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  1. A large part of the way that the JWTalk Community is organized is by using a built in feature of the software called Member Groups. Various reading and posting permissions can be edited on a member by member basis, or they can be done by a much easier means by using Member Groups. The groups are given certain permissions and restrictions, and then members are assigned to that group. The use of Member Groups is one of the ways that helps the Team here on the Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community keep the community clean and safe for our brothers and sisters around the world. We get asked from time to time what these group names mean. You might see them under a members avatar when viewing a post on a PC, or on their profile if you click through to see it. Some of the Member Groups are highlighted in red or bold type and so are the members of that group when you see them in the list of Online Users. So the following is an explanation of the primary Member Groups we use for the majority of accounts here at JWTalk. Guest - An unregistered person or search engine bot viewing the forum. Most of our visitors are guests. Now, if a guest applies for membership, and that membership gets approved, then they become a Recent New User. Recent New User - A brand new member. They are subject to content moderation. They can only post. Only key members only forums are available to them. Their Inbox can hold 25 messages. After they've introduced themselves and made a few posts, they get automatically upgraded to a Level 1 of 2 Limited Access User. Limited Access Users - These members are still subject to content moderation. They can use signatures and can upload a cover photo on their profile. They can also now post status updates and create photo albums in the Photo Gallery. They are able to read and participate in the Zoom forum. Their Inbox can hold 50 to 100 messages. As most Limited Access Users are still relatively newer to the Community, we still need some time to get to know them. After some time has passed and they have made several meaningful contributions to the board, the Team will begin discussing if it's time to give them a Full Access account. Full Access Users - These members are not subject to content moderation and we are trusting them to behave. They can create Clubs. They can manage file versions and also submit URL's in the Files Library. They can read and participate in Comfort & Support forum and the Forum Games forum. Their Inbox can hold 250 messages and they can upload attachments in private messages. Those groups make up the bulk of memberships here at JWTalk. We also have groups called "Inactive Account", "Application Denied", and "Incomplete Registration" that are used solely for management purposes. This brings us to the Team which is made up of 3 groups in addition to the administrator. Team members appear in bold type in the Who's Online block. Community Assistant - These are selected elders who help keep an eye on the community and who help address sensitive issues in Confidential Talk. They help alert the rest of the Team to issues and concerns they might see. However they don't have Moderator functions available to them. Community Moderator - Moderators can Approve posts waiting in the queue, as well as Edit, Hide, Split, and Move them around. They can see all Clubs without joining. They participate in certain Team activities. Their Inbox can hold 500 messages. Community Manager - These members are Moderators who take care of extra duties behind the scenes. Managers can add or remove Moderators as needed. They are the ones who make decisions on adding new features, hosting, spending donated funds, etc. They respond to messages sent through Contact Us form submissions or to the Support email, and address feedback from appointed men in the congregation. Their Inbox can also hold 500 messages. Finally, we have groups for inactive members or members facing disciplinary action. There are very few of these, but we define them using Member Groups for very important reasons. They include the following. Former Member - A deactivated account of a person who wants it to be clear to the members and any visiting guests that they have voluntarily left the community. They can no longer read or interact with anyone. Former Members can reactivate their account in the future if they change their mind. Restricted User - A member who caused problems and would not abide by the Community Membership Policy even after repeated admonition. They are restricted from posting anywhere or interacting with anyone, therefore they cannot give Reactions, post Status Updates, or use the Private Messenger. They can still read some of the Member forums but not the Clubs, Comfort & Support, or the Zoom forum. Basically, a soft-ban and indefinite time-out. BANNED USER - Accounts with this label we are convinced are apostates or opposers. We consider them dangerous. They cannot see or do anything at all within the community, and we strongly discourage you from interacting with them outside our community. We appreciate all members who help keep their eyes on what goes on in the Community and who either use the Report button or the Confidential Talk forum to bring matters to our attention. In reality, we're community moderated, self moderated discussion forum, and each one of you play a valuable part in keeping JWTalk the safest online gathering place for Jehovah's Witnesses since 2006!
