I tell anyone who comes by that I was disfellowshipped/excommunicated (depending on what group they are from), and that they probably don’t want to be talking to me.
They never come back. I think they blacklist the address when that happens, because they genuinely aren’t supposed to talk to you if you’ve been kicked out of the church, I guess.
You are likely to end up on an list where congregation elders will call on you if you say you’re disfellowshipped. That is the protocol. Just ask to be added to the do not call list. That should stop them from calling again.
All areas are divided into tiny maps that are laminated and checked out by publishers in the respective congregation. These are called, territories. There is a little piece of paper clipped to each of these territories that has the do not call list. Anything on this list is skipped.
People make mistakes at times. Like there is only one territory card and list and there may be 4 people in a car group. Witnesses always go to doors in pairs, so there might be 2 groups on the street. One might work even and the other on the odd address side. If someone is not all that bright, as is often the case, they may forget to look at the do not call list and share that with the other pair. With Witnesses, it is never malice. They mean well, but such is dogma.
I forget the cycle time, I haven’t been a pioneer for a couple of decades and outgrew that dogma a decade ago. I think it is or was four years for the do not call list, and it is supposed to only be elders from the hall that revisit those homes on the list. Almost everyone is either not home or does not come to the door anyways. From 9:30 in the morning until 12:00, a witness might knock on a hundred doors and talk to all of 3 people, at least that was the case 20 years ago.
I don’t mean you are lying or anything like that friend. There is a certain unique language to witnesses. Most of my reply was me showing my authenticity, and that was to see if anyone more recently familiar had any corrections to make or might want to chat over common ground.
One of the oddities of Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they have a disproportionately large footprint in human rights legislation regarding the right to knock on people’s front door. It may seem annoying, but this impacts postal, logistics, neighborhood kids playing, and the public commons around the world. To a lesser extent, also the fundamental right of a citizen to error, to be skeptical, to all sources of information, and to offend, aka dissent in all nonviolent forms (though indirectly).
They are also apolitical. While doing nothing is still a useful tool for conservatives, at least they are a group of dogmatic people that would otherwise be sympathetic to spurious and populist politics, but are removed from that danger.
Anyways, I’m trying to frame this softly. Legally, soliciting is defined as the sale of goods or services. Witnesses generally ignore those. You need something to the effect of ‘no evangelists’ if you want to stop Witnesses and Mormons.
When it comes to lists like returning to a do not call or a person that is disfellowshipped, you might end up on a call list record. The elders in a hall have an overseer that visits each hall a couple of times a year for a week. That person is checking to make sure everything is managed correctly. So long as someone technically tried to call on the address once, that is all that matters. It would have been a couple of old men, probably at 11 am on a weekday when the odds of them finding the right address, you hearing them, or being home are extremely low. The statistics of actually encountering people at the door are very low.
Only the most obnoxious or oblivious witnesses, and pioneers are likely to ignore your sign. When I was young, it was all I knew, and I was one of those. It wasn’t because I wanted to argue with you. It was because it erodes the legal rights of citizens to categorize noncommercial activities as solicitation.
I’m sorry if it came off that way; I didn’t think anything of it, my reply was more just “I haven’t experienced that but I believe you so genuinely thanks for the added info” :)
I genuinely appreciate when people share information with me, especially if it’s from a perspective I don’t have, so I appreciate the time you took, not once but twice, to pass on information, not just to me but to anyone else who might read it.
However, in my area a no soliciting sign covers basically everything except politics and census. Anyone who knocks on or leaves garbage at a door with a no-soliciting sign can and should be reported, and if they keep getting reported, they get fined, lose their permit, or can be sued for trespassing. It doesn’t matter if they are selling junk or selling religion, it’s still a solicitor according to local law, and is therefore not allowed. One of the few things we do right here.
This definition isn’t from my specific local laws, as I can’t easily find those online, but is reasonably close so I’m linking it anyway, and these increased regulations are all over the place, not just my state/area. I know these regulations because I did canvassing and figured I should brush up on it since the people in charge were not from the area and were giving bad advice.
The code defines solicitor as any person who distributes literature, who is obtaining information or opinions, who is seeking to obtain contributions of money, services, property, or financial assistance of any kind, or who is attempting to promote any cause or conviction. … Both Solicitors and Transient Merchants are restricted to a time period of 9:00 am-9:00 pm and cannot call upon a dwelling with a posted No Soliciting sign.
If I feel like making them uncomfortable, I’ll just tell them the truth: that I’ll never forgive their extremely misogynistic and authoritarian cult for what they did to my favorite human before she escaped their clutches.
