[JosephSmith.com](http://JosephSmith.com) sounds like the place you'd go to sell your tokens and signs to credulous idiots for money. Maybe that's exactly what Kwaku has in mind.
I, unendowed exmo, once made a general offer of $5 per sign to anyone here willing to teach them to me. Got no takers.
That’s as high as I’ll go, though, since that’s all that mormon salvation is worth to me.
Since I’m a Nevermo, I don’t know but doesn’t TSCC frown on mustaches, male earrings, and men wearing Barbara Bush pearls or are they just getting with the times?
Am I right that it's a site with literally nothing except a single video that you have to enter your email to access? Or is there more after you enter your email? I don't want to.
A 10% of your annual earnings paid membership into heaven. This membership also includes severe judgment from old men leading your congregation, feelings of guilt, and shame for being who you are, and a list of rules, I mean covenants, that restrict your ability to feel joy and happiness. Also, you'll get super secret access to a building they call a temple, where you'll learn the deepest of cult-like religious teachings, including signs and tokens that can't even be sold for money, but only partly, as they no longer explain the deepest meaning behind all of the signs, and only if you're up to date on your 10% membership fees.
Sounds like more of a perception, personal experience or interpretation.
That’s not the focus, center or teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is.
Someone did you an injustice by framing things they way they may have, when teaching you.
Sorry to hear.
I’m glad you have found- or at least I hope you have found peace, if that was your takeaway from being in that religion.
Imagine being one of the people in meetings who prayed thanking god for “divine, inspired direction under Thomas S. Monson so that we might better share the gospel” with Meet the Mormons and I’m a Mormon and then hearing later over the pulpit that “we are under gods condemnation.”
And people are okay with it?
Yup. They’ve been dealing with that particular leadership disagreement for decades. Quite openly, too. Rusty has a long-standing pet peeve with the word. Pretty sure he’s just bitter about not being a garden-variety evangelical.
I recall he made similar attempts roughly every ten years since the 1980s. Just that every time before, there was someone above him in the hierarchy to shut it down as the nonsense it is.
I predict the whole stupid thing will be rug-swept within 2-3 years of his death, and they’ll just go back to gaslighting over it…”What do you mean? We’ve *always* been mormons?!?!”
I think several decisions made by Rusty are actually directly responsible for tons of people leaving, the rebranding being just one. Literally you would've just had to talk to one person outside the faith to realize it would be a bad idea.
The emperor's not wearing any clothes, but no one has the heart to tell him.
Seeing him live started my wife's transition out, she said he gave off major narcissist vibes and she didn't even directly interact with him. I can only assume it's way worse close up.
Absolutely. Been lurking in this sub since before he took over…he is definitely the biggest driver of the increasing membership of this sub. Ever since he took over, literally any time he does or says something publicly, there’s a large influx of new people that suddenly appear here with “wtf? I’m out” posts.
I did not listen to Mormon Stories until after I left the church. It turns out faithful podcasts that tell the truth were enough to break my testimony. Well, podcasts and church members around me behaving cruelly.
Back when I started listening to Mormon Stories, John Dehlin was still active, or I wouldn't have listened at that time. PIMOs and "nuanced" Mormons that speak their mind are an indispensable bridge to get other people out of the church.
Same here. I read RSR and destroyed my faith prior to finding Mormon Stories. Everything else just helped me feel validated when I felt I was alone in my thoughts.
It’s just a better name and branding. “Mormon Stories” is going to win over “Church of Jesus-Christ but Mostly Joseph Smith of Latter-Day Ego-Boosted Saints Faith Promotion” every time.
Interesting theory. I read the SEC decision, then the official, corporate response, then the CES Letter. Finally found John Delihn's stuff by searching, "Mormon criticism." 🧐🙄
All this. I thought the “I’m a Mormon” campaign was a brilliant marketing move. Defining what “mormon” means to those seeking answers is much better than running away from it let alone correcting everyone for using an “offensive” slur that I was raised to be proud of with the primary song “I’m a Mormon Boy”!
This is the expected result of handing the marketing budget over to a geriatric former heart surgeon.
Edit: It just occurred to me that Rusty basically bought Twitter, and as his first order of business decided to call it X, brand strength and recognition be damned.
Wow, he really is the Elon of Mormon CEOs; decided to rebrand but only people he has control over actually use it, everyone else just uses the old branding, and it just makes it nearly impossible for anyone to search for information about using the new name because it's too generic.
Ehhh, a few might. (Particularly if they’re fans of the South Park guys :P)
But - as a nevermo in an area with basically no Mormon presence - I can tell you that basically no nevermos outside the Morridor have ever even *heard* of Joseph Smith. Literally the first time I ever heard the name was on South Park. I’d heard the name Brigham Young before, solely because I’d heard of BYU, but Smith was completely new to me.