    9 points
  2. Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question: QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?" This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly. Quotations and Excerpts from Literature Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version: Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery). Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time. What about uploaded images? Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.” Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again. However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us. What about embedded images? Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post. Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses. Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us. Requesting Removal of your content While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
    8 points
  3. TERMS AND CONDITIONS Welcome to the JWTalk - the pro-JW online community! Here are a few guidelines that all our registered members and visitors must agree to observe… JWTalk.net is a privately operated online community that is visible to the public, yet is intended solely for use by registered members who are active Jehovah’s Witnesses with an approved JWTalk account. The site is strictly non-commercial and all work is done by a team of dedicated Community Managers, Team Members, and Assistants. None of the content in the community is affiliated with JW.org nor is sponsored by, nor authorized by the Governing Body nor by any legal entity used by the worldwide organization known as ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’. This discussion board reflects the opinions of the general public and we assume no liability based on information contained herein. Members must agree to, and abide by, our Community Membership Policy in order to post on JWTalk. We reserve the right to edit or delete posts, at our discretion, to meet with our code of conduct rules. By registering on this site you acknowledge you have read and agree with this Membership Policy. A. Membership Who Can Be a Registered Member at JWTalk.net? To post comments or create content on JWTalk, you must be an active publisher associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses, baptized or not. An active publisher has a share in the work of proclaiming Jehovah’s Kingdom every month and reports it, and is thus counted among us in the monthly and yearly reports. In other words, participation in this community is intended for Jehovah’s Witnesses only. If an extenuating circumstance causes you to go temporarily inactive, this does not mean you have to abstain from participating in our community. However, should you become “no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses” via disassociation or disfellowshipping, then you no longer qualify for membership and it would be appropriate for you to privately contact the Team to inform us that this is the case. Your account will be disabled, but not deleted. It can be reactivated at a later time when your circumstances have turned around and you have been reinstated. We reserve the right of controlling membership at our discretion. B. Registration How Can I Become a Participant in the Community? Registration is required to interact with others anywhere on JWTalk. All applicants must answer fill in the registration form completely and accurately. There are questions on the registration page that under normal circumstances, only active publishers would know the answers to. A valid email address is required, as you will have to respond to an email validation link that will get sent to you. A Community Manager must also approve your application. Once these two validations take place, you are able to make comments in the community. Please understand that when registering, there are required fields where you must provide identifying information such as your full real name, location, and congregation name, but these are only ever visible to the Team. There are other fields where you may enter less specific information relating to you that will be visible to other community members and the public. While you will be known by your choice of "display name", we are on a first name basis here. C. Publicity, Content Ownership, & Copyright All submitted posts become a permanent part of JWTalk Community. By sending posts or submitting content to the community, you, the Sender, acknowledge and agree that your contribution automatically becomes an intrinsic part of the JWTalk.net Community without any further obligation to you, and that you grant JWTalk.net the right to use, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, distribute, have distributed, and promote the content in any form, anywhere and for any purpose; and warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content you submit and that the public posting and use of your content by JWTalk.net will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party. You acknowledge that your submitted content may not be removed, unpublished or changed once the content has been posted. While most areas of JWTalk are visible to the public, we are a private membership community. Whether you are a registered member or an unregistered guest, you agree that you will not copy and paste the contents of individual posts that you yourself did not author to another internet location outside of JWTalk.net, and that doing so will result in a copyright takedown notice initiated by the original content author or us as their agent. We do NOT delete accounts. However, you may request that we "deactivate" your account. You will no longer be able to log in to view members only content nor read or reply to Private Messages. You can reactivate your account at a later time by using the Contact Us form at the bottom of every page to send a message to the Community Managers. D. Speech & Conduct What is JWTalk’s Code of Conduct? The same behavior expected of you in the congregation is expected here in our online community. Our site is operated by and for true Christians. This is a site for real Jehovah's Witnesses to engage in peaceful discussion, and not a place for argumentative debates. Therefore, your goal in contributing to a topic should be to share something of interest that will build up your brothers and sisters. We seek to maintain an upbuilding, entertaining, safe, open, and intellectually stimulating environment, where mature Christians can exercise their God-given "freeness of speech." (2 Corinthians 3:12) A few principles can help us to do that: 1) Matters of Conscience: If there are no clear indications on a subject in the Bible or in the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, then we are obligated to show respectfulness towards the conscience decisions of others, both of those that are stricter than ours and those that are less strict. (Romans 14:3) Do not make rules where none exist. 2) Handling Disagreement: It can be very productive to discuss areas of disagreement, as long as this is done in a "spirit of mildness," avoiding mockery or belittlement. (Galatians 6:1) Keep in mind that this is a forum for discussion, and not a place for heated debate. Express yourself with love, and do not "pour fuel on the fire", as it were. While expressing disagreement, your goal should be to keep the conversation calm and cool, so "before the quarrel breaks out, take your leave.” (Proverbs 17:14) If you are seriously concerned about someone's motives in posting, please contact a Manager or Team Member privately, and do not assault another user publicly within the topic. 3) Personal Problems: The scriptures urge us to settle personal problems in private. (Matthew 18:15) Personal or private details of ongoing situations, whether those of your own or those of others, should not be shared on the board. This is true even if the problem is with someone who is not a member of the community. When dealing with past situations, discretion and good judgment are still needed. 