I tell anyone who comes by that I was disfellowshipped/excommunicated (depending on what group they are from), and that they probably don’t want to be talking to me.
They never come back. I think they blacklist the address when that happens, because they genuinely aren’t supposed to talk to you if you’ve been kicked out of the church, I guess.
a pride flag works on 'em like garlic on vampires
You are likely to end up on an list where congregation elders will call on you if you say you’re disfellowshipped. That is the protocol. Just ask to be added to the do not call list. That should stop them from calling again.
All areas are divided into tiny maps that are laminated and checked out by publishers in the respective congregation. These are called, territories. There is a little piece of paper clipped to each of these territories that has the do not call list. Anything on this list is skipped.
People make mistakes at times. Like there is only one territory card and list and there may be 4 people in a car group. Witnesses always go to doors in pairs, so there might be 2 groups on the street. One might work even and the other on the odd address side. If someone is not all that bright, as is often the case, they may forget to look at the do not call list and share that with the other pair. With Witnesses, it is never malice. They mean well, but such is dogma.
I forget the cycle time, I haven’t been a pioneer for a couple of decades and outgrew that dogma a decade ago. I think it is or was four years for the do not call list, and it is supposed to only be elders from the hall that revisit those homes on the list. Almost everyone is either not home or does not come to the door anyways. From 9:30 in the morning until 12:00, a witness might knock on a hundred doors and talk to all of 3 people, at least that was the case 20 years ago.
I’ve never had anyone follow up, and I’ve been using this strategy for decades.
However my experience is not universal, so fair enough and thanks for the info.
Though these days I have an hand-written “no soliciting, no exceptions” sign and that keeps basically everyone away.
I don’t mean you are lying or anything like that friend. There is a certain unique language to witnesses. Most of my reply was me showing my authenticity, and that was to see if anyone more recently familiar had any corrections to make or might want to chat over common ground.
One of the oddities of Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they have a disproportionately large footprint in human rights legislation regarding the right to knock on people’s front door. It may seem annoying, but this impacts postal, logistics, neighborhood kids playing, and the public commons around the world. To a lesser extent, also the fundamental right of a citizen to error, to be skeptical, to all sources of information, and to offend, aka dissent in all nonviolent forms (though indirectly).
They are also apolitical. While doing nothing is still a useful tool for conservatives, at least they are a group of dogmatic people that would otherwise be sympathetic to spurious and populist politics, but are removed from that danger.
Anyways, I’m trying to frame this softly. Legally, soliciting is defined as the sale of goods or services. Witnesses generally ignore those. You need something to the effect of ‘no evangelists’ if you want to stop Witnesses and Mormons.
When it comes to lists like returning to a do not call or a person that is disfellowshipped, you might end up on a call list record. The elders in a hall have an overseer that visits each hall a couple of times a year for a week. That person is checking to make sure everything is managed correctly. So long as someone technically tried to call on the address once, that is all that matters. It would have been a couple of old men, probably at 11 am on a weekday when the odds of them finding the right address, you hearing them, or being home are extremely low. The statistics of actually encountering people at the door are very low.
Only the most obnoxious or oblivious witnesses, and pioneers are likely to ignore your sign. When I was young, it was all I knew, and I was one of those. It wasn’t because I wanted to argue with you. It was because it erodes the legal rights of citizens to categorize noncommercial activities as solicitation.
I’m sorry if it came off that way; I didn’t think anything of it, my reply was more just “I haven’t experienced that but I believe you so genuinely thanks for the added info” :)
I genuinely appreciate when people share information with me, especially if it’s from a perspective I don’t have, so I appreciate the time you took, not once but twice, to pass on information, not just to me but to anyone else who might read it.
However, in my area a no soliciting sign covers basically everything except politics and census. Anyone who knocks on or leaves garbage at a door with a no-soliciting sign can and should be reported, and if they keep getting reported, they get fined, lose their permit, or can be sued for trespassing. It doesn’t matter if they are selling junk or selling religion, it’s still a solicitor according to local law, and is therefore not allowed. One of the few things we do right here.
This definition isn’t from my specific local laws, as I can’t easily find those online, but is reasonably close so I’m linking it anyway, and these increased regulations are all over the place, not just my state/area. I know these regulations because I did canvassing and figured I should brush up on it since the people in charge were not from the area and were giving bad advice.
https://www.villageoffoxpoint.com/391/Peddlers-Solicitors-Transient-Merchants
If I feel like making them uncomfortable, I’ll just tell them the truth: that I’ll never forgive their extremely misogynistic and authoritarian cult for what they did to my favorite human before she escaped their clutches.