My guess is 9,999. I'm sure there will be many more than this, but I suspect that they are going to try to find a way to get the figure below 10,000.
Posts by DT
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4MEMORIAL LOTTERY!!! Great chance for you!!!!
by Albert Einstein inhi, in close cooperation with the governing body of jw i organized for you a memorial lottery.
just take a guess: how much will be reported by wt partaking at the 2009 memorial?
the prize for whoever will be the closest: dinner with the governing body in brooklyn hdq.. my guess: 11.543 partaking.
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24
Who has a blog?
by DT ini've noticed a lot of xjw blogs popping up lately.
i think that is great.
blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the watchtower society.
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DT
"Is there a good explanation out there as to how to increase traffic and search engine hits?
Jeff"
A Google search for seo (search engine optimisation) will bring up a lot of information. Much of it is rather technical and more geared towards website designers. I wasn't able to find a good, concise article, but a simple search is a good start.
I can give some of own recommendations based on my own experiences with blogs and especially JW related blogs.
1. Links: Incoming links are important. Now that there are so many XJW bloggers, maybe some of us will want to trade sidebar links with each other. It could have a huge impact on our traffic. Outgoing links can also be helpful. Many webmasters have statcounters that will tell them when people are visiting their site from another site. They might decide to link back or at least start following your blog. Good quality links in your sidebar and posts also make it more likely that your blog will be viewed as a good information source and can increase the number of visitors who will bookmark your site.
2. Short keyword rich articles: Many bloggers tend to write very long and, sometimes, unfocused articles. That's OK and might be what your readers want, or it might at least fill a need of the blogger. However, it might be a good idea to also write some short articles that have a good density of useful keywords (perhaps keywords and keyword combinations related to more obscure aspects of Watchtower history or doctrines). These kinds of articles can often do pretty well in searches. It can often be useful to simply link to other articles for further research, rather than dwell too long on the one topic.
3. Videos: Embedded videos from places like Youtube can be an easy way to get extra content on your site. If you include good keywords in the post title and a short description, the post might do very well in Google searches. For example, my video blog has had almost 50,000 visits. I think that is pretty good, especially considering it has very little original content.
4. Following and commenting: If you have a Blogger blog, it's easy to follow other XJW blogs. The bloggers you follow will probably notice this and likely visit your site and maybe follow you. Commenting on other blogs can also help because you comments have a link to your profile page and this can result in extra site visits.
5. Rewriting posts and comments from JWN: Now that I've already done most of the work. I'm going to rewrite this comment, expand upon it and post it to one of my blogs. Duplicate content can be a problem, but this isn't too hard to overcome if you make a few changes.
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24
Who has a blog?
by DT ini've noticed a lot of xjw blogs popping up lately.
i think that is great.
blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the watchtower society.
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DT
"Is there any advantage of a blog over a website? Doesn't a website ensure greater hits on searching?"
I'll answer this the best I can. I don't actually have any nonblog websites, so others may want to add to this.
Depending on your needs, a blog can have certain advantages. On a platform like Blogger, a blog is free and can be set up in just a few minutes. I don't believe that a more traditional website ensures more hits with the search engines. It has more to do with how it is set up and optimised for search engine traffic. Many blogs don't do well with search engines because they may not have many or any outgoing and incoming links and often have long rambling posts on random topics. Such a blog could still be popular, it just probably just won't get much traffic from search engines.
Blogs can be very search engine friendly. They can be updated easily without messing with any code. Search engines like frequent updates and this can be a big disadvantage for static websites. They invite comments, which can be viewed as an update that you don't have to provide yourself. Blogs work well with short keyword rich posts that can do very well with searches, especially if they are on an obscure topic or have keywords that aren't used frequently. Blogs are also more likely to get repeat visitors, especially if they offer feeds or some kind of following feature. A lot of traditional websites are now adding an associated blog to take advantage of these advantages. Or think about Freeminds.org that now has several blogs on its site.
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5
Does WT Practice a Form of Human Sacrifice?
by cameo-d inis it politically co-erced behavior in the name of religion?.
why should taking a blood transfusion be a fate worse than death?.
why should a person prefer to die rather than be grateful for an available donated organ?.
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DT
I have often thought so. Blood has long been viewed as sacred to the God(s). Many human sacrifices involved shedding blood as a kind of gift to the God(s). The Jehovah's Witnesses willingness to sacrifice their lives to protect the supposed sanctity of blood doesn't seem too different from ancient human blood sacrifices.
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24
Who has a blog?
by DT ini've noticed a lot of xjw blogs popping up lately.
i think that is great.
blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the watchtower society.
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DT
"Is there an easy way to link all these blogs together for easy reference?"
Yes, there are a couple of options. Since you have a Blogger blog, you can go to your dashboard, find where it says "reading list" and click on "blogs I'm following". Then you will be able to click on the "add" link and copy and paste any blog urls that you want to follow. You will then have a feed of recent articles from the blogs. You can also click on a link to view them in Google Reader. Or can just use Google reader www.google.com/reader
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24
Who has a blog?
by DT ini've noticed a lot of xjw blogs popping up lately.
i think that is great.
blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the watchtower society.
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DT
Thanks for your comments and links.
Compound Complex,
I like the post about cleaning the bathroom while listening to Bach.