4) Avoiding Offense: We all want to try to apply the counsel, "Do not be quick to take offense." (Ecclesiastes 7:9) However, it will be easier to do that if we watch for each other's areas of sensitivity, and avoid them. (Romans 14:15) 5) Acceptable Language: Jehovah's Witnesses on the web come from diverse social, cultural, and geographic backgrounds, which means that they will have different standards of acceptable language. Please endeavor be sensitive to these differences, both in your own word choice and in how you react to others. If you are seriously concerned about language that you feel is inappropriate, please contact a Community Team Member or Manager privately. Do not engage the other user publicly within the topic. 6) Freedom of Speech: The above principles definitely do not mean that matters of conscience and speculative questions cannot be discussed. The Watchtower of May 1, 2000 gives the following balanced perspective: "It is normal to discuss Bible accounts or wonder about aspects of the promised new world that have not as yet been revealed. And there is nothing wrong with exchanging ideas on personal matters, such as dress and grooming or choice of entertainment. However, if we become dogmatic about our ideas and take offense when others do no agree with us, the congregation may end up becoming divided over minor issues." (page 11, paragraph 14 - we recommend reading this whole subheading). 7) Avoiding Spoilers: It's unloving to post spoilers about information that others would rather hear 'at the proper time' at their own meeting. Therefore exercise caution and use the built in "spoiler" tag/function to hide such details when appropriate. Since Regional Conventions are typically held around the world spanning several months, we have one dedicated topic for discussing each years Regional Convention. Only those who have attended their convention should view the topic, which is clearly marked that the discussion may contain spoilers for those who haven't attended yet. Do not post about a current year's Regional Convention in any other topic than this designated one. Do not read the topic if you haven't attended your convention and don't wish to have it "spoiled" for you. 8 ) Cooperation with the Team: The Community Managers and Community Team Members are responsible to Jehovah and to their brothers for what occurs in the community. Please cooperate with their directions. (1 Corinthians 16:14) E. Commenting and Moderation JWTalk has a thriving user community. We are dedicated to maintaining a respectful, engaging and informative conversation. Towards that end, we have basic ground rules for commenting to maintain a civil atmosphere. These are supported by Community Team Members. If you wish to participate in the community, we ask that you follow the ground rules below and the spirit of the community they seek to create. Are Certain Things Not Permitted to be Posted on JWTalk? We will not tolerate anything against Biblical standards, including apostasy and unclean or obscene speech. (Eph 5:3,4; 2 Tim 2:16-18) Links to apostate sites (anti-witness sites) will get you banned, as will hateful speech and obscene language. The following guidelines should help demonstrate the quality of the content we expect from you, as well as the moderation efforts that take place on JWTalk. 1) No Spamming. Do not excessively communicate the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish, or make non-constructive posts. If a comment is solely promotional in nature, we will remove it from the site. 2) No Trolling. This would include creating threads or off-topic comments that cause unrest or disturbances among members or within discussions. This community does not tolerate direct or indirect attacks, nor does it tolerate intentional attempts to derail, hijack, troll or bait others into an emotional response. We reserve the right to remove these types of comments if warranted. Individuals who consistently or intentionally post these types of comments may lose their ability to comment permanently. 3) No Misusing JW.org and its Services: The Terms of Use at JW.org makes the statement, "You may not: Misuse the website or its services, such as... accessing the website or its services using a method other than what is explicitly provided." Therefore, do not mine JW.org or it's affiliated services hunting for artwork, literature, or media that hasn't been officially released to the public yet. Spiritual food "is explicitly provided" at the proper time by the Faithful and Discreet Slave (Matthew 24:45) and not by individuals racing to be the ones to present it in place of them (Psalm 11:2). 4) No Personally Identifiable Information. For the privacy and protection of all members, we insist that you do not post publicly identifiable information, such as your email address, phone number, street address, etc, on any content that is visible to the public or even the community at large. Any comments that contain this information may be deleted. Your email address is kept private and we encourage communication using the discussion board and the private messaging system only. If you give out your contact information for other services, you are doing so at your own risk. 5) Limited Access and Moderation. To maintain a clean and civil community, we reserve the right to have our moderation team read comments before they are displayed on the site. Review time can vary depending on the availability of our Team Members, who are all volunteers, as well as the current queue, so please be patient. Please, do not resubmit the same comment or complain to the Team assuming it has been deleted. If we refuse to publish your comments, we will send you a private message explaining why. If we publish your comments, we reserve the right to edit them as necessary. 6) An Online Spiritual Paradise. We strongly believe that JWTalk Community should be a safe space for brothers and sisters from all around the globe to express their ideas. As such, purposefully insulting and hostile language or personal threats are not welcome here. If you directly or indirectly threaten the physical or mental well-being of a member of this community, you may be removed immediately. If a credible threat is made against another member, publicly or privately, not only may it be removed but we reserve the right to report the matter to your congregation elders and/or law enforcement agencies. F. File Uploads 1) Material for Meeting Preparation: The November 1999 Our Kingdom Ministry states "Using another person’s research for a talk or [as a substitute for] meeting preparation really defeats the purpose of personal study." Posts on spiritual matters should therefore contain the results of your own personal meditation, first-hand accounts of what you heard at meetings, and brief quotes from the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, along with appropriate references. If you want to share a meeting part that you worked hard on, please do not post transcripts or audio recordings of your assignment prior to their being delivered in congregations all over the world. 2) Audio Recordings of Talks: The Question Box in the April 2010 Our Kingdom Ministry discourages the circulation of recorded talks. Remember that JWTalk is about discussion, and is not for trading recordings of talks. With that said, we will not prohibit a user from occasionally sharing a recorded talk. However, we will not permit a user to make a habitual practice of this. Uploading a Circuit Assembly or Regional Convention program is strictly prohibited in accordance with the announcements we receive at each of these events. 