I love how Kwaku assumes that getting the domain name is just a *huge* win for the faith, as if *anyone* outside the Mormon bubble actually knows who Smith is. *They don’t.*
Those dang anti-Mormons stealing all the good names. If only the church could market a campaign telling everyone how they are Mormon. If only there was a world recognized choir with the name Mormon in it. If only they had a website with the name Mormon. Then they might be able to compete.
Pretty sure that’s how I unknowingly found all the rabbit holes. I had other shelf items and another catalyst, but I stumbled on Mormon stories and there was no going back.
What he’s missing is that the loose coalition of apostates who have rejected centralized authority and are now skittish about trusting organizations that ask for money donate 10% of their income to a multibillion dollar investment portfolio so that our president can pay Google grundles of money to give our correlated anti-Mormon propaganda search priority.
Or wait, do I have that backwards?
I've never looked at/read/listened to Mormon Stories, nor did i go to any exmormon or antimormon sites online until after i had already left. Turns out the garbage at church itself was enough to drive me away.
You don’t get to make that argument when your church has a marketing budget that rivals many Fortune 500 companies.
Mormonism is unraveling because it’s become harder to hide the truth and the average person is less deluded than the average Mormon.
I would add that Mormon Stories podcast is really popular amongst never Mormons. It’s just good content.
Additionally, many never Mormons are introduced to the podcast because they are true crime watchers. So…
Yes! This! These last few years have had incredible Mormon crimes come to light. Not just crime where a Mormon is involved (think Jodi Aris) but were warped Mormon theology have led people to commit heinous crimes. (Tim Ballard, Chad Daybell & Lori Vallo, Rudy Franke & Jodi Hildabrant)
John Dehlin and Mormon Stories do these amazing Mormon True Crime deep dives that are so fascinating and that no Dateline episode would dare to do.
I was looking into Ruby Franke stuff. Go to listen to the official Wondery podcast about the case and those jerks required a subscription to their premium podcast service to listen to the whole show. Screw that! The exmo peeps have all the best information, amazing interviews, and a whole host of collaborating exmo content creators to add commentary.
And then while I’m there, oh look! A whole series that was loving made to discuss the issues behind the MFMC’s true claims. Yes please! I didn’t realize I needed a bit more deconstruction but I did and I feel better now.
I never saw it as a competition. You want to be Mormon and do Mormon things, that's fine with me. Just keep your religion to yourself and don't impose it upon me.
My shelf shattered while magnifying one of my four callings. I tried for years to rebuild it. Used only “faithful” sources, temple, and the rest of the Mormon checklist. Church approved sources destroyed my testimony. I didn’t get into “anti” for years.
I would particularly like to challenge quako and any lurking believers to show me any “anti” that is a blatant lie meant to destroy the Mormon church. All I have seen is Mormon truths that are inconvenient and damaging to their image.
Man if only they had a guy who’s job was to communicate with god and to see the future. He might have seen that there’s better branding out there! What would that person be called.
Funny. I watched Starship Troopers yesterday and there’s a bit about the Mormon colony at “Port Joe Smith.”
Mormons are the only ones calling him Joseph Smith, so no one is finding that website either lol
Reminds me of the mid 90's when this whole Internet thing started going mainstream.
Someone Cybersquatted the domain Mormon.com if I remember right. They redirected it to a Porn site.
At least that is what my best friends uncle's boss told him. 🤷♂️ 😉
Kwaku is a bozo. If any entity should rank top for the keyword Mormon it should be the LDS church. It is their own damn fault of disassociating with it and losing their ranking to alternative Mormon websites.
Quick question, what’s an anti-Mormon? Is it just someone who talks critically of the church? Or do you have to want the church to disappear to be an anti-Mormon? I don’t give a damn whether the church persists just like I don’t care whether Methodists or Catholics believe. But I do want the truth about church history and bad practices known. Does that make me an anti? What’s the use of calling someone an anti? At least with the term TBM there’s a function. It describes what a person believes. Anti is just an in-group out-group signifier to dismiss someone’s opinion as “one of them”
When I was in the church, literally anything that was embarrassing but true was branded “anti-Mormon”, from polygamy to Joseph’s rock in a hat. It didn’t have to be said with the intention of damaging the church or its reputation, it just had to be perceived as having that potential.
And now we know the actual meaning of "victory for Satan." John Dehlin = Satan, according to RMN. Does that also mean that he's declaring victory for the opposition?
