Common FAQ's about JWTalk

[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…
 

 

Quote

(Sept 2002 KM)
Internet Web Sites: We have an official Internet Web site: www.watchtower.org. This site is adequate to make information available to the public. There is no need for any individual, committee, or congregation to prepare a Web page about Jehovah’s Witnesses. 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. 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. While some may view this as a service to the brothers, it is not approved and should be discontinued.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 5, 2014 by trottigy

[Jcole]

How do i get full access i really want to join in the comfort forum

[trottigy]

How do i get full access i really want to join in the comfort forum

 

Check out our first topic in this forum - http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/2780-limited-account-access-mode/

 

Basically, keep posting until we have had a chance to get to know you - then we can open up the rest of the forum to you.

[Brother_Bliss]

Check out our first topic in this forum - http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/2780-limited-account-access-mode/

 

Basically, keep posting until we have had a chance to get to know you - then we can open up the rest of the forum to you.

 

And send in that picture to help speed up the process. 

[Buttons]

How do I private message someone?  Thanks.

[GrumpysWife]

Click on the picture of the member you want to PM. You are then sent to their page and there is a place on that page that says "send me a message". Then have at it. After you compose your message, click on send. That's it.

[alecia2902]

I'm a new member, just started today. I know I have to be approved for my posts.

I wanted to post some more notebooks. 2013-2014 Special Day and Circuit Assembly Notebooks.

I would love to have a chance to do this.

Thanks Sis Alecia

[trottigy]

No problem. Just use the "More Reply Option" at the lower right of the post window and then you should see how to upload files.

 

We are happy to have you with us and look forward to seeing the notebooks.

[Rahab]

How do I post a pic in photo gallery?  Why doesn't it use browser to open photos from my computer files.  I don't know how to do 'upload' with my photos on to this site in photo gallery.  Like with 'Facebook' it uses browse.

[Brother_Bliss]

How do I post a pic in photo gallery?  Why doesn't it use browser to open photos from my computer files.  I don't know how to do 'upload' with my photos on to this site in photo gallery.  Like with 'Facebook' it uses browse.

 

Sorry, I never seen this because it was posted in the wrong topic. This is the Site FAQ topic, not the Gallery Help topic.

 

When you click "Upload" it should open your browser. I'm not sure why it wouldn't be.

[Rosevilera51]

I'm looking forward to seeing the notebooks

[cmkerby2]

I am totally confused. I want to talk but can't post. We're do you see if someone is posting to you?

Tried to upload photo of me, said it was to large to crop, it wouldn't crop. So no photo.

[Musky]

I am totally confused. I want to talk but can't post. We're do you see if someone is posting to you?

Tried to upload photo of me, said it was to large to crop, it wouldn't crop. So no photo.

 

You posted in here fine. By "wanting to talk" do ou mean like a "Chat room" because this forum doesn't function that way. You make a post and then wait for other members to respond. There is a small chat feature that is seldom used at the top of the page in the menu bar. 

 

As for uploading a profile picture, you need to edit a JPG image and make it no larger then 100 X 100 pixels.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Musky

[rocket]

I am totally confused. I want to talk but can't post. We're do you see if someone is posting to you?

Tried to upload photo of me, said it was to large to crop, it wouldn't crop. So no photo.

 

Your picture needs to be resized.

 

http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/9012-how-to-post-a-picture-gif/

 

http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/9018-add-a-profile-pic/

 

If some one is posting a reply to your post they should put your post in a quote.

 

If some one is posting a Private Message (PM) then go to your Messenger.

 

At the bottom of every page is a "Reply to this topic window" at the right is a button "More Reply Options" use this button to add photos to your posts.

 

If you want to reply to a particular post then just click on the quote button of their post and it will be placed in a reply window that you can add too, make sure that your comment is outside the quote box.

 

You can add additional quotes to your reply by re positioning the curser outside the quote box. 

[Faithful Witness]

How do I embed Youtube videos on the Forum? (Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else)

[Musky]

Just copy and paste the Web address of the YouTube video into your forum post and our software will do the rest.

[Gi-Gi]

How do I get a star?

[timpin]

How do I get a star?

 

That requires extensive travel   ...   even for the closest one.

[Gi-Gi]

That requires extensive travel   ...   even for the closest one.

Cute

[trottigy]

I never have figured out the stars. It ís something the forum software does automatically. The moderators don't do it.

[Musky]

I just gave her five stars.

[Brother_Bliss]

Oh, the Rate Topic stars?

 

You can click on the stars to give it a rating. They are on for some forums and off for others, for no good reason other than we were exploring unchartered waters when we first purchased this software and didn't understand all the bells and whistles.

[shali]

Here's what I did to get my stars:

1) allow the mod's to put duct tape on my mouth

2) Allow one of the mod's to turn me into a Borg

3) Allow ALL the mod's to randomly mess with my member title, at their wim

4) I had to make 100 posts in just one 24 hour period (this is the best way to get all 5 stars at once, mod's LOVE it when you do it this way)

5) Must consistently refer to all Mod's as :"Supreme High Master Omnipotent One" (otherwise, known as SHMOO (sch-mow).

That's all it takes!

[Musky]

Here's what I did to get my stars:

1) allow the mod's to put duct tape on my mouth

2) Allow one of the mod's to turn me into a Borg

3) Allow ALL the mod's to randomly mess with my member title, at their wim

 

Like you had a choice! 

[shali]

Hey I could of given up and left but I chose to be humiliated so that others who come after me wouldnt have to walk the "hard" path to 5 stars! Besides, really helped me work on the quality of "humility", maybe Jerry can explain to you what that is Chuck!