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When did you first hear of GSC?


JustThinking
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Just Thinking, I have been out 10 years now, but in my heart, I still believed EVERYTHING that I was taught. UNTIL I heard about Waydale from my sister. Then I was goggling one day and found Greasespot. Nothing is the same and I no longer feel that I was SPECIAL for being called to 'this great ministry'.... BUT I have had a fantastic life these last 10 years. God has blessed me EXCEEDING abundantly above all that I could ask or think... and that is NO LIE. So TWI, take your threats about God's blessing being off our lives and SHOVE it. You innies, you can walk away and never look back. I did and am so thankful that I did it 10 years ago.

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When they told us to stay off the internet and that craig's deal was consensual and a one time affair, I went looking and found WayDale. I was shocked! Couldn't sleep for weeks but was afraid to come back on for fear of getting possessed and found out by my husband or others in TWI.

Slowly I started coming back and became more and more disgusted. I fought for my marriage and tried to help my husband see how awful the group was. When it became hopeless I gave in and divorced him.

Through all of this friends from WD and GSpot helped me tremendously. More support than I ever had inside the walls of TWI. Even people I don't know posted things that I needed to hear and helped my heart. So glad all y'all post here! Even if you think it's not going anywhere, I promise - there are innies coming here every day and you never know who you're helping with your words.

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I've been out since the LOYalty oath. I stuck with a sphincter, er, splinter group for a coupla years, and have been completely cult-free since about 92 or so.

I first found Waydale in 99 or thereabouts by surfing the net, and stayed wide awake for like 3 days reading.

I had had no one to talk to about my experiences with TWIt, and now all of a sudden here was this forum where suspicions I had were verified, questions I had were answered, lots of events that had been cloudy before were explained, many many things that I never knew about were exposed, and I could also tell about some of the things that I had seen that I had thought were isolated incidents BUT WEREN'T.

Plus the "friend finder" forum told me a lot about people I used to know.

And I followed the crowd to GSpot when Waydale shut down.

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My story is similar to Belle's story in that I found Waydale first. I think it was in the fall of 1999 when I found it and it was because LCM said, "Stay off the internet!" - it reminded me of a little kid who wants you to stay out of the bathroom because he overfilled the tub - something was a-hidin'!

When Waydale shut down after the settlement with the Allens, Greasespot was already up and running for sometime. I'd been posting at both for a while by then - it was my second home!

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JT,

Re:"Wow, almost all of the votes are for "After." Interesting. Not what I expected."

Consider this. Some estimates have TWI losing 90% of its following between Passing Of The Patriarch (1985?) and the purges of the early '90's. That would mean the vast majority of ex-TWI people left before WayDale or Greasespot ever existed.

sudo
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I lurked at Waydale during its existence. Then, a few months later, Waydale had closed its doors and pointed me toward GSC. I registered there.

I had been "out" for years when I first ran into either site. But, like others, I still clung to a lot of the doctrine...thinking that Martindale had screwed TWI up...this place really opened up my eyes to show how messed up TWI was from the beginning.........

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As noted by others as well. I had been kicked out previously to finding the 'ex-way sites' of WayDale and Greasespot Cafe.

(Trancechat I'd seen before but thought people were just grousing, and the problem was theirs, not a problem with what twi was.)

WayDale and Greasepot Cafe gave me access to understanding that it wasn't "my fault," and that all I had hoped about The Bible/Jesus Christ etc. was still true, and the problem was in the cult of twi, and of course my problems were still my problems, but Jesus Christ was, and ever is, the answer, not twi.

I am deeply thankful for Pawtucket and the people who come here for making this place available with so much good stuff.

Kit

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I also found Waydale and GS years after I left twi. Was attending "fellowship" with some who still used twi's teachings and doctrines.

It was the folks at Waydale that helped me through a really difficult part of my life. They helped by being there with love and support and they helped by helping me to get rid of the waybrain that had locked me into an abusive marriage for thirteen years.

They also helped me realize that the "believers" I'd known for nigh onto twenty years who were NOT there when things got "real", weren't believers and sure weren't family of God (or at least certainly didn't act like it).

GSC is also, of course, where I met mystevey.

We are now living an insanely happy life, mostly waybrain free and enjoying each day that comes along. Mostly thanks to the wonderful people (and even some of the notsowonderful people) of Waydale and GS!