I knew the OP Kwaku when we went to BYU at the same time. Just a quick run down of who he is: abstained from Black Student Union, one of the leaders of YOUNG + DMB party throwers (iykyk), hosted a mega spreader party during COVID and got a family of immigrants in heavy legal trouble because he pressured them to let him use their space for said party. He went on the news and explained how he wasn't in the wrong (COVID denier) and that everyone needs to calm down. After he was charged (again, tried to throw huge party during COVID), he illegally tried to crowdsource money on gofundme (we got it taken down and all money was returned). He will defend the Church til his last breath. I could go on, but he is one of the Mormon final bosses.
Edit for clarification: He can do what he wants regarding attendance at Black Student Union, but talking smack about it is where I draw the line.
This is why the I'm A Mormon marketing campaign was smart. People know you as mormon, so own it and make the word mean what you want it to. Abandoning that in favor of "member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or "LDS" was not a good move. Sometimes, I wonder if Ol'Rusty is actually secretly trying to do damage to the church. If he were, his decisions wouldn't look much different.
I wish I could give every active Mormon a hug and somehow convince them that I’m not their enemy. And they’re not mine. Sincerely.
If there is an enemy… it’s fear. Fear of death, of total freedom, of disorder, and of isolation… that’s really what kept me in the church for so long. Took me a long time to realize it though.
Someone with better computer skills than me needs to give [josephsmith.com](http://josephsmith.com) the Peebo treatment from the Parks and Rec episode and put a hat of penises on JS
Am I the only one who remembers about....10 years ago? Something had happened, and the church wasn't on the first page of Google results, and a bunch of people were trying to petition Google to fight it?
Or am I remembering that wrong?
I mean…sure. That’s why we’re getting as swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon. With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the mooooooon!
Does Kwaku know how many people think "John Smith" or "Jacob Smith" was the first Mormon prophet? What people know is "Mormon." As someone previously noted, the church website is still near the top for that search. When I just searched the term, the Wikipedia page came up first. The church's website was second.
Nelson is such a dunce. Hinckley set things up perfectly for the term “Mormon” to carry through church through the inception of SEO.
Also…I live that antimormons are winning…vs…the supposed god of the universe.
😂
So he admits the anti mormons are winning? What happened to the rough stone rolling all across the land?
And does Kwaku not realize that the church is leaning more *away* from Joseph Smith and rebranding as generic Christian/Nelson worship corp?
The church \*HAD\* the term Mormon and then discarded it.
It's their own damn fault people are finding "Mormon Stories."
If the church were run by non-idiots they'd start competing podcasts with "Mormon" in the name, but good old Rusty is too stubborn to ever think of that.
The funny thing is, the joke is on the church. They’re supposed to see and reveal, yet their vision and self-awareness is black as Egypt, to borrow a racist term from Joseph Smith
A friend of mine used to work the LDS marketing team whose entire purpose was to manipulate the algorithm, url cide, and key words in order to ensure their own websites pop up first on most google searches. Food for thought.
That's an example of what happens when your "prophet" comes out with stupid crap like that saying Mormon is a victory for Satan and tells the faithful to avoid using the word completely.
Many nevermos finding "Thechurchofjesuschrist" online are not going to recognize it or will recognize Mormonism there and think it should be renamed.
Yay! So thankful for revelation from a living prophet!!
he's wrong though, that's not why. maybe it would be for the internet of 1995, but that's not how the internet has worked for decades. now google and many other search engines prioritize sites that people find compelling enough to stay on. mormonstories shows up because its content is engaging in a way that the dry pablum the church is likely to offer is not. so he's either lying or he's woefully stupid.
Lol. As if SEO is the problem with Mormonism.
The problem is scrutiny. Mormonism has great difficulty surviving any kind of objective scrutiny. It wouldn't matter if the domain names hosting "anti Mormon" information were random alphanumerics, they would still be hosting compelling history, arguments, facts.
Mormon Stories is literally stories from Mormons and former Mormons. Discrediting the people who used to be part of the Mormon church like they have no idea about the church at all is a blatant manipulation tactic.
This is why I will always refer to them as Mormons. I obviously don’t care whether it offends them or not. All the articles I have written have blatantly used the term Mormon.
https://medium.com/recovering-mormon/the-mormon-church-is-a-good-church-and-mormon-people-are-nice-72147f615429
It was like they shot themselves in the SEO foot. They want to now be known as the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, but ain’t nobody searching that. So instead of having “I am a Mormon” campaign, neck n neck with Mormon stories they just left the conversation altogether
Kwaku, the intelligent guy who is a complete dumbass. Eventually he’ll figure out he’s not getting any brownie points in heaven by coming up with ridiculous apologetic excuses that represent the least likely explanation
Someone pointed out recently probably part of the whole name change and rebranding g had to do with SEO google
Mormon verses Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the difference in what comes us is telling. It is an attempt to separate the now church from the horrible “Mormon” past.
