The end of Watchtower Observer?

by Wendy 43 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Englishman

  Let me tell you something about The Watchtower Observer.

  I had been out for 26 years. Unless you have been a JW you can have no idea what it is like. It's a bit like a depressive trying to explain his problem to someone who has never experienced the symptoms.

  One day, when I first started surfing, I came across Watchtower Observer and realised that here was a fella who was even angrier that I was! Yes!

  Then I came across his visitors book and left my first message. I wondered how long it would take for the site owner to read my message and whether he would post it. To my surprise, and, I might add, a little to my horror too, there was my message instantly there for all to see, complete with my full name as well. I didn't know about screen names then.

  I spent weeks poring over Watchtower Observer. Then I kept finding references to another site, H20.

  I started to post, tentatively at first, then with an ever increasing confidence as I realised that it was possible for me to help someone else through the trauma of leaving the JW's.

  As time went on, and I transferred to this site, I became more and more confident in my conviction that the WTBTS had conned us all, and succeeded in separating many of us from our families. The Watchtower observer has always been a first port of call for me and I have found it incredibly useful.

  I have never made a secret of the fact that I was very disappointed when Kent & Norm decided that they didn't want to contribute to this site any more. I felt that what they had to offer was too good to be witheld, whatever the reason that had caused them such offence that they decided to withdraw. That, however is my personal opinion, and does not detract in any way from the incredible results that the Norwegians have acheived, and I take my hat off to them.

  Englishman.
• 

  one

  Good intentions, determination or being mad is not good eunough.

  WT deep pockets prevails. History repeats itself. Is it a cycle with no end?

  Where is your "business" plan? Most business fail because of a lack of a good plan...
• 

  OUTLAW

  I think Kent has more friends on this board than he realises,a whole lot more.He is definitly a legend in dubworld.His and Randys sites were the first ones I had ever seen.The information I got off his board totaly blew me away,it was good to know there were others like me.When Kent is rested up,I hope he comes back to kick some WBTS ass..Good luck KENT!! ..A toast to you and all you have done for us...OUTLAW
• 

  jukief

  I've known Kent for a long time (back before the Web began, when we were limited to email and posting on Usenet News) and I know how much time he's given to this cause. I also know how patient and understanding May Britt has been (she's much better at this than I am--I complain a lot, and publicly sometimes). I'm really glad to see that Kent is finally getting back to the business of living. It's long overdue, in my opinion, and Kent and I have had several discussions about this very thing.

  Just because Kent is "retiring" doesn't mean that the information on his Web site needs to be lost. A lot of people have come out of the organization in the past few years. Why can't some of these folks take up the slack? The older-timers, people like Kent and Randy, have devoted YEARS to this. At one time, I know Alan felt obligated to continue because there just weren't that many ex-JWs out there. But that's no longer the case. There are so many very competent ex-JWs now who can take some of the pressure off the old-timers (and many of them are doing so). I was so pleased to see how many people came forward when Alan asked for help with a project recently. It's nice to know that others who have benefited from all the hard work people like Kent have done are willing to invest some of their own time and effort.

  Kudos to Kent and all those who are willing to give of their time to help others. Simon, that surely includes YOU!

  Julie
• 

  Simon

  Yeah, we should not forget Kent's wife - she has probably put up with a lot (like Angharad does with me)

  BWT: Wendy - I hope you know I wasn't refering to you but to the other thread which I think was doomed to go wrong from the start.
• 

  Francois

  I regard Kent and my spirit warrior buddy in more ways than one.

  First, he put up that web site and it was the first one I saw, the first "tell the truth about the bastards" web site. That helped my spiritual growth very much.

  Second, he put me onto the fact that the Aass brewing company was indeed shipping to the US again and that, yes, I could get all the Aass Bok I wanted over here again. That helped my spirits a BUNCH!

  To you, Kent buddy, I lift a glass of Aass.
• 

  Kent

  Hi All!

  Thanks for all the nice words!

  Julie, I remember well our discussions - and I have had those with myself and my friends many a time. Naturally no information need to be lost, and there actually ARE people who are ready to "take over" for the ones of us having been in this rat-race for years. Rado Vleugel has offered to help out, and his site is maybe the best site for "filling in the gap" if the Watchtower Observer itself goes down - which may wery well be the result. But you're right. After a while you do get rather "burned out". For me it's a combination. On the one side all the work done to keep this Ex-JW stuff running has resulted in my job being neglected - and the results of that can be rather harsh - to say it mildly. So, I need to get that part together. On the other hand, I'm tired of the same stuff over and over, always having to deal with the same questions - "tons" of mails, attacks from everywhere - it's just no fun anymore. AND - May-Britt deserves some of my attention as well before I die. As you said - when some of us started up - there was no alternatives. There are now - and that means some of us can relax - and start thinking of something else but Watchtower crap.

  The system the Observer is running on is a bit strange, it's a Newspaper Publishing System, which means every article disappears from the menus after 6 months. The material is still there - it's just not visible in any menu. As a result - I need to do some work to keep the material already in the site visible.

  Naturally, I could do that - "update" all articles every 6 months. But I don't feel like just running a "dead" site - and I just can't spend the neccesary time any more. The situation is still the same as when I left here - I don't have the time. The good thing is I'm not into any kind of "competition" about who gets who as readers/users. And I believe it would be a nice thing if Rado's site could get all the visitors from the Observer. I don't know his deal with the ISP, but it would mean about 200 MB a day in download for HTML files only - and you can quickly add this figure up considerably if documents and images are downloaded. The Observer has between 3.500 and 5000 page-views a day - and I do feel a strange responsibility for all those readers.

  But, I'm sure this will be sorted out - and a reasonable effective solution will be found.

  Again, thank you for all the nice words, it do mean a lot! Thousands and thousands of hours has gone down in the Watchtower Observer. Not only for the site itself, but to keep stuff updated. Finding interesting material, sorting out false information, checking and double checking, finding news from all over the world, and so on. It's great to know people like Rado will keep up this job, and I believe his site could do a great job in the future. It already does!

  On the other hand, the Watchtower Observer is some kind of an institution - being one of the oldest Ex-JW sites online - which is also worth some consideration. But, I'm confident there will be good solutions found.

  All this said - thank you folks! Keep up the good job! And, Simon - even though I've made arrangements for my DB to be kept open, it's not a competition. It's more an alternative, a variety of choises - which I do believe is a good thing. I've never had any "war" with you, and I'm sorry you felt I did.

  Yachyd Da, Folks!

  Kent
• 

  LDH

  Kent, as someone told me when I got reinstated,

  "Samson came back stronger than ever and killed ALL THOSE BAD PEOPLE."

  So go take some well-deserved time off, and maybe you will come back like Samson, ready to slay the WTBS dragon.

  Lisa
• 

  ISP

  Kent,

  Hope you keep an eye on things even if you cannot do so much. You never know when the next WTS crisis will hit! The UN thing had been going on for years but only hit the fan recently. Never know when we might need to pool our resources.

  ISP
• 

  RedhorseWoman

  Kent, your site and your discussion boards were among the first I discovered when I got on the net.

  I know how much you've put into keeping everything going, and I want to say, "thank you."

  You've contributed a lot to my knowledge of the inner workings of the JWs, and you've provided a friendly place for me to discuss issues.

  I hope all goes well for you. And I hope you'll stop in from time to time.