"...I forgot that you as a family are allowed to talk to dfd family as long as you don't talk about religious stuff.'"
Yes, that HAS been the rule for ages. However, many do go OVERBOARD and go straight for the maximum penalties with the least provocation.
The JW’s certainly aren’t consistent, even with their own precious rules of men. So, you can observe two equally "active" JW’s doing two completely different actions in regard to their relatives.
Of course, they aren’t penalized for this excess of judgmental reaction.
They may also be erring on the side of caution, as they won’t be reproved for this act of Inhumanity. In fact, they may be approved in the eyes of others for such indecency.
As mentioned, "things change". There is much reaction and anecdotal evidence that the whole reaction to relatives and those inactive may be "tightening up" to a worse end. This is possibly happening as we speak; a WT article could make ANY contact unavailable, at any time.
Mustang