Thanks for the thoughts and kind words. I'm really just the janitor though - the forum is what it is because of all the contributors and people who share, help, cajole, sometimes get angry, forgive, discuss, debate, laugh and cry together.
Btw, being a statistics guy, I would be curious to know just how much activity this site has had over the mean since this RC started
The site traffic varies between 1.2 and 1.8 million page views each month so fairly busy. It gets higher when there are major JW-related news and events (such as the current investigations in Australia). Fortunately the move to cloud-hosting has made it easier to cope with traffic spikes without any outages (I used to hate waking up to find the site had gone down just after I went to bed) and it's also helped make the hosting more affordable.
So Simon, how does it feel to know that you have played a role in making so many peoples lives less painful and in fact better?
Surreal, I honestly don't think I've done much but I'm glad so many people have found the forum helpful. I know it's been useful for us on our own journey out of the WTS.
I have read your story of the Org and what lead you to the creation of this site and while I hate that you had to experience negative things at the hands of JWs, I am impressed with what you did with the experience. You truly have turned lemons in to lemonade as the old saw goes
It was helpful to share it as part of the healing process. It still makes me sad and angry and of course we're still affected by it all. I wish I was a calmer, more considered person like some other people seem to be. It's taken me 15 years to learn some things but one of the main ones is that you can't stay angry if you want to win. If you spiral into seeking revenge then you just hurt yourself, your family and ultimately give the WTS what they want - a poster Apostate caricature.
Better to concentrate on living the life ahead than lamenting the life you left behind. Those years are gone unless you have a DeLorean and a hover-board.
Simon deserves a good pint of beer
It's a little early right now but I'll work on it later :D