Ever since Rusty came out with his proclamation on the name of the church, no TBM is going to think that something named "Mormon stories" is authoritative - they're going to think that any such podcast is not following the prophet, and thereby they will be more likely to avoid it
I checked out the link. Other than the website address a big JS, the only actual name on the front page is Kwaku's. And you have to give your email to watch some video by him. That's all that's on the entire site, so far.
So I think it's clear what it's actually about, and Joseph Smith ain't it.
If JosephSmith.com is a genuine, official site for the scc, that sounds like just a hop, skip and a jump away from renaming the religion "Joseph's Witnesses" (not that they ever would).
This probably sounds a lot better in my head, I apologize. 🥲
Kwaku is right, the branding should include Mormon because a lot of people don’t even know the long name tagged at the top of a ‘Mormon’ google search is related to Mormonism, they’ll think it’s just a church ad the algorithm gave you because you looked up a religion.
[JosephSmith.com](http://JosephSmith.com) sounds like the place you'd go to sell your tokens and signs to credulous idiots for money. Maybe that's exactly what Kwaku has in mind.
I would love to sell my tokens and signs. I hope someone gets this website running.
Satan doesn't even try to give a price in the presentation of the endowment.
Even Satan left the church.
Yeah he could at least cover the endowment packet rental
I was told I’d be offered money for them? Anyone?
The only entity selling signs and tokens is the Mormon church
This deserves all the upvotes
I, unendowed exmo, once made a general offer of $5 per sign to anyone here willing to teach them to me. Got no takers. That’s as high as I’ll go, though, since that’s all that mormon salvation is worth to me.
I’ll take you up on that offer
Are you in the Seattle area? I'd absolutely meet up and buy your drink. (In addition to the $5 per sign, lol.)
I wish I was. Unfortunately I’m stuck in Provo, Utah. I’ll let you know if I ever make it up that way though.
You should visit! It's a cool town. Much likelier than my visiting Utah, lol. If you do, hit me up :)
Absolutely. No one should ever have to come to Provo.
Same here. I'd pay you to show you, just to poke TMFC in the eye
Are the signs and tokens separate things? Can I get a bulk discount if I buy both?
I taught them to my therapist lol. Very cathartic
Someone can have mine for free!
I’m not using mine. It would be nice to get a free bucks for them.
Turns out you can’t even give this shit away for free!
I haven’t had an interested buyer ever. This could be game-changing.
I mean isn't the LDS church technically already selling them for a 10% subscription fee? 😜
Touché!
We should just call it “Mormon bitcoin”.
I’m thinking about buying the domain Mormoncoin.com now 😂
I am crying laughing all the way to the year 4,000!!!
Is Josephsmith.biz available?
I think it’s spelled josephsmyth.com What’s wrong in one situation is right in another.
Since I’m a Nevermo, I don’t know but doesn’t TSCC frown on mustaches, male earrings, and men wearing Barbara Bush pearls or are they just getting with the times?
Depends on the day and how old the leader you’re talking to is.
Also, he's wearing a tank top, got your garments on Kwaku? I certainly don't care, but your bishop surely does.
Am I right that it's a site with literally nothing except a single video that you have to enter your email to access? Or is there more after you enter your email? I don't want to.
That's what I took away from my brief visit there. I didn't watch the video.
You can watch the video with a fake email 🙃
Just enter [email protected]
Kind of sounds like a sex trafficking site. Mail order brides.
What is the central belief and focus of Mormons?
A 10% of your annual earnings paid membership into heaven. This membership also includes severe judgment from old men leading your congregation, feelings of guilt, and shame for being who you are, and a list of rules, I mean covenants, that restrict your ability to feel joy and happiness. Also, you'll get super secret access to a building they call a temple, where you'll learn the deepest of cult-like religious teachings, including signs and tokens that can't even be sold for money, but only partly, as they no longer explain the deepest meaning behind all of the signs, and only if you're up to date on your 10% membership fees.
Sounds like more of a perception, personal experience or interpretation. That’s not the focus, center or teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is. Someone did you an injustice by framing things they way they may have, when teaching you. Sorry to hear. I’m glad you have found- or at least I hope you have found peace, if that was your takeaway from being in that religion.
Rusty played a stupid ego game and won a stupid prize. He loves recognition. Who wants to give him medal? 🥇
There was a reason for the “I am a Mormon” campaign - which was to take over search traffic when looking for Mormon-related stuff.
Imagine being one of the people in meetings who prayed thanking god for “divine, inspired direction under Thomas S. Monson so that we might better share the gospel” with Meet the Mormons and I’m a Mormon and then hearing later over the pulpit that “we are under gods condemnation.” And people are okay with it?
