2011 Global Survey of Jehovah's Witnesses

Hello

If you are visiting this site for the first time, or for the first time in a long while, I would appreciate if you could click on the following link and participate in the 2011 Global Survey of Jehovah's Witnesses. Both active Jehovah's Witnesses and Former Jehovah's Witnesses around the world are invited to participate anonymously, and the results will be forwarded to the Governing Body and world's media.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T7ZM5ZC

This thread will be updated with the results of the survey (for the time being at least) should you be interested.

In its first 3 days, the survey collected close to 400 responses. The Survey ends on December 31st, 2011 - hopefully, to be replaced by the 2012 Survey, which will be improved based on the results and feedback gathered from this survey. At the current rate, we can hope to gather around 12,800 responses before December 31st, and hopefully far in excess of that figure if other websites get involved in advertizing it.

If you are familiar with the survey having followed it on this forum, you will be aware that certain issues have recently arisen regarding funding. I would prefer not to discuss these on this thread, since it is against site policy to do so. Rest assured, I am in discussions with site management on finding a way forward. In the meantime, I welcome your continued feedback on the survey itself, and any questions or comments you may have regarding it.

Cedars

Done.

What do you expect the results of the survey to show?

Will the GB pay any attention to it and will they change policy?

I'll find it interesting though. But I can't imagine the end result being anything other than a curiosity.

bigmouth - thanks for taking part!

The theory is something similar to that expressed in Matt 7:7:

"Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you."

My idea is that the very existence of an annual online survey that allows people to express doubts about the Governing Body is an act of defiance against their leadership. They may try to ignore it, maybe even the first survey or so, but as the press get wind of the growing statistical evidence of dissent within the organization, they will be forced to acknowledge the survey and it may even lead to them taking action to adjust some of their teachings. Who knows? Judging by their obsession with figures, my guess is that they will be intrigued by it, even if they are openly dismissive of it.

I'm not sure exactly what the survey will achieve, but I know that it MIGHT achieve a great deal if enough people take part. That, for me, is sufficient reason to put my energies into it.

Cedars I think what you are doing could be very productive, even though the GB may well ignore it at least it must make them confront issues to some extent even if that is only having an awareness.

Just did the survey Cedars. Thanks for that, it was quite therapeutic.

Listener and Adso - many thanks indeed for filling in the survey, and for your feedback. Hopefully this survey will be productive, even if (as you say) it only serves to raise awareness among the Governing Body that not everybody within the organization is in agreement with their teachings.

We're now on 421 responses, keep it up everyone!

i am so glad to see this survey continue! I have been observing this site for some time now. This place has been a source of therapy for me and helped bring me out of extreme depression. Thanks to the hard work of people like cedars and others here, you guys may be helping save lives not just in the future, but today! Thank you all.

Cedars is very new to this site and lacks much "history", in fact NO long term history with this site.

Any chance that going to an independent survey site conveys a person's IP address or other private information that someone who is fading might not like to have broadcast across the web to others unknown or untrusted?

Looking for an educated answer from a Techie.

No offense intended, Cedars.  It's not paranoia if they really are out to get ya.

DOC

Hello Desirous - thanks for your comment. I'm sorry that you're suspicious of my motives in doing this. I have no ulterior motives in doing the survey other than to try and further the cause that we all believe in. I understand your concerns that I am 'new' on here, and that for this reason you feel I am not to be trusted. However, if you click on my username and click on "Topics Started" you will see that I have posted many threads on Watchtower articles etc making my feelings towards the Governing Body abundantly clear. If I were an "undercover agent" of the Society, then I would have compromised any position I may have hypothetically enjoyed through the things that I have written, any of which would constitute a disfellowshipping offence on the grounds of apostasy.

Also, I made it clear on the opening page of the survey that no harm will come to anybody who enters their views on the survey, and I take that pledge EXTREMELY seriously. I will admit that I can see people's IP addresses when I read individual responses, but I have absolutely no intention of making this information available to any third parties for any reasons whatsoever, including the Governing Body or any of their representatives. I suppose you can only take my word on this, and you have no reason to believe me. Having said that, there is no reason to believe anyone else on this forum, or indeed anybody who presents themselves online as being against the Governing Body and what they stand for.

