Five important steps for joining a Witness site

by Euphemism 31 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Euphemism

  In another thread, somebodylovesme wrote:

  DAMN IT. I got kicked off. I messaged the mod and asked why brucejw had been kicked off. She wrote back and said they had checked his ISP and saw that he visited an "apostate" site. I knew then I was screwed... sure enough, and hour later, I'm "temporarily suspended".

  So, as former admin of JWZone, I am proud to present Five Important Steps for Joining a Witness Site

  1. Remember that the Witnesses sometimes lurk here at JWD. Do not post anything on JWD that would allow your profile at the Witness site to be identified. This would include:

  a) Using the same username. (Yes, people have done this.)
  b) Mentioning when you registered or when you first posted
  c) Identifying any posts that you wrote

  2. Avoid the referrer tag. Every time you go to a website, your browser sends it your 'referrer', the site you were at last. Never go directly from JWD or any other ex-JW website to a Witness website. Open a new browser window, or go visit an innocuous site first.

  3. Consider masking your IP address. If you've applied before, your IP address may be on a blacklist. You need not have even applied at the same site; when I was at JWZone, I used to share blacklist information with PLN. To makes you IP address, you need an anonymous proxy. Search for that term on Google if you're not familiar with it.

  4. Create a plausible profile. Most of the ex-Witnesses who signed up at JWZone didn't bother to put any bio, location, etc in their profile. That raises an immediate red flag.

  5. Especially if you've attempted to register in the past, or have been booted off and are re-registering, be sure to get rid of any cookies from the site. These can be a dead giveaway.

  Finally, a word on ethics. I don't think that there's anything wrong with joining a Witness site just to lurk. But please think twice about posting. IMHO, you're unlikely to do any good, and you may do harm.

  Personally, I haven't known anyone whose eyes were opened to the 'truth about the Truth' by an infiltrator. I'm not saying it's never happened, but it's extremely unlikely. On the other hand, infiltration can definitely cause harm. It reinforces Witness ideas about the deceptiveness of apostates. It reinforces their paranoia and siege mentality. It undermines the efforts of open-minded Witnesses to allow a measure of open discussion; and it undermines the whole project of Witness websites, which provide an important venue for Witness independence from the elders and the local congregation.

  So if you're thinking about posting, please be very careful and consider the consequences.
• 

  somebodylovesme

  Excellent post. I wish I had known about the tracking stuff before I registered at WW. Granted, I only lurked (made a couple replies on completely non-religious topics), but I may have made the error of visiting a "bad" site before or after going to that site.

  ... No, not porn. This board, probably at some point. I usually had them in separate browsers, but not always, now that I think about it.

  Anyway, thanks for the words of wisdom. And I agree - starting controversial topics will reinforce their fear of outsiders.

  Take care,
  SLM
• 

  xjw_b12

  Good info Euphimism. As I said in somebodylovesme's post "When in doubt, close it out"
• 

  Matty

  Excellent advice. Thank you Euphemism for the tips. The referrer tag is one that gets a lot of people, especially when they are reporting info from a witness site to here or another ex-jw site. I would also recommend that nobody uses images from the sites, which happens when you copy and paste threads. It's best to do a print screen and save the clipboard as an image and post that instead.
• 

  stillajwexelder

  Thanks for the advice - -since I am in fda troof and in good standing I might join and lurk
• 

  drwtsn32

  Great advice!

  My only comment is regarding the Referrer tag... it is only passed if you click a link from within another site. If you have your web browser open to a specific page and simply type in a new URL (or click a Favorite), the referrer tag is blank and does not contain the URL of your previous page.
• 

  Sassy

  IP: 3xleQ3xrVkBDb+GG

  Mulan	Re: The Women of GreatCrowd.Net
  Post 776 of 5340 since 22-Mar-01 58 y 4 m 10 d	*** is the one that gets me. She looks like she is cross eyed and her tongue out. Good Grief. I was there again today. Of course, they don't know I'm not one of them. It kills me the way they say they can spot an apostate really fast. And, you know they are here too, lurking. Dedalus, send me an email. I have some interesting info for you. Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan) "Those who know, don't say, and those who say, don't know."
  IP: xj+CmJIlapSdiWWP

  Seeker

  .

  Here is an example (no offense to Mulan) of a thread I monitored.. I read this as it was being posted. Like I said in the other thread, at the time we just watched the threads here and figured out who was posting about being there. The tracking software was actually less effective since a lot of people would just open new browsers..

  Usually your own mouths caught you:

  Mulan	Re: The Women of GreatCrowd.Net
  Post 790 of 5340 since 22-Mar-01 58 y 4 m 10 d	I got booted. I posted for awhile and then it wouldn't take my post, about travel, of all things. And the message displayed was that I was not allowed to post or register. We got the last laugh though. Weird old gals over there. I wonder what they are thinking now. HAhahahhahahaha. Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan) "Those who know, don't say, and those who say, don't know."
  IP: QxA28lkGdI3a9uHq
• 

  Euphemism

  Actually, drwtsn, while that's the way it should be, it's not always true, unfortunately.

  Matty... good point in regards to images. Even if you've never applied to a Witness site, they may still have your referrer info if you've viewed an image or an embedded page from the site that's been linked to from JWD.
• 

  drwtsn32

  Actually, drtwsn, while that's the way it should be, it's not always true, unfortunately.

  It would be a pretty serious security flaw if a browser did this. I just tested IE6 and it works as it should. I assume Mozilla and Firebird also behave correctly. Do you know which browsers do not handle this correctly?
• 

  Sassy

  On the other hand, infiltration can definitely cause harm. It reinforces Witness ideas about the deceptiveness of apostates. It reinforces their paranoia and siege mentality. It undermines the efforts of open-minded Witnesses to allow a measure of open discussion; and it undermines the whole project of Witness websites, which provide an important venue for Witness independence from the elders and the local congregation.

  I totally agree with Euph here. I personally do not know of anyone either that even began to doubt because of 'apostates' infiltrating the JW boards. It actually has the opposite effect.. they run even farther and faster back to their little fold. Even though I was not that strong, I still was not tempted to doubt by the infiltrations.. I would see them all laughing and making fun over here.

  I came here because when I left the JW world I did miss the boards and the association of people to chat with.. this filled a void to begin with... THEN you all helped me open my eyes and really see things.. It was by your kindness and openess here that I could realize that the WTS does not have the truth..