3) JW Literature and Media: The Branch has repeatedly stated that we may share information from the organization’s official websites by sending a link, but according to the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, we should not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites. This would include theocratic programs on jw.org or JW Stream, such as monthly broadcasts, congregation meetings, circuit assemblies, and conventions. Therefore, do not upload to our servers any literature or media that is available on JW.org and it's affiliated sites. Also, do not share links to unauthorized copies of content that has been uploaded to any file sharing, music sharing, or video sharing website. G. Unverified Experiences & Sensational Stories The October 1999 Our Kingdom Ministry says: “What if the experience you pass on is not accurate? Would this not be sharing in perpetuating an untruth?” - (Proverbs. 12:19; 21:28; 30:8; Colossians 3:9) Be mindful of sensational stories or experiences that you cannot verify. This becomes a problem from time to time. It’s a chore for the Team to read extremely long ones, and likely someone will point out what they feel is ridiculously sensational and unrealistic and publicly state why they find it too difficult to believe some facet of this incredulous story. It's important to protect the gullible for believing everything he or she reads. If the story or experience is legitimate, OR truly encouraging yet not overly far-fetched, we’ll probably let it go. Just remember that spamming us with such tall tales, email forwards, or similar content circulating social networks is not the purpose of our community. H: Ads and Posting Secondary Links Before linking to any page, please make sure that it does not have ads for pornography, comments by apostates or opposers, or prominent ads/links to apostate or other inappropriate sites. We would not want to be responsible for exposing our brothers to temptation or facilitate the efforts of those who want to draw our brothers away. (Matthew 18:6) I: Copyrighted Content 1) Ownership: Caution must be taken to respect the copyrights of others. All sites, whether public, commercial, social, personal or private--contain elements that are protected under copyright laws, whether they are original works, fixed works, works made for hire, commissioned works, or works that have been assigned. We reserve the right to edit or remove any post, image or other media that, in our opinion, constitutes a violation of the copyrights of any other individual or enterprise. 2) Fair Use: You agree to become familiar with typical "Fair Use" laws and to use good judgment when submitting content to the JWTalk community. It is usually both reasonable and acceptable to include a quotation from an article or other literary work, or to reference a single image or photograph, in order to start a topic or that is pertinent or necessary to further a current discussion in the community. However, do not post entire articles or large portions of them from our publications or upload them as attachments to the discussions or to our Files Library. Likewise, do not upload content containing multiple image attachments that you do not have copyright ownership or rights to. 3) DCMA Takedown: It is our policy to respond to all notices of alleged copyright infringement. To learn more about how to bring a copyright issue to our attention, please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy. J. Disclaimer All comments posted to this community reflects the views and opinions expressed by the individual member and are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of JWTalk.net, our Team, nor that of the organization known as "Jehovah's Witnesses", the Governing Body, or any of its legal corporations. Your local congregation and its elders are part of Jehovah's channel for your spiritual care, not any member of JWTalk Community regardless of what their appointment may be in their own congregations. Any medical advice of any sort posted in the community by any member should be discussed with your local healthcare provider. Each member must come to their own conclusions, "carry their own load”, and "render an account for himself to God.” - Galatians 6:5, Romans 14:12 K. A few more points... * Remember, while every effort is made to ensure that only active publishers associated with Jehovah's people are granted membership here at JWTalk, there is no real way to verify the identity and congregational status of each registered account. The faithful slave cautions against associating with people whom you do not know over the internet, even when they claim to be your fellow brothers and sisters. Those cautionary statements are valid and apply to this JWTalk as well. * Do not use topics, replies, or your status updates to sound off on what you think the organization should do differently. It is discouraging, and quite frankly not up to you anyhow. * Do not bring issues to the community and post content about things that you ought to be speaking to your elders about first. * Since all members of this community are supposed to be active publishers of the good news and counted as Jehovah’s Witnesses in our monthly and annual reports, you must NOT count the time you spend participating here in your monthly field service reports, and you must NOT count links you post in this community as placements, etc. * We understand that people are shy. If you comment here at JWTalk, please be making an honest, sincere, prayerful effort to comment at your congregation meetings as well. * We reserve the right to update these Community Membership Policies and Terms of Service at any time, and it is your responsibility to check periodically for changes. When changes are made, a post will be created in the Announcements forum. * In all instances, we retain the right to trim, edit or remove content that violate the policies above * Failure to comply with the above membership policy may cause your account to be "Banned" - at the Team’s discretion.
    7 points
  4. JWTalk Community Forums - How Do We Stay Organized? JWTalk is an internet forum, commonly called a discussion board. We're an online community where brothers and sisters can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. Discussion boards differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are permanently archived and available for reading. A discussion board like JWTalk has a tree-like structure of forums and sub-forums that are designed to categorize various topics of discussion. Simply stated, a topic is a single conversation also referred to as a thread, and a forum is a folder or container for similar topics that fall within a certain category. Each new discussion someone starts is called a topic/thread and can be replied to by as many people as so wish. Participant have to register with JWTalk and subsequently log in to post messages. However, on most of our forums, users do not have to log in to read existing messages. Most of our forums are publicly visible, while just a few of them are members only. Forums predate modern Social Media by decades. Modern social media is like micro-blogging, focusing on the individual, making small, usually impulsive comments, with no regard for or method to categorize the comments. Social Media also affords less privacy. It only takes a few clicks to discover your interests and leanings, which area you live in and more. Forums on the other hand allow you to be relatively anonymous. Forums are much better suited for richer, long form discussions. A typical forum thread it will include a number of participants and often incorporates rich media (e.g. videos, pictures, polls, and more), and has tools better suited for responding and replying to people. The popularity of Social Media has impacted discussion boards in that new members to internet forums often don't think about how the various forums