Kent

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Posts by Kent

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  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

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  Kent

  HI ALL!

  I have received the files from Saxotech, but so far they have not sent me a bill. I guess it's just a question of time, but I do have the files available.

  Does anyone want to host the site - and who wants to work with the files?
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
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• 

  Kent

  That's true, Simon. And thanks for the donations so far. I have received confirmation from PayPal for the $200, so thanks a lot. You're right i never used the account. I'm new to this, but I guess it works. It looks that way, anyway.

  Saxotech told me on phone what they expected to do the job, and I have not got a bill so far. When I do, I will post a copy on the board, so everyone can see their original bill.

  It would be nice if anyone actually wanted to HOST the Watchtower Observer. It could be run as a joint venture between more than one, of course, but it would be nice to know if anyone actually want to host it. Saving the content isn't much important if it won't be published, right? I'm not quite sure of the size, but a few houndred MB might be about it :) It's rather huge, I believe.

  As for legal trouble, I believe there is a lot of ways to defend the content. Remember, the Watchtower tried to get the content away before, and the company that hosted the site back then did have a bit more balls. Anyway, the Watchtower complained to the Norwegian police, and lost that one. So, it's absolutely possible to carry the content. It's a lot of fuzz with the Tower - but there is a lot of valid reasons for keeping the content. Remembre, every newspaper is printing copies of segret documents and letters. That's a part of journalism, and as long as these letters and writings proves a company is actually lying in public, nobody can get you for publishing them!

  That was short what this is about. Also, it's possible to host documents on different servers and sites. All documents can be showed on a page on a website, even though the document itself is in another place. Which makes a lot of things more easy. That will be a wild goose chase for the Watchtower, since it's just to change the address where the originals are as soon as needed.

  Be aware that I can prove the Watchtower knowing about sites in Norway carrying the "illigal" content. This was mentioned in the original case with the Norwegian police, who decided the Watchtower just harassed the Watchtower Observer. And, the content is STILL there, and the Watchtower has NEVER demanded it away!

  So - there is a lot to go for, actually. It's fully possible to beat the lying bastards in Brooklyn :)
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  Yes. [email protected] is the address to my PayPal account.

  Also, I have already received 3 payments, $200 total, so it seems things is working :)

  Thanks a lot, folks!
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  That's fine - surely he doesn't need the watchtower subdomain for work. As Simon pointed out, he should be able to point that domain to the new site. By all means, we ought to keep the original domain name. It's like an established brand. It will be much, much easier to get traffic to the site if we stay with the existing domain name.

  That's true. I will make that domain awailable, and I will redirect anyone to the new domain. Because there is thousands of links, I will also redirect any 404 Error message to the frontpage of the new site as well. There is no need to have a message on the "original" domain to explain why the domain has changed, but it should be on the new one. This because any links to anywhere inside the site itself will be broken, and everyone will go to the new site. Maybe the redirect should be to a special page explaining what happened, and then visitors can just browse on in the new site?

  The Watchtower subdomain will be used only for redirecting to the new site. Besides this, it would be a great thing if the Witchpower Babble & Crap Society could still use the old URL, and still find their crap :)
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  1. What kind of traffice/bandwidth usage does the site have?

  It's a long time since I was looking at the stats, and the stats never told me about bandwith use. But I'd say a normal week would be between 35 and 40.000 page views. As it was constructed, it was only a small copy of any image on the page. This could be klicked to see the full size image. The sections that did have the most visits was news, Jehovah's Witnesses and Society (JWs as criminals) and doctrine.

  2. Were the only legal charges copyright, or were there also concerns over libel or other laws?

  The only charges are copyright. They do complain about the "Pay Attention to Yourselves and to All the Flock" and the BO Letters. Also, they found the "Bethel manual" and complained about that.

  The Letters
  I'm not sure they can legally complain about the letters. Newspapers all over the world publishes letters as evidence of their claims, as I do in my normal job as editor of a small magazine. The fact the Watchtower hates it doesn't mean it's illigal. I'm certain nobody could win in court if they wanted them away.

  "Secret books"
  I'm not so sure they could win a case on "The Flock" book either. The reason is this:

  On Norwegian television the JWs claimed we were "quoting out of context", reffering to "The Flock" book. They also denied the information claimed to be in there. But they were lying. This can be proven by evidence. So, it's neccesary to not only quote the sections we need (which isn't all that much, since most of the book is braindead crap), but we need to have it in context. This because that was the Watchtowers own line of reasoning on Norwegian television.

  Also, in Holland a court case was won about the "secret" files of the Church of Scientology. It's a question about copyrigt of fraud and swindle, and the watchtower claims they have no secrets. They CLAIM to give away all their literature for free - and can't claim economical losses. Just to mention a few points.

  Also, they go after a few sites. Mine is one example, while I can prove they know of other sites in Norway carrying the same documents - and they have NEVER done anything to get rid of them there! This is evidence - which I gave to the police when they tried to get me via them - which ended up with the police dismissing the case the last time.

  So, if someone do have brass balls, there shouldn't be all that much problems. The Watchtower will, of course - scream. Theyr lawyers will scream - but why don't we just let the bastards scream

  After all - we do have a damned, good point:

  WE CAN EASILLY CLAIM THEY WANT THIS AWAY TO PROTECT THEMSELVES IN COURT CASES OF CHILD ABUSE. THESE LETTERS ARE DANGEROUS IN COURT CASES - AND AS A PEDOPHILE PARADISE THEY NEED THEM AWAY

  Good point - or what?
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

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• 

  Kent

  No, I never did - and no, I don't own anything of this. If I did, there wouldn't be a problem at all.

  Some while ago I was discussing if anyone wanted to take over the Watchtower Observer, yes. But it all boiled down to nothing. So, I kept it going - untill my ISP was obviously scared by the Watchtower and took the easy way out - demanding an amount om money nobody could be willing to pay for a site like this.

  As far as I know, there is people here willing to do the neccesary job to make the exported data awailable in PHP - which should make them possible to use on most any server running MySql. I'm not a techie myself, but I will provide the files to those willing to do this job as soon as I've got them
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  The email is: [email protected] Nothing more problematic :)) I was just looking for a number or something - and couldn't find it...
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  The name watchtower_observer.org can be used. We own it :) [b]The question is: Is there anyone willing to host the site?[/b] Again, I have a PayPal account, but I don't know how to use it. Does anyone need an account-number, or can they just send to my email as long as that is recorded with PayPal?
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  Yeah, I have an account. BUt where can I find any number for it? If I want to send money to anyone, I only add an email address - but someone can for sure help me here :)
• 
  149

  Watchtower Observer site goes down

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  an era in the ex-jw history is over.

  kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Kent

  Thanks, Simon. I have a PayPal account now, so that shouldn't be a problem. I suddenly remembered I made one "ages ago", but I never really used it much. But, it was still there, so it shouldn't be a problem.

  The ones who would like to host The Watchtower Observer need to be aware of a fact:

  As soon as the site is up running the Watchtower will start trying to get it down!

  So, anyone thinking about hosting it will need an ISP with balls. That's for sure. I will tell Saxotexh to export the database on Monday, and I will tell you all when I can get the files.

  Hopefully the one(s) who is going to convert the files to another format will send me a mail, so I know where to send them.

  Thank you all for your support! That's really great - and it's a good thing to know the Watchtower can't stop biting their fingernails. LOL