User talk:BlackCab

Well Deserved Barnstar
You're very welcome. I found the books very helpful in explaining a religion I'd joined decades earlier. Everyone should be entitled to make an informed decision, so I think it's important to share that information. I just wish I'd had it when I considered joining. BlackCab (talk) 21:11, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * Thank you. It all seemed to turn out good in the end. By coincidence, my Twitter feed today provided me with what is supposedly an ancient Chinese proverb: If you must bow, bow low. It seemed rather apt. BlackCab  (TALK ) 12:40, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

Editor of the Week
User:John Carter submitted the following nomination for Editor of the Week:
 * I nominate . Along with Jeffro77, BlackCab he has been one of basically two people who have worked very hard to keep our content related to the Jehovah's Witnesses at a high quality level. As someone who has been watching that content for years now I know how hard it must be for both of them. He has 7 years of experience and some 9000 edits. He also contributes significantly in other areas. We haven't always agreed because I make mistakes myself but his endeavors in that area have been and I hope will continue to be among the most reliable informed and fair.

You can copy the following text to your user page to display a user box proclaiming your selection as Editor of the Week:

Thanks again for your efforts!  Go  Phightins  !  19:16, 14 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Well done. Congratulations! ```Buster Seven   Talk  14:45, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Your amazing

 * You seem to have an altered sense of reality in which you pretend that things you dislike don't exist. I feel a bit sorry for you—but only a bit. And it should be "you're" (you are) not "your". BlackCab  (TALK ) 06:00, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

Dear Wiki:

This article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses is edited by Wiki writer BlackCab who is an ex Jehovah's Witness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User%3ABlackCab It also has many references by James Penton also an ex Jehovah's Witness. Noted Historian Detlef Garbe in his book 'Between Resistance and Martyrdom' said of James Penton "His work has not been taken into consideration... His statements, source selection, and interpretation reflect a deep-seated aversion against this religious association, of which he had once been a member." Thus it's accuracy is called into question." This seems the case with all Wiki articles on Jehovah's Witnesses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_in_Nazi_Germany They reflect a deep seated aversion against this religious association of which Blackcab and Penton had once been a member. Similarly, you cannot make any edits in this article without BlackCab changing or stopping them. This article like all articles on Jehovah's Witnesses in Wiki should have been written by a writer who has had absolutely no affiliation past or present with Jehovah's witnesses and thus no bias. It calls into question the accuracy of all other information found in Wiki. Please keep the honesty and accuracy of Wiki intact by having all the articles on Jehovah's Witnesses rewritten by someone who has absolutely no affiliation past or present with Jehovah's Witnesses and thus no bias.

Bruce — Preceding unsigned comment added by Namuh007 (talk • contribs) 02:53, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Sockpuppet reported at Sockpuppet_investigations/Namuh007.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 05:24, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for the revert
Looking at it again that was definitely over-linking. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 00:51, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
 * The citations were vastly excessive. I removed them to make the article easier to read, while still retaining sources; you reinstated them. An idiotic move, but I'm sure you think it achieved something. BlackCab  (TALK ) 02:32, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I simple hid them rather than removing them completely which results in the same outcome for the reader. Havn't finished yet but will. Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) 02:47, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:CD cover of Hands of Glory by Andrew Bird.jpg
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 * Image is a duplicate and is not required. BlackCab  (TALK ) 03:41, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Editor of the Week&thinsp;: nominations needed!
The Editor of the Week initiative has been recognizing editors since 2013 for their hard work and dedication. Editing Wikipedia can be disheartening and tedious at times; the weekly Editor of the Week award lets its recipients know that their positive behaviour and collaborative spirit is appreciated. The response from the honorees has been enthusiastic and thankful.

The list of nominees is running short, and so new nominations are needed for consideration. Have you come across someone in your editing circle who deserves a pat on the back for improving article prose regularly, making it easier to understand? Or perhaps someone has stepped in to mediate a contentious dispute, and did an excellent job. Do you know someone who hasn't received many accolades and is deserving of greater renown? Is there an editor who does lots of little tasks well, such as cleaning up citations?

Please help us thank editors who display sustained patterns of excellence, working tirelessly in the background out of the spotlight, by submitting your nomination for Editor of the Week today!

Sent on behalf of Buster Seven   Talk  for the Editor of the Week initiative by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:18, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Modified comment
I would prefer not to include reference to my website in Wikipedia discussions. It isn't generally appropriate to refer to editors' other online identities, and whilst you haven't done so explicitly or with any bad intent, it is almost certainly going to be seen by some editors as inappropriate promotion at the Talk page. I have therefore redacted it from your comment. Thanks.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 07:58, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I'd be surprised if anyone took my comment to be promotion, and since both "identities" have the same name I was giving nothing away ... but your call. BlackCab  (TALK ) 10:27, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

New Challenge for Oceania and Australia
Hi, WikiProject Oceania/The 10,000 Challenge and WikiProject Australia/The 5000 Challenge are up and running based on The 10,000 Challenge which has currently produced over 2300 article improvements and creations. The Australia challenge would feed into the wider region one and potentially New Zealand could have a smaller challenge too. The main goal is content improvement, tackling stale old stubs and important content and improving sourcing/making more consistent but new articles are also welcome if sourced. I understand that this is a big goal for regular editors, especially being summertime where you are, but if you'd like to see large scale quality improvements happening for Oceania and Australia like The Africa Destubathon, which has produced over 1700 articles in 5 weeks, sign up on the page. The idea will be an ongoing national editathon/challenge for the region but fuelled by a series of contests to really get articles on every province and subject mass improved. The Africa contest scaled worldwide would naturally provide great benefits to Oceania countries, particularly Australia and attract new editors. I would like some support from existing editors here to get the Challenges off to a start with some articles to make doing a Destubathon worthwhile and potentially bring about hundreds of improvements in a few weeks through a contest! Cheers.♦ --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:12, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Editor of the Week seeking nominations (and a new facilitator)
The Editor of the Week initiative has been recognizing editors since 2013 for their hard work and dedication. Editing Wikipedia can be disheartening and tedious at times; the weekly Editor of the Week award lets its recipients know that their positive behaviour and collaborative spirit is appreciated. The response from the honorees has been enthusiastic and thankful.

