and pretending to be a good witness, especially in the case of elders who post here, she especially has a low opinion of you.
She just does not understand that the men in power over the WTS can be suseptible to corruption and even if one member were to become corrupt, he would be ejected in short order (Yeah, tell that to Leo Greenlees). That is why she, as well as Brother Hero, view Raymond Franz with such disdain. She believes that he must have done something wrong to be removed and later disfellowshipped. The vaunted WT is blameless in her eyes as well as the eyes of the other witnesses I encounter, facts be damned, especially coming from an outsider like me. If the facts come from an apostate, well, mind off....
I understand why faders remain in hiding, just perusing Moshe's thread gives me insight. Never-the-less, it does little to sway the minds of people like my wife. She does not see the problem and she never will as long as the WT continues to keep people fearful of speaking out. On the other hand, the witnesses are indeed a very, very, VERY minor sect of Christianity consisting of merely 0.1% of the whole world's population. If all the dirty laundry of the WT could be exposed on a large scale, would anyone care? How many people think a lot of the dirt found in the Catholic church?