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Shortly after Extwi (Paul) contronted the bot in the osc conference room about lcm, and then left twi property, one of my dearest friends, who also happens to be a Wierwille called me and told me that *lcm had ****** the wrong guys wife this time. He told me to keep my ear to the ground for a site called Waydale.

I was still very involved in twi, but was secretly searching the internet for anything I could find about twi. At the time there was No Way OUT, Juedes, Watchtower, Trashnet and a couple of other sites. I knew WAY MORE about twi than was being posted on any of those, and yet....I still didnt have the guts, or support system to leave. I was dying inside. TWI was all I had known since I was 14 years old. ALL OF MY FRIENDS, all of my interests, all of my life experiences seemed to be so intertwined with twi....I was at a loss as to how to leave.

When Waydale first started up, there were WONDERFUL posters, the concept of an ex way board was so new. Paw and Sudo, Hope R, Toto, Edi, Orange Cat......Groucho icon_smile.gif:)-->, and others...I would watch them interact and spill their guts.

I was still *in* so I didnt post...it seemed that if I posted while I was still in...I would be a hypocrite...or even worse..FOUND OUT. It was when ChasUFarley started posting, and Jim and Kit and Fred Sober, that I began to really want to post....I had known them all for years...and I wanted to be able to interact with them.

Paw had Gspot up and running for several months before Waydale closed.....it was a normal progression for me.

I don't know that I would have made any where near the recovery....emotionally, physically, spiritually that I have now..without Waydale and Greasespot. It allowed me to voice SO MUCH ANGER (in the early days), so many questions, and allowed me to share in my path of healing with so many of you. Thank you all.

Radar

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I'm trying to remember my history. I found the CES site about the same time I found Waydale, but I think CES had a forum up before Waydale did. I eventually joined both, but was an infrequent poster on Waydale. I was more a CES site junkie (some GREAT stuff on that board). Then, of course, came the fateful day that THE CES board closed down, and I jumped on Waydale to tell everyone. We all know what happen THEn.

After that I was into Waydale. I didn't jump to Greasespot until Waydale closed.

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On the night that the lawsuit was announced to the "innies" we were told to keep our eye on the newspapers for any information, but that we didn't need to check the internet.

That night I hardly slept after finding Waydale.

I posted for about eighteen months while "in" under a variety of handles. I discovered Grease Spot shortly before Waydale shut down through a link on Waydale.

Through both sites I discovered that what was happening in our somewhat isolated area was not unique, that our abusive leadership were not rogue Corps out on their own ego trip, but it was all part of a greater pattern.

Through both sites I had an outlet to discuss problems I had with TWI doctrine, and see things without the TWI filter.

Through both sites I met others who were going through what I was in my marriage and became good friends with them.

Thanks, TWI leadership for telling me not to look to the internet for information about the lawsuit!

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I was on Staff when Waydale started and ended. I heard about it from a Corps person I worked with. He read in the newspaper that Paul A had a website. I wanted soooooo bad to go online and see what was going on! BUT the ONLY internet access I had was at the St. Marys or New Bremen libraries. When I was there, there were several other staffers there making it impossible for me to look up Waydale.

I left Staff in 2001. I got hooked up online almost immediately and tried to go on Waydale only to find it had shut down. Then I Googled "Waydale" just to see what I could find. I got a link to Greasespotcafe.com and started lurking.

I remember seeing the picture of lcm's face put on Fat Bastard's (Austin Powers movie) body. I laughed my arse off! Then I started reading a few threads on the discussion forum. I went into chat (scared as hell) once, but nobody was there. I had 2 innie roommates and was scared they would find me out.

The following year, after leaving staff and having been up and down the road of frustration more than a few times with leadership trying to run my life, I started posting on GSC. That was October 2002.

I went to the ACS that year, and after spending some time REALLY searching my life and what I had spent the last 20 years doing, I left TWI for good. Thanks to a Greasespotter (who I had known back in the 80s) who showed me some things that help me make the decision to leave. icon_smile.gif:)--> Thanks WW!

Now it's been 2 years, and I have never looked back or regretted leaving that nasty organization.

Thank you Greasespotters! It really does help to see other people going through the same things. It helped me to see out of the dark glass I was in. And I hope some day that I will say something that will spark someone else in twi to evaluate their involvement with it. I am dedicated to telling the truth about twi, and it ain't Christian.