I don't hold it against you for being paranoid, and I am fairly paranoid myself about revealing my identity to people in emails etc, as anybody on this forum who have exchanged emails with me will testify. I can only ask you to look at the evidence (i.e. my numerous posts where I have openly criticized Watchtower articles, including those on apostates and disfellowshipping) and ask yourself "is this a person who is out to unmask everybody". Hopefully you will come to the right conclusion. Feel free to PM me if you are concerned, and I will try to reassure you in any way I can. I just think it would be tragic if such a worthy endeavor as this survey were to collapse through fear and paranoia that stems from the Governing Body and its awful doctrines.

Anyway... in the absence of any further conspiracy theories, I think I'll leave the forum early this evening as my family are having a barbeque. I'll check the survey in the morning and give an update on how it's doing for those who are interested.

Love and best wishes to you all,

Cedars

cedars

What kind of a scam are you pulling? Yea yea you said you didn't want to talk money but you say you are negotiating with the board owner. be assured that I will pass this info on to him.

You were asking for $400 from posters so you could pay for your survey. I have some serious questions about that.

But here are my issues with the survey itself.

• Surveys are never open-ended as yours seems to be. But then you say you will have another survery after that. What if you don't get the answers you want? Will you still submit your servey rport to the media and the WTS?
• Surveys are designed to aswer certtain questions. Above you said that you will use the answers to this survey to create another survey. So what exactly will you be doing with all these  responses?
• The survey itself is flawed. Once a JW identifies him or herself as a JW the rest of their responses are controlled. They will respond with what they "should" say and not what they really believe.
• Ethics regarding surveys is that you place a comment at the start tellignt he respondants about their right to confidentiality and how you will ensure that.

Now addressing the money issue:

• You asked for $400. Exactly what is that money for?
• SurveyMonkey gives you 10 querstions for free up to 100 reponses.
• You say that in 3 days you have 400 responses. If you bought a plan for 4 months that doesn't come to $400.
  • The monthly plan is $25 month CAN. If you bought 4 months that takes you close to the end of Dec. But that makes it $100 for up to 1000 responses.
    • If you bought the same plan for the year is would cost you $228 for the year and up to 1000 responses.
    • If you are using this plan plan then You will be charged $0.10 US for each of those response over 1000 
  • If you took the next plan it will give you unlimited questions and unlimited responses.. But this plan costs $348 CAN for the year.
  • And the best plan is $828 CAN. The only difference between this and the previous plan is somethign called White Label Surveys which means that it won't say the survey was done by SurveyMonkey

So what is the deal here?

• Since I am in Canada I am only getting Canadian rates. But I doubt it is very different for the US because our money right now is at par or close to it.
• The site says that if you have the free plan:
  • With a BASIC account you can only view the first 100 responses collected on each survey. Your surveys will continue collecting responses, so upgrading to a paid plan allows you to view and analyze all responses past the initial 100 collected.
• So that means that if you are using the free plan you will never see the responses to anthing over the first 100 responses.

So again what's the deal?

Any Americans or Brits want to check out the pricing plans to see if they differ?

Lady Lee - thank you for your scathing critique of my survey idea.

I find it ironic that you closed down the last thread in which the issue of funding was raised (even though no money was asked for on that thread) because evidently you wanted to have the final say, and said "any further conversation on this topic is in breach of item 11 of the site rules" or whatever it is you said before promptly closing down the thread, thereby ending any further debate.

On this particular thread, I have opened with the remark:

If you are familiar with the survey having followed it on this forum, you will be aware that certain issues have recently arisen regarding funding. I would prefer not to discuss these on this thread, since it is against site policy to do so. Rest assured, I am in discussions with site management on finding a way forward. In the meantime, I welcome your continued feedback on the survey itself, and any questions or comments you may have regarding it.