in the community act as categorizations for discussion topics. So in this post and the ones that follow, we hope to give some helpful explanation as to how we categorize threads here at JWTalk, so that when you decide to start a new topic for discussion, you will have a better understanding as to which forum you should post your topic. Please continue reading to get a better idea of which topics belong in which forums... Encouragement for the Worldwide Brotherhood This forum description reads: "A public forum for items of interest to all of Jehovah's people who visit our site as guests, such as new audio & video content on JW.org, poetry, illustrations, and non-firsthand experiences that you feel compelled to share. (Publicly Visible)" It's called "Encouragement for the Worldwide Brotherhood" for several reasons. This forum is publicly visible to unregistered guests visiting our community, so it is literally available to the whole association of brothers around the world. Therefore, it can be used to start topics of discussion when new audio and video material become available to the public on JW.org. In addition, some members like to share encouraging poetry and experiences that have been passed to them from other sources, and they in turn would like to share it here with their brothers and sisters. What shouldn't be posted in Worldwide Brotherhood? If a field ministry experience is a personal one, then it should be shared to the Our Meetings, Our Ministry, and Our Life as a Christian forum which is visible to members only. Likewise, discussions about literature that we are currently considering at our meetings, such as the Watchtower lesson for the week, the weekly Bible reading, and the book we're considering at the Congregation Book Study should also go in the "Our Meetings" forum. Don't post news journalism from JW.org here, as we have a separate forum for JW News. Please check if another forum is a better fit for your topic of discussion. Our Meetings, Our Ministry, and Our Life as a Christian This forum description reads: "A private forum for registered members only to discuss anything related to our lives as Jehovah's people, including our meetings, the field ministry, personal achievements and experiences. (Members Only)" The title of this forum is clear. Anything that has to do with our gatherings, whether it is at the local congregation or at an assembly, most likely should be discussed in this forum. Also anything related to our ministry, such as personal field ministry experiences, help with how to answer a Bible student's questions, pioneering, etc. Organizational arrangements, such as supporting the LDC, making donations, and theocratic appointments, are topics that would belong in this forum. Discussions about maintaining our integrity regarding medical challenges, political neutrality, and peace and unity in the congregation are also fitting for this forum. What shouldn't be posted in Our Meetings & Ministry? Non-firsthand experiences that you cannot verify but are encouraging nonetheless should go in the "Encouragement for the Worldwide Brotherhood" forum. Personal struggles that are impacting your emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental health and well-being should get posted in "Comfort, Consolation, Support, & Recovery". Technical questions on how to use JW Library or Watchtower Library on your device should go in "Computers, Tablets, Mobile Devices, & Apps". Bible Research, Personal Study, and Scriptural Discussion This forum description reads: "A private forum for discussing the Bible, our literature and current understandings, and gems from your personal study and research. This is a theocratic forum for building faith in God's Word and trust in his faithful and discreet slave. (Members Only)" This forum is for those who like to dig into the scriptures and share the fruits of their personal study or family worship with their brothers and sisters. It is also okay to ask for assistance in understanding difficult passages, Bible prophecy, or our current understandings and teachings. Your topic should start with the valuable information you have already covered, and not be just a means of asking silly questions or having other community members do your homework for you. Your purpose in starting a topic in this forum should be to share the results of your personal in-depth bible study and why you think it was beneficial to dig into that topic and why you think it's of value to others on JWTalk, or to request assistance on getting a satisfying answer to something you have been studying deeply but are still having difficulty in understanding fully. What should not go in Deep Research? Do not post curious questions and elementary musings in Deep Research, especially regarding questions that the bible doesn't answer or speculations that we cannot prove scripturally. Please don't ask for help answering a question without FIRST visiting JW.org and the Watchtower Online Library and trying to find the answer yourself. Instead, start a discussion using what you've already learned, and then together we can appreciate and expand on that. Comfort, Consolation, Support & Recovery This forum description reads: "A private forum for discussing personal health issues. Talking about your problems can help you deal with your feelings. You are not alone. Discuss personal spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental health issues in here. (Members Only)" This forum is where we can discuss issues that we are struggling with that is negatively impacting our personal health and well-being. This could be a physical or mental condition, sickness, or disease. Personal health and well-being can also relate to how you are feeling emotionally over a situation that is perhaps taxing your spirituality, your meeting attendance, and the quality of your prayers. Since we discuss very personal sensitive issues in this forum, we only allow Full Access members to view these discussions, as well as an occasional Limited Access User if we see fit. What should not go in Comfort & Support? Generally speaking, issues that are not your own, such as a difficulty your Bible student is having, which would be better suited for "Our Ministry, Our Meetings, and Life as a Christian", as would struggling to grasp a Bible teaching or Witness stance on matter. Any poetry should go in "Encouragement for the Worldwide Brotherhood". Remember that the Staff will move posts to the appropriate forum. Introduce Yourself and Welcome One Another The forum description reads: "A members only forum where you can introduce yourself to the rest of the community, as well as get to know your brothers and sisters from all around the world here on JWTalk Forums. (Members Only)" This is fairly obvious. We love to get to know our brothers and sisters from all around the world, so when you join JWTalk, or shortly thereafter, take the time to introduce yourself to the community. We're eager to learn about you and why you have made the truth your own. JW.org Press Releases & Other JW Related Articles The forum description reads: "A public forum for sharing news about Jehovah's Witnesses from JW.org as well as other media sources who report POSITIVE information that we all love to hear and share with our brothers and sisters. (Publicly Visible)" That should be descriptive enough. This forum is for sharing positive news reports from secular sources about Jehovah's organization and his people worldwide, especially those that give a good witness. Articles from the newsroom at JW.org should be shared and discussed here. What should not be posted to JW News? We will not entertain apostate propaganda in the news media here, so negative journalism regarding Jehovah's people should not be shared. Secular News in the Mainstream Media The forum description reads: "A public forum for discussing