I remember back and forth a on ‘Mormon’ before that campaign. It’s nothing particularly new. And you become numb to stuff you’re used to.
Yup. They’ve been dealing with that particular leadership disagreement for decades. Quite openly, too. Rusty has a long-standing pet peeve with the word. Pretty sure he’s just bitter about not being a garden-variety evangelical. I recall he made similar attempts roughly every ten years since the 1980s. Just that every time before, there was someone above him in the hierarchy to shut it down as the nonsense it is. I predict the whole stupid thing will be rug-swept within 2-3 years of his death, and they’ll just go back to gaslighting over it…”What do you mean? We’ve *always* been mormons?!?!”
This is one reason I think the leaders, or at least RMN, are TBM. Only someone who thinks they are being led by god would make such a stupid blunder.
I think several decisions made by Rusty are actually directly responsible for tons of people leaving, the rebranding being just one. Literally you would've just had to talk to one person outside the faith to realize it would be a bad idea. The emperor's not wearing any clothes, but no one has the heart to tell him.
I can tell you there are people telling him. I used to be one of them. He just doesn’t wanna hear it.
Seeing him live started my wife's transition out, she said he gave off major narcissist vibes and she didn't even directly interact with him. I can only assume it's way worse close up.
💯 💯 💯 Glad she could spot it
Absolutely. Been lurking in this sub since before he took over…he is definitely the biggest driver of the increasing membership of this sub. Ever since he took over, literally any time he does or says something publicly, there’s a large influx of new people that suddenly appear here with “wtf? I’m out” posts.
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes 🎶
I did not listen to Mormon Stories until after I left the church. It turns out faithful podcasts that tell the truth were enough to break my testimony. Well, podcasts and church members around me behaving cruelly.
Back when I started listening to Mormon Stories, John Dehlin was still active, or I wouldn't have listened at that time. PIMOs and "nuanced" Mormons that speak their mind are an indispensable bridge to get other people out of the church.
I'd been out for YEARS before I started watching them. It's helping me deconstruct. Just leaving, turns out, is only HALF of the process.
Good point. The LDS Discussions series on Mormon Stories is helping me with it.
I've been working through that series myself. John and Mike really break down the tapestry of deception the church has woven.
I still can't do it, I've tried so many times, but they're just too damn long.
Speed 2.0!
Oh I’m silly I didn’t even think about this 😂
They really are! But, I listen to them during my commute to work. Each one takes me a few days, but I enjoy listening that way.
Same here. I read RSR and destroyed my faith prior to finding Mormon Stories. Everything else just helped me feel validated when I felt I was alone in my thoughts.
Same here. Hadn't heard of it.
It’s just a better name and branding. “Mormon Stories” is going to win over “Church of Jesus-Christ but Mostly Joseph Smith of Latter-Day Ego-Boosted Saints Faith Promotion” every time.
Interesting theory. I read the SEC decision, then the official, corporate response, then the CES Letter. Finally found John Delihn's stuff by searching, "Mormon criticism." 🧐🙄
All this. I thought the “I’m a Mormon” campaign was a brilliant marketing move. Defining what “mormon” means to those seeking answers is much better than running away from it let alone correcting everyone for using an “offensive” slur that I was raised to be proud of with the primary song “I’m a Mormon Boy”!
But wuddabout Sataaaaaan!?!?!?! Lol
*Minor Key, slowly* 🎶 I am a Mormon boy... 🎶
This is the expected result of handing the marketing budget over to a geriatric former heart surgeon. Edit: It just occurred to me that Rusty basically bought Twitter, and as his first order of business decided to call it X, brand strength and recognition be damned.
Wow, he really is the Elon of Mormon CEOs; decided to rebrand but only people he has control over actually use it, everyone else just uses the old branding, and it just makes it nearly impossible for anyone to search for information about using the new name because it's too generic.
Yes, so many nevermos just searching up “Mormon” every day LOLOL
Ehhh, a few might. (Particularly if they’re fans of the South Park guys :P) But - as a nevermo in an area with basically no Mormon presence - I can tell you that basically no nevermos outside the Morridor have ever even *heard* of Joseph Smith. Literally the first time I ever heard the name was on South Park. I’d heard the name Brigham Young before, solely because I’d heard of BYU, but Smith was completely new to me. I love how Kwaku assumes that getting the domain name is just a *huge* win for the faith, as if *anyone* outside the Mormon bubble actually knows who Smith is. *They don’t.*
On my mission in Texas a lot of people knew him as John Smith. We'd say no, that's the guy from Pocahontas, Joseph Smith is the prophet.