Now, it seems that you have arbitratily re-opened the issue of funding, even though I was attempting to show respect for your newly imposed site rules by refraining from discussing the issue after you expressly forbade any further discussion on the subject. Now you have lifted the ban without any notice, and rather than sending me a PM in which you can voice your concerns to me directly, you are openly slandering my motives in running the survey. Well that's just great.

If you're not aware of the pricing structure of surveymonkey.com - then all you need to do is take some initiative and visit the website. Here is the link since you don't seem bothered to find it yourself, but would rather resort to issuing wild accusations:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/?ut_source=header

I'm based in Europe, and in order to get unlimited responses each month I need to pay 300 Euros (that's $400) on the "Gold" plan. That's all I know, maybe you can wait for someone in Europe to confirm this.

I'm growing increasingly despondent about doing ANYTHING that might thwart the efforts of the Governing Body to continue to exercise their control over us. It seems that I am being blocked at every turn by those who are supposed to be on my side, which I'm sure they (the GB) would be delighted with. That's probably why they've wielded such an iron grip on the organization for so long - because any organized attempts at bringing them down dissolve into bickering and mud-slinging.

I'm sure its no coincidence that your implications that my motives are fraudulent came on the back of DesirousofChange (such an ironic name)suggesting that I might be some kind of undercover elder seeking to unmask everyone via their IP addresses. I gave a thorough response to DesirousofChange which I felt merited some kind of answer, but I have received none. Nobody finds it odd that, as an alleged 'undercover agent' of the GB, I have become so "covert" as to contact every major news channel and newspaper in the UK for the purpose of exposing the Governing Body over their "mentally diseased" article. One correspondent even contacted me back, and also spoke to cantleave (so cantleave can confirm this), and he is investigating the story. Still, nobody bothers to look up previous posts like this before openly slandering me and my intentions:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/216055/1/UK-newspaper-interest-in-mentally-diseased-any-Witnesses-want-to-come-forward

I came to JWnet as a haven from the organization that I have recently left behind. I was delighted to find a community where I could express my doubts among comrades who felt the same way. The problem is - I started to have ideas, good ideas, about how to undermine the Governing Body's grip on the R&F, and suddenly, because I am trying to put these ideas into action, my motives are being brought into question and I am being publicly labelled everything from a money-grabber to an undercover agent - simply for making the mistake of TRYING.

Well I throw the towel in. I won't try to do anything else or come up with any ideas, since obviously this is banned on this forum (maybe it's even in violation of site rules, since everything else seems to be). I'll email cantleave and ask him to return the $25 donation we received from somebody who was stupid enough to agree with me that a survey would be a good idea.

Lady Lee - I know you'll close down this thread when you read this reply, because that's what you did last time when you wanted to have the final word. I just wanted you to know, however, that I'm fed up with all this bickering and back-stabbing, just because I genuinely wanted to try and do something that would make a difference. How foolish of me.

n.b. - two donations totalling $70 USD were sent to the PayPal account. I have refunded both of them, and cantleave will be able to verify that the donations were received and the refunds were sent.

Cedars - I respect you more than almost anyone on this site! Personaly, i thought it was a fabulous idea! Even if you got 1 JW who didnt agree with the soceities teachings, you may have just sealed the doubt in their mind through the survey and spurred them onto to freedom.

I applaud you!

Lady Lee - I know you'll close down this thread when you read this reply,

because that's what you did last time when you wanted to have the final word.....Cedars     

                           You attack Angels..

                    ????????????????????????

                  Would you Like to Debate Me?..

                      Start a Thread "Tuff Guy"..

                                  LOL!!..

                                        .............................. ...OUTLAW

Hilarious, thanks Outlaw. I'm loving the mutley laughing / sticking the boot in thing you've got going there - pure class.

TimothyT - I appreciate your genuine remarks. I wish more people on this forum were like you, unlike those that try to ridicule/undermine other people's ideas. Thanks for your support. I just really can't bring myself to try anymore after this latest onslaught.

I quit.

                         I`ll take that as a No..

                  Your one of the Few that is Dickless..

                                        But..

                   Still knows how to be a Weinie..

                                         .............................. ...OUTLAW