secular news from around the world, whether the mainstream media is in the form of articles or videos. Please remember to link to the source. (Publicly Visible)" This forum is for discussion current news and events from around the world that you obtained from reliable mainstream news outlets. Remember that our News forums are public, and so we want to be giving a good witness and maintaining our nuetrality in our comments in such topics. What doesn't belong in Secular News? News from alternative sources, such as heavily biases outlets and not-so-trustworthy sources, "fake news" etc. Watch out for op-ed pieces and independent blogs that pass themselves off as news as well. Alternative News from Offbeat Sources & Sensitive Topics The forum description reads: "A private forum for unsubstantiated 'news' stories and opinion pieces from alternative journalistic-like articles and videos produced by bloggers and commentators that they promote on their 'alternative' media and 'independent' news sites. This is also where we might move more sensitive subjects. (Members Only)" This forum is for discussing news topics that are not reported in mainstream outlets but can only be found at alternative "news" sources, and if you don't trust the mainstream media then you'll probably want to post your news here. This forum is private, and so in addition to having a place available for those who are disposed towards a conspiracy-theorist mentality, whether slightly or embarrassingly, we sometimes move topics for discussion that are very sensitive in nature here as well. What does not go in the Alt.News forum? Mainstream news, or JW News that would be encouraging to a larger, worldwide audience. These other news categories have their own dedicated forums. The following Hobbies & Special Interest forums are VERY self-explanatory (Publicly Visible): Computers, Tablets, Mobile Devices, & Apps is a publicly visible forum for discussing computers and mobile technology of all sorts, including how to use our official JW apps & software. Book, Movies, TV, YouTube, Music, & Theater is a forum for discussing Arts & Entertainment. A Banquet of Well-Oiled Dishes is a forum for discussing food, beverages, diets, recipes, dining in, and dining out. Forum Games, Riddles, & Trivia (Publicly Visible) Forum Games, Riddles, & Trivia is for turn based forum games. Moderated Users cannot participate here because most of these games are turn-based games and played in real time, and by the time a Staff member gets around to approving a Limited Access Users post, several other Full Access Users may have already taken a turn. What should not be posted in Forum Games? Jokes or anything that isn't a game/riddle/puzzle that is time sensitive or depends on players taking turns. General Discussion & Everyday Chit Chat (Publicly Visible) General Discussion & Everyday Chit Chat is a forum for anything that doesn't already have a forum. The forum description reads "The "everything else" hangout lounge - A public forum for discussing personal interests, ask questions, post jokes & silly stuff, or anything else that doesn't fit have a dedicated forum. This is our off-topic general discussion area here at JWTalk. (Publicly Visible)" What shouldn't go in the General Discussion forum? Anything theocratic. All theocratic topics will be well suited for one of our Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forums. Also, don't flood this forum with several posts about the same subject matter. You may want to consider forming and moderating your own club if you have a particular passion for a certain topic. Clubs (Deprecated ) The Clubs feature has been removed, and previous clubs have been converted into subforums. Community Organization & Site Development Member Support & Community Feedback (Members Only) is for discussion site suggestions, ideas for new features, or to report bugs and other technical issues with using the site. Confidential Talk with the Moderators (Private) is a forum where only you and the moderators can see the topic you start. We encourage you to use this to discuss concerns you have about the community that you want to bring to our attention. This is also where you would request account deactivation or reactivation if you should decide to return.
    3 points
  5. JWTalk

    Common FAQ's about JWTalk

    FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions From time to time questions are raised about this our online community of Jehovah's Witnesses, and this page addresses some of the most common ones. The current questions that have answers on this page include the following… 1. Is this an official website for Jehovah’s Witnesses? 2. When did this site get started? 3. Why did this site go from being a rather private and secret site to a quite public one? 4. Who can participate in the discussion forum? 6. Who can sign up to receive the daily bible text? 7. Is the Branch, a Branch, or the religions leadership aware of this site? 8. Are the elder’s in your congregation aware of this site? 9. Have you ever been contacted by the Branch regarding this site? 10. Do you think the Branch approves of this site? 11. What happened to the recorded talks that forum members were able to download? 12. Is there prepared study material available for meetings on this site that I can download and use? 13. If you were contacted by the Branch to stop the daily text emails, what would you do? 14. What if the Branch started doing Daily Text emails themselves? 15. If you were contacted by the Branch to take down this site, what would you do? 16. Your answers to questions 13 and 15 bother me, what should I do? 1. Is this an official website for Jehovah’s Witnesses? No it is not. JWTalk is not endorsed by the Faithful and Discreet Slave nor is it maintained by any Branch Office nor any legal entity in use by Jehovah's Witnesses. The official website for Jehovah’s Witnesses is JW.org and you can find accurate information about our beliefs and practices there. JWTalk is an online community for real Jehovah's Witnesses, but it is independently run by a team of brothers and sisters from around the world. 2. When did this site get started? JWTalk started as a mere hobby site by a small group of brothers and sisters back in the fall of 2006, being perceived as a continuation of a previous Jehovah's Witnesses discussion forum that had been taken down by it's webmaster. Initially, JWTalk was originally a private, referral only discussion forum for the first couple years but now considered a public community. All registered members have to be Jehovah's Witnesses. There are only a few discussion forums or social networks out there on the internet that are “safe”, positive, and upbuilding for Jehovah's people, and they are difficult to find. While there are a some email mailing lists for Witnesses, apostates or opposers can also join the list, sit back, and harvest email addresses so they can send out there misleading garbage to you ‘at more convenient time’. The JWTalk community is primarily a discussion board for real Jehovah's Witnesses only. Your email address and other personal information are NEVER shown to anyone unless you choose to share that information, and even then we require that you do so through the one-on-one private messaging system and not within the public areas of the community. Anyone abusing the private message system to send harmful information to a single individual will be banned. Anyone posting harmful material within the community will also be banned. 