by Designer Stubble 123 Replies latest jw friends
Well I respect you trying to put things right DS!
Whoever the owner is I can only imagine he has some sort of grievance against the members. Or he just thinks they were a bloody nuisance. You don't treat people like that if you regard them well do you? At least I'd like to think so.
I don't know you Designer stubble but too me you are one of the good guys. You came to this site to explain what happened and try to make thing right. The owner should of explained his intentions and closed the site if he wished but in a compassionate way. Anyways don't beat your self up about it, nothing you can do.
Wish you and your family the best.
Thanks for moving the link for wayback machine here, DesignerStubble.
I think it is important to be able to access the writings that are contained in that forum. Many people have invested time, energy, emotion and their souls into those words.
I was a member of Ronnie's forum for several years - the exjw yuku forum. We were a small forum but some of the members were really close. When it closed last year, Ronnie gave all of us ample notice. We had time to make contacts and set up a private facebook group so we could stay in touch. Ronnie's handling of the closure was great. And, the entire site is still online, with members still being able to log on. The yuku information is still accessible.
Anyways...don't despair...all is not lost - the Wayback Machine is a great tool - your words are all still there. Hopefully that will help you make the transition to this forum or elsewhere...good luck.
:)
What if we could grab all the data that was previously available on JWR and import it into this site? I believe that there is a lot of recorded history in the forums and I do not believe that such history should be destroyed, given the size of our community.
What if we could grab all the data that was previously available on JWR and import it into this site?
That is definitely technically possible (including replacing internal links to the new locations) but it completely depends on what the owner of that site wants to do. Even if it was converted to a separate instance, it could be hosted very inexpensively as a static snapshot (importing them as topics would be slightly different and allow discussions to continue).
The value of most forums though is as a living community. While there is often great content, the value of it years later can be overstated. It's the camaraderie and news and friendships at the time that make a forum.
Thanks DS - appreciate the note. I was a little surprised that you hung around after your earlier "stepping away" from JWR but was of course glad that you did. Rifter ran the actual site, correct? It had a good run, and while I would have preferred to see a week of notification, I also kind of understand the ripping off the bandaid as I'm sure there would have been piles of complaints to address. I think it's unfair for people to judge the chosen method when it's not their personal resources and sweat equity involved.
It's cool to see people jumping over here and to Reddit - I was really surprised how taken aback I was when it went down. I haven't met really anyone, but all of a sudden I was wondering what was going on. It had definitely evolved for me as I went from a "jw fish out of borg-water" to more of a community with a casual interest in what was happening... but I also didn't quite realize how involved I was / how frequently I checked in.
Anyway, I'm rambling.. so I guess I'd say "safe travels" to those who take this opportunity to evaluate the topic of "moving on" and for any JWR folks / mods who I didn't get to thank, thank you. Your hard work proved to be instrumental in helping me escape a depressing path.
Not sure how active I'll be here but thank you, Simon, for carrying a valuable torch.
Would the owner of JWR be interested in giving or selling the site to Simon or someone like him? If Simon got it, he could handle the transfer in whatever way seemed best. If he had to pay for it, I would bet lots of people here would contribute towards that unexpected expense. But if JWR's owner simply wanted to walk away, it would be a very generous gesture indeed to simply pass to baton to Simon and give his community some sense of continuity.
I really can't see why this wouldn't make sense. The owner could still walk away completely unfettered. I wonder if something else is at play here. Hmmm...
I much prefered JWR to any other exJW site...therefore I'm gutted that all the good threads I bookmarked are now lost...the whole point of a forum is to discuss things and refer to them when needed...I've lost a lot of good material.
To close the site with no option to at least copy/paste some of my bookmarked threads is very poor and reflects badly on whoever it was ran the site.
Not impressed.
Can't the owner hand over the reins to any who are willing to keep the site going or at least fund a static copy of it until we get what we want off it?
OMG! I really wanted to say a HUGE thank you to DStubble and everyone at JWR including all members like Seabea, LeekyFreaky, Headspace, and so many others that made the site so special. I have moved on also but liked to dip in and out from time to time. I will never forget the first time I shared 'the Watchtower covers we would like to see' topic with hubby, it was hysterical even though I was totally convinced I would be struck by lightening!
The site literally saved me and many more, it is part of my personal life history. Because of the site my children had higher education and have good jobs. Because of the site we are free, it was a lot more than just a JWR site, it was life giving.
Take good care and very best wishes from sweetgrass, once part of the Fareham congregation, Hampshire, UK xxx
Oh....I forgot to say. The site holds so much of my history through all the many posts from fading to moving on. I would like to share this with family and pass the experiences down to future family so I would really appreciate access to my historical records please :)