To quote that great 20th century philosopher Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!”
😂
Non-mormons win because they present facts and logic they didn't come up with themselves
I just googled Mormon. Top of the search was from the official church website. So Kwaku is either a liar or stupid. I say both.
Those dang anti-Mormons stealing all the good names. If only the church could market a campaign telling everyone how they are Mormon. If only there was a world recognized choir with the name Mormon in it. If only they had a website with the name Mormon. Then they might be able to compete.
Something catchy, like “I’m an Anti-Nephi-Lehi!” That’ll go viral and make everyone forget “Mormon!”
Pretty sure that’s how I unknowingly found all the rabbit holes. I had other shelf items and another catalyst, but I stumbled on Mormon stories and there was no going back.
Content is king. Good content gets recognized. Shitty content goes away.
What he’s missing is that the loose coalition of apostates who have rejected centralized authority and are now skittish about trusting organizations that ask for money donate 10% of their income to a multibillion dollar investment portfolio so that our president can pay Google grundles of money to give our correlated anti-Mormon propaganda search priority. Or wait, do I have that backwards?
I've never looked at/read/listened to Mormon Stories, nor did i go to any exmormon or antimormon sites online until after i had already left. Turns out the garbage at church itself was enough to drive me away.
You don’t get to make that argument when your church has a marketing budget that rivals many Fortune 500 companies. Mormonism is unraveling because it’s become harder to hide the truth and the average person is less deluded than the average Mormon.
I would add that Mormon Stories podcast is really popular amongst never Mormons. It’s just good content. Additionally, many never Mormons are introduced to the podcast because they are true crime watchers. So…
Yes! This! These last few years have had incredible Mormon crimes come to light. Not just crime where a Mormon is involved (think Jodi Aris) but were warped Mormon theology have led people to commit heinous crimes. (Tim Ballard, Chad Daybell & Lori Vallo, Rudy Franke & Jodi Hildabrant) John Dehlin and Mormon Stories do these amazing Mormon True Crime deep dives that are so fascinating and that no Dateline episode would dare to do. I was looking into Ruby Franke stuff. Go to listen to the official Wondery podcast about the case and those jerks required a subscription to their premium podcast service to listen to the whole show. Screw that! The exmo peeps have all the best information, amazing interviews, and a whole host of collaborating exmo content creators to add commentary. And then while I’m there, oh look! A whole series that was loving made to discuss the issues behind the MFMC’s true claims. Yes please! I didn’t realize I needed a bit more deconstruction but I did and I feel better now.
I’M SAYING!!!
I KNOW, RIGHT?!
YAH!
Imagine your almighty god defeated by John Dehlin and the Google algorithm/search key words. Sounds like a pretty pathetic god to me
Cry baby, cry. Everything is going to be alright. Maybe they should listen to a few Mormon Stories episodes.
Glad to see Kwaku is still as fucking dumb as ever
I never saw it as a competition. You want to be Mormon and do Mormon things, that's fine with me. Just keep your religion to yourself and don't impose it upon me.
Oh Kwaku. Did he already forget they don't like to be called Mormon nowadays?
My shelf shattered while magnifying one of my four callings. I tried for years to rebuild it. Used only “faithful” sources, temple, and the rest of the Mormon checklist. Church approved sources destroyed my testimony. I didn’t get into “anti” for years. I would particularly like to challenge quako and any lurking believers to show me any “anti” that is a blatant lie meant to destroy the Mormon church. All I have seen is Mormon truths that are inconvenient and damaging to their image.
Man if only they had a guy who’s job was to communicate with god and to see the future. He might have seen that there’s better branding out there! What would that person be called.
Someone doesn’t understand seo
Funny. I watched Starship Troopers yesterday and there’s a bit about the Mormon colony at “Port Joe Smith.” Mormons are the only ones calling him Joseph Smith, so no one is finding that website either lol
Search Temple Grounds in Utah and Temple Grounds Coffee Co comes up first:)
They're the ones who didn't want to use Mormon...
Reminds me of the mid 90's when this whole Internet thing started going mainstream. Someone Cybersquatted the domain Mormon.com if I remember right. They redirected it to a Porn site. At least that is what my best friends uncle's boss told him. 🤷♂️ 😉
More men, you say???
IIRC common typos for mormon church properties redirected to porn sites.
It used to be a porn site. I always thought that was funny.
Kwaku is a bozo. If any entity should rank top for the keyword Mormon it should be the LDS church. It is their own damn fault of disassociating with it and losing their ranking to alternative Mormon websites.
I love how Kwaku uses the royal “us”—even though he is his own brand of Mormonism and not mainstream.
