Thinking of making a JW subreddit

[Jwanon]

Reddit is the largest online community so millions of people chat there everyday.

 

There is already one subreddit about Jehovah's Witnesses, but the problem is it has been taken over by apostates for a long time. 

The other subreddit is for ex-JWs. So no matter where you go on reddit, all you'll see are negative and misleading information about our faith.

 

I want to change that and create a subreddit for genuine JWs.

 

Of course, I don't intend on repeating the same mistake as the precedent subreddit. I would set the forum on private, meaning only people who are invited can post. So the only people who will be able to discuss there are trustworthy brothers and sisters.

 

Thoughts ?

[Dages]

There are already some. I think. And Reddit is also full of exJW... That's not a good place

[Prism]

To be honest, it did seem a bit strange to me that there wasn't one. On Reddit, you can find a community for pretty much anything no matter how obscure it is. You'd think that with 8 million+ JWs worldwide, there'd be a subreddit for us too, but that isn't the case. A possible reason suggested by Dages is that it's full of ex-JWs, but then again, Jehovah's Witnesses outnumber ex-JWs, so if a pro-JW subreddit with a substantial following did exist, any posts made by apostate trolls would get downvoted into oblivion before getting removed, discouraging any further attempts at trolling (although I do admit that apostates aren't the only ones who'd want to brigade such a subreddit - there are also regular atheists and false christians). Likewise, the existence of, for example, both libertarians and communists on Reddit did not prevent those groups from having their own respective subreddits, despite those people hating each other. 

 

Interestingly enough, that's not the case on Instagram: there are pro-JW accounts with tens or even hundreds of thousands of followers there.

 

Just an interesting phenomenon - I'm sure you can find many reasons for it if you dig deeply enough. I do use Reddit for various things, but right now, the 'Talk is the only online community I use for discussing faith and religion-related topics (and by Reddit standards, JWtalk is actually pretty small - only about 6000 members the last time I checked).

 

[Jwanon]

4 hours ago, Dages said:

And Reddit is also full of exJW... That's not a good place

 

I know, that's why I said it would be on invitation only

 

I've actually seen some browse and post on r/JehovahsWitnesses thinking it was a place with genuine brothers, they didn't know it was full apostate

 

That's why I want to create a safe one with only real JWs

[Brandon]

I’ve never made a private subreddit so I’m not sure how that works

[Hinata]

5 hours ago, Jwanon said:

I would set the forum on private, meaning only people who are invited can post. So the only people who will be able to discuss there are trustworthy brothers and sisters.

 

If the subreddit is private, how would the new people go and join, or test if the subreddit is legitimate? Private subreddit in this context means, a subreddit that is completely closed off from the rest of the Internet.

 

As for this website, some parts of the site is accessible to the World Wide Web. So it is easy to verify the genuity of the forum. But if your Reddit community is completely private, that would not be possible.

 

[Jwanon]

4 minutes ago, Hinata said:

If the subreddit is private, how would the new people go and join, or test if the subreddit is legitimate? Private subreddit in this context means, a subreddit that is completely closed off from the rest of the Internet.

 

That's easy, only people I add (so only people I know are true brothers) via "edit approved submitters" will be able to post in the subreddit. And those who are approved can, in turn, invite other people that they trust and know are also true brothers

 

Do you think it's a good idea?

Edited December 29, 2023 by Jwanon

[Hinata]

10 minutes ago, Jwanon said:

 

That's easy, only people I add (so only people I know are true brothers) via "edit approved submitters" will be able to post in the subreddit. And those who are approved can, in turn, invite other people that they trust and know are also true brothers

 

Do you think it's a good idea?

 

Well, I can’t say for sure if that would be a good idea. The only way to find out would be to try actually implement it in your community. Thanksfully you can always change the settings later on.

 

Perhaps another option that you could choose is the ‘restricted’ subreddit, where the public may browse the subreddit, but only approved users may submit. But I can easily see how this can also be abused.

 

 

 

Reddit community types:

 

public — anyone can view and submit

 

restricted — anyone can view, but only some are approved to submit links

 

private — only approved members can view and submit

 

premium only — only reddit premium members can view and submit

 

[Myew]

6 hours ago, Jwanon said:

So no matter where you go on reddit, all you'll see are negative and misleading information about our faith.

 

I want to change that and create a subreddit for genuine JWs.

I think it's a bad idea. I check Reddit occasionally in searches when trying to find explanations/guides on how to do things, but it's full of advertisements which can be a snare and would also be sending those using it regularly links to 'similar communities/posts' etc that are from apostates. Why take so great a risk to try and change things there when it's so heavily polluted? Even those with pure intentions who join that community will only end up more inclined to look at apostate posts on the same website. JWTalk is already long established, ad free, and well moderated. Genuine witnesses should hopefully have already watched the governing body's warning in this video on staying far away from apostasy: https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/2021Convention/pub-mwbv_202305_2_VIDEO If they're going to be searching for a forum regardless of warnings to avoid apostasy and arguments due to whatever situation or need that they are in, it's much safer that they simply join here than Reddit. You can't change Satan's world.
 

(Mark 8:15) And he warned them in no uncertain terms: “Keep your eyes open; look out for the leaven of the Pharisees

 

(1 Corinthians 5:6, 7) Do you not know that a little leaven ferments the whole batch of dough? 7 Clear away the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, inasmuch as you are free from ferment.

 

(Romans 16:17-19) Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who create divisions and causes for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them. 18 For men of that sort are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattering speech they seduce the hearts of unsuspecting ones. 19 Your obedience has come to the notice of all, and so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise as to what is good, but innocent as to what is evil.