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quote:
Originally posted by JustThinking:

Sudo:

quote:
Consider this. Some estimates have TWI losing 90% of its following between Passing Of The Patriarch (1985?) and the purges of the early '90's. That would mean the vast majority of ex-TWI people left before WayDale or Greasespot ever existed.


Good point. Hadn't thought of it. Thank you.


Actually,

my guesstimate was that between ROA 1988 and ROA 1989, 80% of the people in

as of ROA 88 had jumped ship as of the opening of ROA 89.

(That was based on attendance being roughly 20% of the previous year's ROA.)

This figure, BTW, was backed up later, so I thought that was pretty good.

Mind you, significant #s of people who were in as of ROA 1989 left before

ROA 90, and attended that one to finish personal business.

(Welcome back a WOW, finish a WOW year, raid the Bookstore.)

So, I'd say twi lost 80% of 1988's membership by 1989.

I don't know how many they lost 1985-1988 as a result of POP,

nor 1989 or later, as a result of lcm being an increasingly bigger

sanitary napkin as time progressed.

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  • 1 month later...

I found GSC by doing a search on yahoo for The Way. I had already left. Before I left, I'd heard that we were to stay away from the net. It was warned that there was a site that if you went to it you would find out lies about the way, and be posessed and tricked into leaving. Aparently people had gone there and left. Not having a computer I didn't pay it any mind till I left.

After leaving I went to the library and found GSC and 8 other websites calling the way a cult.

I was mesmerized by the number of stories similar and worse than my own. I was amazed by the hurt people I'd respected had caused people I used to know.

I used the GSC as group therapy to ease the pain and frustration left over from my vey experience. I needed someone to relate to who KNEW what only someone who's been there can really know.

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I first checkeed out WayDale because I had friends outside of the ministry that told me about it. I didn't believe everything I read and didn't go back except for one or two other times.

Eventually I left for my own reasons and then found GreaseSpot as I was doing a paper in school that involved TWI's wacked out points of view. So I guess I should have voted "After" but I voted "before but I was already leaving" because I kind of considered WayDale as the pre-Greasespot.

So, JT, what is your vote? How big a part did us G-Spotters play in your exit?

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I was BORED to death one evening in 1997, and I did an Alta Vista search for "The Way" just for a lark. Through that search, I found Transnet's "No Way Out" magazine site, and Waydale.

After it was announced that Waydale was shutting down, someone posted a link to GSC. So I registered there (at EasyBoard) and later here at Da Spot, and I've been here ever since.

My 2 cents...

Nomad888

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Lindy,

I guess I didn't say. Sorry about that.

GSC played a big part in my leaving. I was heading for the door for a while. Or it my be that the passion I once felt for TWI had died during the 90s. Craig screaming, incompetent corps, corps who couldn't keep it their pants, mass desertions, etc. Hardly encouraging. I was one of the dumb ones who thought that, despite it's problems, TWI was the best in research. GSC cleared that delusion up for me.

In the end, it was death (or rebirth, in my case) by a thousand paper cuts inflicted by TWI itself. What GSC did for me though was to help me see just how many other people felt like me. Most of the folks who left that I had known were rabid followers of some splinter group. Or they were just consumed with hate for [pick your evil current/former Way leader]. GSC was a place for me to lurk and listen. It took a lot for me to even register here. The release I felt by finally getting to have a meaningful conversation about problems was huge! No more goofy wayferisms to pretend it's not really a problem or just ignoring it. I didn't hate anyone. I just didn't see the point anymore. Talking through my past in TWI helped me to define just why I wanted to go. And then I was gone. Just a quick conversation to say "hey, I love you but I'm not coming back." And that was it.

I truly thank God for the people here. If it weren't for all of you, I might still have been trying to "stick it out" until things got "better." You Lindy, Exie, Radar, Catcup, Raf and others may have no idea how much you've meant to me and my family. I couldn't leave out Paw for opening his "doors" for a group like us.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. icon_wink.gif;)-->

JT

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I was attracted to the ex-Way sites long after leaving TWI because I was curious about whether others had seen the things I had seen while in. I wanted to know what had happened to the group I was so strongly a part of for so many years.

Waydale, and now Greasespot, helped put it together for many of us, who had similar stories, but were prevented from comparing notes by being isolated from one another. The coverup and secrecy was stopped.

Regards,

Shaz

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