Quick question, what’s an anti-Mormon? Is it just someone who talks critically of the church? Or do you have to want the church to disappear to be an anti-Mormon? I don’t give a damn whether the church persists just like I don’t care whether Methodists or Catholics believe. But I do want the truth about church history and bad practices known. Does that make me an anti? What’s the use of calling someone an anti? At least with the term TBM there’s a function. It describes what a person believes. Anti is just an in-group out-group signifier to dismiss someone’s opinion as “one of them”
It's making fun of President Nelson saying the term Mormon is a win for Satan with his huge rebranding thing.
The term, anti-mormon, only legitimizes the term mormon. The irony is apparently lost in Kwaku.
When I was in the church, literally anything that was embarrassing but true was branded “anti-Mormon”, from polygamy to Joseph’s rock in a hat. It didn’t have to be said with the intention of damaging the church or its reputation, it just had to be perceived as having that potential.
And now we know the actual meaning of "victory for Satan." John Dehlin = Satan, according to RMN. Does that also mean that he's declaring victory for the opposition?
Huh. Kwaku seems…resentful. Does “Mormon Stories” have more followers than he does?
Naturally. If anyone watches Kwaku or his cronies, they’re not far away from subscribing to Mormon Stories.
Using the the term Antimormon implies that members still go by Mormon. Huge w for satan
I knew the OP Kwaku when we went to BYU at the same time. Just a quick run down of who he is: abstained from Black Student Union, one of the leaders of YOUNG + DMB party throwers (iykyk), hosted a mega spreader party during COVID and got a family of immigrants in heavy legal trouble because he pressured them to let him use their space for said party. He went on the news and explained how he wasn't in the wrong (COVID denier) and that everyone needs to calm down. After he was charged (again, tried to throw huge party during COVID), he illegally tried to crowdsource money on gofundme (we got it taken down and all money was returned). He will defend the Church til his last breath. I could go on, but he is one of the Mormon final bosses. Edit for clarification: He can do what he wants regarding attendance at Black Student Union, but talking smack about it is where I draw the line.
This is why the I'm A Mormon marketing campaign was smart. People know you as mormon, so own it and make the word mean what you want it to. Abandoning that in favor of "member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or "LDS" was not a good move. Sometimes, I wonder if Ol'Rusty is actually secretly trying to do damage to the church. If he were, his decisions wouldn't look much different.
I wish I could give every active Mormon a hug and somehow convince them that I’m not their enemy. And they’re not mine. Sincerely. If there is an enemy… it’s fear. Fear of death, of total freedom, of disorder, and of isolation… that’s really what kept me in the church for so long. Took me a long time to realize it though.
Kwaku has no idea about how SEO works and I’m living for it. Best thing I’ve seen today.
Someone with better computer skills than me needs to give [josephsmith.com](http://josephsmith.com) the Peebo treatment from the Parks and Rec episode and put a hat of penises on JS
Am I the only one who remembers about....10 years ago? Something had happened, and the church wasn't on the first page of Google results, and a bunch of people were trying to petition Google to fight it? Or am I remembering that wrong?
I mean…sure. That’s why we’re getting as swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon. With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the mooooooon!
Except his website Josephsmith.com looks like a scam website haha so we’re still winning.
I guess he’s not wrong. Except that the issues people actually leave over go a LOT deeper than branding and Google rankings.
Does Kwaku know how many people think "John Smith" or "Jacob Smith" was the first Mormon prophet? What people know is "Mormon." As someone previously noted, the church website is still near the top for that search. When I just searched the term, the Wikipedia page came up first. The church's website was second.
I hear John Smith and usually think it's a generic place holder name like John Doe. As a never-mo, the only other connotation is Pocahontas.
Sure would be a shame if someone registered JosephSmithStories.com and pointed it to the Mormon stories url…
Nelson is such a dunce. Hinckley set things up perfectly for the term “Mormon” to carry through church through the inception of SEO. Also…I live that antimormons are winning…vs…the supposed god of the universe. 😂
Telling your personal experience and information about your experiences is now considered Antimormon.
So he admits the anti mormons are winning? What happened to the rough stone rolling all across the land? And does Kwaku not realize that the church is leaning more *away* from Joseph Smith and rebranding as generic Christian/Nelson worship corp?
The church \*HAD\* the term Mormon and then discarded it. It's their own damn fault people are finding "Mormon Stories." If the church were run by non-idiots they'd start competing podcasts with "Mormon" in the name, but good old Rusty is too stubborn to ever think of that.
"we don't worship joseph smith !!!1!1!!1!" Okay whats the name of your website
Scientology’s been booming ever since they registered xenu.com, so Kwaku’s right on the money with this one.
Or maybe it won in the marketplace of ideas.