Badboy,
You have a ton of blogs. I like your science abstracts blog. I've been reading it for a while.
Snakes in the Tower,
I've heard you mention your blog before, but I think this is the first time I've seen it. I'll link to it from some of my XJW blogs. I like your idea of using it as a placeholder. I've done that with some of my non JW blogs. It's funny how some will get a lot of traffic and others will be ignored. It gives me an idea of where to focus my attention. In any case, it gives Google a chance to find it before you invest too much effort into it.
Besty,
I love the idea of having all those blogs on the Freeminds site.
"PS - @DT - are you gonna share your blogroll?"
Sure, my most complete listing is here http://jehovahswitnessesvideo.blogspot.com/ in the left sidebar. There are also links to some of my other blogs towards the top.
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24
Who has a blog?
by DT ini've noticed a lot of xjw blogs popping up lately.
i think that is great.
blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the watchtower society.
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DT
I've noticed a lot of XJW blogs popping up lately. I think that is great. Blogging could be the next big phase in combating the influence and propaganda of the Watchtower Society. I'm sure Watchtower representatives are trying to monitor apostate sites. They are probably disturbed by all these little sites showing up. They never know when one will break some important news or scandal or contribute to this news spreading like wildfire across the Internet.
I also know, from personal experience, that it can be difficult for a new blogger to get readers. I wanted to start this thread so bloggers can let us know what they are doing. A little shameless self promotion can be a good thing. It's OK if you have already announced your blog on this site or are planning on doing so in the future. I'd also enjoy hearing about your blogs that don't focus on XJW issues. (Just be careful about revealing your identity, unless that isn't a concern.)
There are a lot of ways we can support XJW bloggers without expending much effort. We can comment on their posts and many Blogger blogs now have a place where you can become a follower. If you have a blog or website, linking to bloggers can make a big difference. (The links themselves might not send much traffic, but it can improve their ranking in Google and improve their search results.) Having outgoing links can even help your own search results, even if the other site doesn't reciprocate.
I try to keep a large representative blogroll on my blogs, but I'm sure that I'm missing some. I will try to add the relevant blogs that are mentioned here.
If you have any technical questions about blogging like how to get started, embed videos, or install a statcounter, feel free to ask them here. I'll help if I can, otherwise someone else might have an answer.
I look forward to your comments.
(Note: This post was partially inspired by AK-Jeff's post about his new blog http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/173743/1/Well-Ive-gone-and-done-it-started-a-blog)
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Well - I've gone and done it - started a blog
by AK - Jeff inhere is the link: http://freefromthewatchtower.blogspot.com/.
i am absolutely new to this.
i hope a few will follow, but if not, i shall gain nonetheless.. jeff .
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DT
Looks good. I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm following it and put up some links on my blogs.
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11
Freedom of Religion?
by DT init's amazing how the watchtower society uses "freedom of religion" as a legal protection to violate the religious freedoms of others.
the punishment for leaving their religion is so severe that many people stay to avoid being cut off from their family and friends.
these people don't really have freedom of religion.. the courts are generally reluctant to interfere in the internal dealings of a church (they might make an exception in extreme cases like child abuse) so the watchtower society has a lot of freedom to use intimidation and the threat of breaking family ties to enforce its own will.
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DT
If I had the time and money, I would love to sue the Watchtower Society for interfering with my right to freely resign from their religion. It would totally avoid the legal complexities of internal judicial policies and shunning. Freedom of religion would be the only issue and they would find themselves accused of violating religious freedom instead of using it as a lame defense.
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11
Freedom of Religion?
by DT init's amazing how the watchtower society uses "freedom of religion" as a legal protection to violate the religious freedoms of others.
the punishment for leaving their religion is so severe that many people stay to avoid being cut off from their family and friends.
these people don't really have freedom of religion.. the courts are generally reluctant to interfere in the internal dealings of a church (they might make an exception in extreme cases like child abuse) so the watchtower society has a lot of freedom to use intimidation and the threat of breaking family ties to enforce its own will.
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DT
"I think everyone who is DA'd should demand an acceptance of disassociation letter!"
I think that's only fair. If dissassociation results in a lifetime of shunning, it would be nice to at least have some confirmation that you are no longer a member of that evil organisation. I would keep it as a souvenir. It's a small courtesy, but not one that the Watchtower Society is willing to grant.
I think the implications are profound. If they won't respond to disassociation letters, why bother? You could just claim that not going to meetings amounts to resignation and when you resign they can't disfellowship you. The Mormon church has gotten into legal trouble for expelling people after they already resigned. Perhaps this is related to the rumors that the Watchtower Society will start viewing lack of meeting attendance as disassociation. It is dangerous for them to take judicial action against someone who can claim they are no longer a member.
I think they are scared to have any paper trail connected with membership lists. I'm sure they are concerned that these records could be used in court cases (especially pedophilia cases). It also appears that the Watchtower Society is trying to insulate themselves from the local congregations. I can imagine a time when the Watchtower Society simply claims that people resign by their actions and that it is impossible for them to maintain any kind of official membership lists. Its just awkward for people like me who are shunned because of rumor, but don't have any way of confirming their official membership status. I have a plan for forcing this issue, but I don't want to give out any details at this time.