To Quote the Governing Body excuse/apology/justification :
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20130101/should-you-fear-end-of-world/
Jehovah’s Witnesses have had wrong expectations about when the end would come. Like Jesus’ first-century disciples, we have sometimes looked forward to the fulfillment of prophecy ahead of God’s timetable. ( Luke 19:11; Acts 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2 ) We agree with the sentiment of longtime Witness A. H. Macmillan, who said: “I learned that we should admit our mistakes and continue searching God’s Word for more enlightenment.”
Does any one really beleive the Governing Body agrees about the need to admit mistakes they have made? Why then do they disfellowship people who tell them about mistakes they have made?
And I wonder also if by "searching God's word for more enlightenment" means trying to find another date when the 1st one failed and then trying to find another date in the bible when that one failed, keep looking in the bible for dates? or was enlightenment in Macmillan's words something else?