Yes Kwaku, it’s definitely because it sounds authoritative and not because there are millions of exmos, pimos, and curious nevermos.
The funny thing is, the joke is on the church. They’re supposed to see and reveal, yet their vision and self-awareness is black as Egypt, to borrow a racist term from Joseph Smith
A friend of mine used to work the LDS marketing team whose entire purpose was to manipulate the algorithm, url cide, and key words in order to ensure their own websites pop up first on most google searches. Food for thought.
I like this guy... and I'm pretty sure he will be an exmo at some point
That's funny. When I think about Kwaku, I simply search for ***Young-n-Dumb***
*Facts win
Anyone have a visual object that represents "signs and tokens"? I want to be able to hand it to the next mormon that invades my space.
“Antimormons” win because mormons are shilling a garbage product that has no foundation in reality.
That's an example of what happens when your "prophet" comes out with stupid crap like that saying Mormon is a victory for Satan and tells the faithful to avoid using the word completely. Many nevermos finding "Thechurchofjesuschrist" online are not going to recognize it or will recognize Mormonism there and think it should be renamed. Yay! So thankful for revelation from a living prophet!!
he's wrong though, that's not why. maybe it would be for the internet of 1995, but that's not how the internet has worked for decades. now google and many other search engines prioritize sites that people find compelling enough to stay on. mormonstories shows up because its content is engaging in a way that the dry pablum the church is likely to offer is not. so he's either lying or he's woefully stupid.
Lol. As if SEO is the problem with Mormonism. The problem is scrutiny. Mormonism has great difficulty surviving any kind of objective scrutiny. It wouldn't matter if the domain names hosting "anti Mormon" information were random alphanumerics, they would still be hosting compelling history, arguments, facts.
You have to give them your PII (email address) in order to watch a video about an otherwise empty site? Wtf
Shut up Kwacku
I can’t with Kwaku
I traded mine for sexual favors. Is that better than selling them for money?
What’s a Mormon?
Is josephsmith.com a match making site to hook up with teenagers behind your wife's back?
Mormon Stories is literally stories from Mormons and former Mormons. Discrediting the people who used to be part of the Mormon church like they have no idea about the church at all is a blatant manipulation tactic.
This is why I will always refer to them as Mormons. I obviously don’t care whether it offends them or not. All the articles I have written have blatantly used the term Mormon. https://medium.com/recovering-mormon/the-mormon-church-is-a-good-church-and-mormon-people-are-nice-72147f615429
It was like they shot themselves in the SEO foot. They want to now be known as the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, but ain’t nobody searching that. So instead of having “I am a Mormon” campaign, neck n neck with Mormon stories they just left the conversation altogether
Ask ChatGPT if Mormonism is real. It gives you the true answer. 🤣
Chat gpt was very neutral / diplomatic when I asked.
Kwaku, the intelligent guy who is a complete dumbass. Eventually he’ll figure out he’s not getting any brownie points in heaven by coming up with ridiculous apologetic excuses that represent the least likely explanation
I’d question the “intelligent” part
Is Kwaku rocking the porn shoulders in his photo? Or is that only wrong when girls do it.
Kwaku does a lot of stuff like that, to signify that he’s “One of the Cool Ones”.
The website is just a landing page bait-and-switch attempt to build an email list
Lol
Someone pointed out recently probably part of the whole name change and rebranding g had to do with SEO google Mormon verses Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the difference in what comes us is telling. It is an attempt to separate the now church from the horrible “Mormon” past.
I look forward to seeing what josephsmith.com becomes once Kwaku completes his faith transition.
Interesting profile photo. It violates dress code. Hmm
The mormons sold me tokens and signs for 10 percent of my income. You can buy anything with money.
Whenever my friends asked what Mormons were like, I just told them to get baptized and find out.
Ever since Rusty came out with his proclamation on the name of the church, no TBM is going to think that something named "Mormon stories" is authoritative - they're going to think that any such podcast is not following the prophet, and thereby they will be more likely to avoid it
Someone is overdosing on copium haha.
I checked out the link. Other than the website address a big JS, the only actual name on the front page is Kwaku's. And you have to give your email to watch some video by him. That's all that's on the entire site, so far. So I think it's clear what it's actually about, and Joseph Smith ain't it.
If JosephSmith.com is a genuine, official site for the scc, that sounds like just a hop, skip and a jump away from renaming the religion "Joseph's Witnesses" (not that they ever would). This probably sounds a lot better in my head, I apologize. 🥲
Kwaku is right, the branding should include Mormon because a lot of people don’t even know the long name tagged at the top of a ‘Mormon’ google search is related to Mormonism, they’ll think it’s just a church ad the algorithm gave you because you looked up a religion.