3. Why did this site go from being a rather private and secret site to a quite public one? For a number of reasons. In time, the link to the private members only discussion forum, which had remained a secret for several years, somehow got indexed in Google and Bing. Also, some members would continually lose the secret link to the members only area. As social networking started to rise in popularity, many individuals would turn to social networks to search out brothers and sisters of like faith, only to constantly run into opposers. We decided to make the JWTalk community open to others without a referral from a current member, and to make it the go-to social site for real Jehovah's Witnesses on the web. 4. Who can participate in the discussion forum? Any active publisher whose JWTalk membership is approved by the Staff. All applicants must fill out the registration form completely and honestly. We reserve the right to control membership as we deem fit. 6. Who can sign up to receive the daily bible text via email? Anybody. God’s Word is public. The accompanying comments are not entire articles, but snippets that, as far as it seems to us, should fall within Fair Use Laws. We've been sending the days text to your email inbox for several years. However, it is worth noting that the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses now also posts the daily text at http://wol.jw.org 7. Is the Branch, a Branch, or the religions leadership aware of this site? Yes. 8. Are the elder’s in your congregation aware of this site? JWTalk is no longer maintained by just one individual, but rather by a team of brothers and sisters, which include those serving as pioneers, ministerial servants, and elders. 9. Have you ever been contacted by the Branch regarding this site? We have been indirectly asked to remove certain topics for discussion before. 10. Do you think the Branch approves of this site? The organization makes it very clear that they can only approve and endorse sites that they themselves maintain. This does not mean that they disapprove either. Notice this reference… Let’s break this down… “There is no need for any individual, committee, or congregation to prepare a Web page about Jehovah’s Witnesses.” This is not a web page about the organization known as Jehovah’s Witnesses nor about their beliefs and practices. JWTalk is an independently run online community for Jehovah's Witnesses. You can think of our site as a niche community, discussion forum, or social network for people who are really Jehovah's Witnesses. The views and opinions expressed by community members are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the JWTalk Staff nor Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole. “Some have posted the contents of our publications with all scriptures and references given in full and have even offered copies of convention material on a donation basis.” We do not host the contents of Watchtower publications here on JWTalk, nor do we share recordings of conventions or assemblies. While some members may choose to donate financially to assist with the costs of software licensing and web hosting, there is no incentive or reward to do so, other than knowing "God loves a cheerful giver" - 2 Corinthians 9:7 Whether profit is involved or not, the practice of reproducing and distributing publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses in an electronic document is a violation of copyright laws. And again, we do not upload entire publications nor do we allow members to copy and paste entire articles on our Jehovah's Witnesses online community. If you are looking for publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, then please visit the official site at http://www.jw.org which has several publications available to download for free. But what about the warnings such as those mentioned in the km 7/07 p. 3 Question Box article entitled What are the dangers of using the Internet to associate with someone we do not know? Such cautionary statements published by the faithful and discreet slave are valid and necessary, and each person needs to meditate on the contents of those articles and make their own conscience decision. While every effort is made to ensure our JWTalk community remains a safe place to for Jehovah's people to associate with one another online, there can be no guarantees that individuals will not post offensive material from time to time, nor can we in any manner that we can completely ensure that registered members are in good standing in their congregations or remain in such good standing beyond the time they registered on this site. We can, however, control content, and take seriously our responsibility to do so. All registered members have the ability to participate in keeping the forum clean. 11. What happened to the recorded talks that forum members were able to download? Please see the Question Box in the April 2010 Our Kingdom Ministry and read the article Should Jehovah's Witnesses circulate recordings or transcripts of talks?. The library index of recorded talks is no longer visible to members, and the forum that used to be dedicated to exchanging recorded talks has been deleted. 12. Is there prepared study material for meetings available on this site that I can download and use? We do not prepare and upload study material nor make the answers to meeting parts available as a download. Naturally, as Jehovah's people we like to discuss meeting parts and how to apply them in our lives and you will find such discussions taking place in the community. 13. If you were contacted by the Branch to stop the daily text emails, what would you do? Although we do not see the likelihood of this happening, we would happily discontinue using material from Examining the Scriptures Daily as part of the Daily Text email list. 14. What if the organization started doing daily text emails themselves? That would be fantastic! Imagine being able to subscribe to it in whatever language you speak, and have it emailed to you at the appropriate time in your time zone wherever you are in the world. With some planning and some programming, they could make it happen. They should! In the meantime, Jehovah's Witnesses do make Examining the Scriptures Daily available for download in PDF format at http://www.jw.org - as well as in the JW Library app for Windows, iOS, and Android, as well as on the Watchtower Online Library's landing page at http://wol.jw.org,, not to mention there are other 3rd party Daily Text apps for iPhone's, Android phones and tablets, etc. So we doubt we'll hear anything about our mailing list. 15. If you were contacted by the Branch to take down this site, what would you do? We moved to this domain in 2006 and they are well aware of our community here. This is not a realistic scenario. There have been Witness only discussion forums, mailing lists, and message boards, since the mid-90′s, some of which still exist to this day. Brothers and sisters are going to search out other brothers and sisters online and socialize with them, because that is just the way it is. JWTalk and it’s predecessor has been a safe place to do so for several years. If the discussion forum was taken down, it’s members would just start up another one, and perhaps try to be a little more secretive. What would be the point? The Branch has gone after sites that individuals put up about our beliefs and practices, or those dedicated to distributing study material, publications, and maintaining large libraries of recorded talks. None of this takes place here at JWTalk. The Staff works hard to keep the community in harmony with any and all direction received from the Branch. 16. Your answers to these questions bother me, what should I do? Stop using the Contact form at the bottom of the page to present us with silly “What if...?” scenarios. If you're not sure about the validity of our Jehovah's Witnesses community, please feel free to look around as a guest. Most areas of JWTalk are visible to the public. If the existence of our JWTalk community bothers your conscience, just navigate away. We perceive our organization’s leadership as loving, friendly, and above all, the most reasonable people on the face of the planet.
