According to new, officially published guidelines, JWs can now shun a person who has not been disfellowshipped from the congregation.
I see this guideline being abused by many JWs who have an axe to grind with a fellow JW. For example, let's say sister Peinindiass rubs sister Sensitive the wrong way. Sister Sensitive decides she will shun sister Peinindiass. The elders ask her why she is behaving in such an unchristian way toward sister Peinindiass. Sister Sensitive responds by citing the guidelines to shun anyone who, although not disfellowshipped, has been practicing serious sin. The elders inquire if she knows that sister Peinindiass has been practicing serious sin. She says yes. She concocts a story of catching sister Peinindiass committing fornication with a worldly person that she (sister Sensitive) does not know. She says she told sister Peinindiass to go to the elders and sister Peinindiass told her she would do no such thing and that she (sister Sensitive) should shut her mouth and mind her own business. She further says that sister Peinindiass told her that even if she reported her to the elders she would vehemently deny it and it would go nowhere given that she does not have a second witness or evidence.
Can the elders tell her to stop shunning a JW whom she knows (from their perspective) is practicing serious sin but which cannot be proved in a judicial committee to result in disfellowshipping? Can they stop her from doing it while the org teaches to shun JWs practicing serious sin although not disfellowshipped? And what would other JWs think of sister Peinindiass when they see sister Sensitive shunning her. Surely they'll think that sister Sensitive must know that sister Peinindiass has committed a serious sin and so sister Peinindiass will surely become the object of gossip.
But more importantly, what if sister Sensitive is an awake JW, and sister Peinindiass is a nasty elderette who you'd like to get back at? Or what if instead of sister Peinindiass, it's elder Peinindiass who's harassing you to be out more or attend more regularly or giving you shit about your decision to go to university?
All you now have to do is shun them under the new guidelines and when asked why you're shunning them you can just say you know certain things that you cannot prove to the satisfaction of a JC and you don't want to be accused of, or sued for slander, so you're just loyally following the guidelines to shun serious sinners even though they've not be disfellowshipped.