The list of nominees is running short, and so new nominations are needed for consideration. Have you come across someone in your editing circle who deserves a pat on the back for improving article prose regularly, making it easier to understand? Or perhaps someone has stepped in to mediate a contentious dispute, and did an excellent job. Do you know someone who hasn't received many accolades and is deserving of greater renown? Is there an editor who does lots of little tasks well, such as cleaning up citations?

Please help us thank editors who display sustained patterns of excellence, working tirelessly in the background out of the spotlight, by submitting your nomination for Editor of the Week today!

In addition, the WikiProject is seeking a new facilitator/coordinator to handle the logistics of the award. Please contact if you are interested in helping with the logistics of running the award in any capacity. Remove your name from here to unsubscribe from further EotW-related messages. Thanks, Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:19, 30 December 2016 (UTC)

IP editor
At least their edit summary was accurate.... ;) -- Jeffro 77 (talk) 09:13, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Fair Use in Australia discussion
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Ten Year Society
Congratulations, you are entitled to join/display Ten_Year_Society. — Paleo  Neonate  — 06:04, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

File:JFRFifthcolumn.jpg listed for discussion
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Orphaned non-free image File:JFRFifthcolumn.jpg
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Women in Red World Contest
Hi. We're into the last five days of the Women in Red World Contest. There's a new bonus prize of $200 worth of books of your choice to win for creating the most new women biographies between 0:00 on the 26th and 23:59 on 30th November. If you've been contributing to the contest, thank you for your support, we've produced over 2000 articles. If you haven't contributed yet, we would appreciate you taking the time to add entries to our articles achievements list by the end of the month. Thank you, and if participating, good luck with the finale!

Your signature
Please be aware that your signature uses deprecated  tags, which are causing Obsolete HTML tags lint errors.

You are encouraged to change
 * : BlackCab  (TALK )

to
 * : BlackCab ( TALK )

—Anomalocaris (talk) 20:20, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Done. BlackCab ( TALK ) 02:05, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks! —Anomalocaris (talk) 21:30, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

Holden
On a slightly separate note, I noticed that on the first page of the first chapter of the same book, Holden cites Stark and Iannaccone (1997) saying "Even the most conservative estimates indicate that, by the year 2020, there will be 12,475,115 members worldwide" (which it gives in the context of "active evangelists"). However, unless there is significant growth in the next year or so, the decline in growth since that time will mean membership will not reach that "conservative" estimate. Does the 2005 version provide updated figures?.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 12:53, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
 * I actually had a look at that — I was looking for anything such as stats he may have updated. But no, it’s unchanged. The ISBN, incidentally, is also unchanged across all editions. BlackCab ( TALK ) 13:33, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Your input would be welcome,
Would you mind giving your input on this edit []. You seem to present these things well. Hell in a Bucket (talk) 16:17, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi
A few years ago I engaged in some debate on the Jehovah’s Witness page. I have been an ExJW now for over 10 years, and by chance I decided to revisit my old post history on Wikipedia, which brought me here.

Needless to say it makes me cringe the apologist nature of my posts back then, but I was on a journey of awakening, and your contributions made a huge difference to me and waking up. Not that I knew at the time.

Thanks! Jamie (talk) 21:01, 6 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi Jamie, thanks so much for the message! Out of curiosity I just trawled back and found a message you left on my talk page in 2009 in which there were glimmers of an awakening as you mentioned some misgivings about the organisation ... but then again you did resort to that phrase we all used to turn to about "imperfect humans"!
 * I'm not sure what was going on just at the moment when you messaged me. My wife and I had ceased attending JW meetings in early 2008, and it wasn't long after that that I threw myself into extensive research into the JWs -- not only about the organisation itself and its history and practices, but also about its teaching and control methods and the JW social environment so I could better understand why, as an adult, I had joined in the first place and then remained so long. As I learned more and tried to share it in public via those Wikipedia articles -- mainly so people could make informed decisions about joining the JWs or staying -- I became involved in an often intense and bitter struggle with a quite unpleasant JW individual. The combined pressure of leaving the JWs, battling with that individual (who often resorted to name-calling and dishonesty as part of his tactics of provocation) and intense work pressures badly affected my health, but fortunately I pulled through.
 * My own "awakening" took several years. I've been gone from the JWs for more than 12 years now, but after more than two decades in the organisation I still have very strong feelings about it, and there are people I know who are still in it. I also have good friends who are ex-Witnesses and we have a very close bond through that shared experience. We all benefit so much from being able to talk about it.
 * Thanks again so much for making contact and I'm glad I was able to help, in whatever small way. It's all about informed choice. When I joined, there was so little information. All the best, and feel free to email me if you want to chat further! <b style="color:darkslategray; font-variant:small-caps;">BlackCab</b> ( TALK ) 00:49, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

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