    3 points
  6. Welcome to the JWTalk online community for Jehovah's Witnesses JWTalk is an independent online community for Jehovah’s Witnesses managed by a number of brothers and sisters from all around the world. Since 2006, the goal of JWTalk has been to provide a place online where Jehovah’s Witnesses could have quality discussions among themselves without the nuisance of those opposed to our organization or Bible truths. We have a wonderful team of administrators, moderators, and assistants who diligently strive to keep unqualified individuals out, as well as keep the peace within the discussion topics. An approved membership is required to participate in any of the topics for discussion. We understand that there can be some apprehension about filling out the registration form and not really knowing who is inside or what is being discussed, but you can get a general idea by visiting the publicly visible areas of the community. The Encouragement forum, the JW News forums, and all of the Leisure Activities & Special Interests forums can be read and enjoyed without being a member. JWTalk is the real deal - the oldest and largest online community of Jehovah's Witnesses on the internet. Please understand we are an unofficial website and not endorsed by the Faithful and Discreet Slave. They encourage you to use caution when registering and reading discussions on any website or social network. We agree with this, so please take the time to read the following pages as well… Question Box – What are the dangers of using the internet to socialize with people we do not know? JWTalk Frequently Asked Questions JWTalk Community Membership Policy New member registrations are held in queue until approved by an administrator – meaning that even after you register you will not have immediate access to the community. Upon approval, if you look around and decide that it is not for you, there is a method to deactivate your account and ensure you no longer receive any email notifications from the site. New users who have never posted and have not returned or logged in for over 6 months are periodically removed. There are very few discussion boards on the internet that cater to Jehovah’s people, and all of them are quite secretive and are referral only. Brothers and sisters regularly go online looking for others in Jehovah's organization to meet and enjoy good association with, and quite often stumble upon apostate sites and opposers of Bible truth. The presence of such individuals online is enormous. The Staff at JWTalk firmly believe that our dear brothers and sisters should be able to find a favorable place online that is safe and enjoyable, and we strive to be just that site. - Your brothers and sisters at JWTalk
    3 points
  7. Uploading a profile photo (also known as an avatar on forums and social media) is actually quite simple using your PC. At the top right hand corner of any page on JWTalk you will see your current photo and Display Name. Click that photo and you will be taken to your public profile page. In fact, you can click on anyone's photo, including your own, to visit a person's public profile page. When you get to your profile page, your current photo will be displayed towards the left of the cover image, and there will be a little grey icon on the bottom left hand side of your profile photo. Click that icon and you will see a pop-up window with several options for setting your photo. The following video explains how to add a picture/avatar to your JWTalk account. You have your choice of 1) uploading a photo, 2) grabbing one off the web using a URL, or 3) using your Gravatar account*. Watch the tutorial now... * Gravatar support has been removed. Also, while we've changed the appearance of our community, the basic functions are the same. On mobile, the process is very similar. You will click the Menu on the upper right hand corner, then choose Account, and then choose Profile. The little gray icon will be to the left of the cover photo even though your current picture is centered. Click that icon to upload a photo, and then choose the appropriate app on your mobile device to do so. This is where some mobile users have some difficulty, as not all apps on your device will be user-friendly or cooperative. I know on Android, Files by Google works the best. I'm not sure about Apple devices. If you are having touble, a Staff member will be happy to help you. The community feels closer and more enjoyable when we can put a face to the name, and so we look forward to you uploading your profile picture here in our Jehovah's Witnesses online community
    1 point
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About JWTalk.net - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community

Since 2006, JWTalk has proved to be a well-moderated online community for real Jehovah's Witnesses on the web. However, our community is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is not endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses. We are a pro-JW community maintained by brothers and sisters around the world. We expect all community members to be active publishers in their congregations, therefore, please do not apply for membership if you are not currently one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

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JWTalk 23.8.11 (changelog)