 

(1 Corinthians 14:20) Brothers, do not become young children in your understanding, but be young children as to badness; and become full-grown in your understanding.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Myew

[-Chris-]

https://www.reddit.com/r/JWs/ is private and appears to be at least somewhat moderated, although it is nearly dead.

 

Are you up for dealing with the moderation and the apostasy that would expose you to?

 

 I could see the value in a restricted forum that is a clear contrast to the apostate subreddits that come up in search, etc. But I wouldn't want to try to moderate it.

 

 

 

 

[Jwanon]

3 minutes ago, -Chris- said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JWs/ is private and appears to be at least somewhat moderated, although it is nearly dead.

 

Are you up for dealing with the moderation and the apostasy that would expose you to?

 

 I could see the value in a restricted forum that is a clear contrast to the apostate subreddits that come up in search, etc. But I wouldn't want to try to moderate it.

 

Oh so a subreddit already exists, that's great!

 

I'd love to be a moderator and help the community there, thanks brother Chris

[Brandon]

6 minutes ago, -Chris- said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JWs/

appears to be at least somewhat moderated, although it is nearly dead.

How can you tell it’s dead? Or moderated? I can’t get passed this error:

[Jwanon]

Just now, Brandon said:

How can you tell it’s dead? Or moderated? I can’t get passed this error:

 

The page gives me the option to ask to join the sub or send a message to the mods

 

[Brandon]

10 minutes ago, Jwanon said:

 

The page gives me the option to ask to join the sub or send a message to the mods

 

Really? I wonder why. Are you using the app or website? Are you on desktop or mobile?

[Jwanon]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

Really? I wonder why. Are you using the app or website? Are you on desktop or mobile?

 

desktop

[Brandon]

7 minutes ago, Jwanon said:

 

desktop

Can you send us the screenshot? Or DM it to me on telegram

[Hinata]

18 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Really? I wonder why. Are you using the app or website? Are you on desktop or mobile?

 

Reddit Apps do not give the option to send modmails on private subreddits. You can try visit the subreddit on desktop to access that feature.

 

[Jwanon]

10 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Can you send us the screenshot? Or DM it to me on telegram

 

 

[Ishaya]

It is understandable that brothers will have different preference for different platforms of interaction on the internet,I've seen a lot of Facebook groups which I am also following,I've seen some projw dating sites(quite a number)  but from my experience I think Jwtalk really stands out,you can do everything on Jwtalk,you can even date here(if the moderators can allow that),Lols.

 

Maybe what we need to do is to simlply let more and more brothers know about Jwtalk,so that the forum can grow quickly,for us to have a larger community.

Just that I'm not sure how many members jwtalk can accommodate,can Jwtalk take up to 8 million members?

 

 

[Ishaya]

Does Jwtalk have a feature where you can see the list of all members?

[lord-360]

I am a part of the private subreddit. That's actually how I originally learned about this site. Long time ago we all were people that would make a witness when we saw opportunities or discuss topics like here. But as the apostate sub grew it became impossible to avoid apostasy. They search terms like Jehovah on the site and link to their subreddit and brigade any jw friendly subs and troll post while acting friendly. At this point I believe Reddit is the main apostate location and they have convinced most redditors of false stories that most are hostile. I have long quit posting there unless I find a good opportunity. The sub went private because of the harassment.

[Dages]

16 minutes ago, lord-360 said:

At this point I believe Reddit is the main apostate location and they have convinced most redditors of false stories that most are hostile.

This. Not really surprising. 

[Brandon]

To be fair you could probably have said that about Facebook or Twitter and maybe even MySpace before that. Where there is a mass of people, there will be some amount of anti-witnesses gathering.

[Prism]

10 hours ago, -Chris- said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JWs/ is private and appears to be at least somewhat moderated, although it is nearly dead.

 

Are you up for dealing with the moderation and the apostasy that would expose you to?

 

 I could see the value in a restricted forum that is a clear contrast to the apostate subreddits that come up in search, etc. But I wouldn't want to try to moderate it.

 

Speaking of r/JWs, I did request to join a few years ago, but to this day, it still shows up as private to me, so I thought it's either dead or doesn't accept new members anymore. 

Here are some screenshots of that subreddit's sidebar taken from a 2017 Wayback Machine snapshot:

 

 

 

Oh, and to add to my previous post, one of the reasons why JWs might be underrepresented on Reddit is because the types of people underrepresented among JWs (such as men) tend to be overrepresented on Reddit:

 

^Stats from Pew Research Center. I know the sample size is small , but the pattern is still there. 

 

But again, I don't think having a Y chromosome automatically predisposes someone to using Reddit, there are likely many socio-cultural factors at play. 

[Brother_Bliss]

11 hours ago, -Chris- said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JWs/ is private and appears to be at least somewhat moderated, although it is nearly dead.

 

11 hours ago, Jwanon said:

Oh so a subreddit already exists, that's great!

 

I'm a member there. It's a ghost town. Only once in a great while does someone visit and say something.

 

Personally, I don't see a need for a subreddit. We did something similar here years ago with our software's built in "Clubs" functionality. Members could create their own "Clubs", moderate them, invite members or have it be public, etc, but they ended up dying on the vine. And we pushed them hard too. So after a while we consolidated them into subforums and merged them all with the main forums.

 

There's 2 JW forums on the internet that I am aware of, one is a small private niche community, invite only, with just a few participating members. It's probably going to go belly up in the next few years. The JW subreddit tries to copy this model, and it is also dead. Then there is us, open, visible, public, and at the same time PROVE that we're legit, and we're a fairly busy and active community. The only other thing that is remotely close (or may even best us) in numbers of participants is certain JW Facebook groups. But Facebook is difficult to moderate and grossly unorganized, unlike proper discussion boards.