Contacting Factnet

Critical Introduction

Thank you for emailing Factnet. You may have contacted Factnet for some type of personal assistance, you may be contacting us to share some important information that you believe we should have on our website or, you may be contacting us for some other technical or non technical reason. You may have sent us an email that we just don't understand and we are replying with this form letter.

We want to assist in you a timely and effective manner within our capabilities, expertise and means. In this email you will find specific descriptions on exactly how to get assistance for the most common issues we are contacted about.

Do keep in mind that Factnet is a news, reference, discussion and research web site for cult and mind control issues only! Also, keep in mind that our online community of former and sometimes even current cult members may be able to assist you, but almost all requests for personal or general assistance at Factnet are handled in a do-it yourself manner using the various tools on our website.

Finally, whenever you email us always remember to email us with all materials in the body of the email as we do not open attachments because of virus issues.

How to Get Help from Factnet

• Live or emergency personal assistance, information on cult issues

  Factnet at this time does not provide one-on-one live direct cult recovery personal or emergency services.

  For this type of direct personal assistance you need to contact:

  • one of the personal contact cult experts listed on our cult experts list,
  • one of the expert cult and mind control education organizations listed on organizations list cult help,
  • one of the cult and mind control support groups located at Former Cult Members and Support Groups

  If you just want general cult recovery and healing information we have a guide to Healing Oneself after Cult Abuse and Toxic Faith Experiences. It will assist you with everything from the emotional to legal components of getting your life back.

  We allow our very well qualified "sister" non-profit organizations and related cult and mind control experts handle their focused mission --- assisting with direct one-on-one live contact and personal crisis or security assistance on cult and mind control recovery issues. Because of the before mentioned, we will not reply to or provide any live and direct personal assistance requests. To get any live personal assistance after you have used our web site for your initial research, please use the above cult and mind control expert links listed above and at the same time use our online discussion groups for additional research and to share your vital experiences and information.

• To find someone

  There are numerous ways to do this in our do-it-for-yourself system.

  Place inquiry or help needed notices in our discussion board under that group most associated with the missing person. Then search the internet for other discussion groups related to that group and do the same thing.

  Next try the website search tool and your person’s name as the key words. The search tool is at the top of the Factnet website. It will search over 40,000 pages of information.

  Next, search the discussion board using the discussion board search tool. There are several hundred thousand messages in the board and about 500 new messages added every day. Use the person’s name as your keywords.

  If online members of our healing and educational community can help you, they most often will. All you have to do is post your questions and provide as much information as possible. Many current and past cult members read the boards but do not normally post.

• Get information about a cultic group, mind control or related issues

  There are three ways to do this in our do-it-for-yourself system.

  • First use the website search tool and your key words at the top of the Factnet website to search over 40,000 pages of information.
  • Next, search the discussion board using the discussion board search tool. There are several hundred thousand messages in the board and about 500 new messages added every day. Then place inquiry or help needed notices in our discussion board under that specific group or topic.
  • And finally search the internet for other discussion groups related to that cultic group or topic and do the same thing.

  If online members of our healing and educational community can help you, they most often will. All you have to do is post your questions and provide as much information as possible. Many current and past cult members also read the boards, but do not normally post.

Contribute stories, info, etc.

• Post views, alerts, news, information, etc.

  F.A.C.T.Net strongly encourages you to help us add to our specialized discussion forums and add new relevant information to our data bases and web pages by adding your breaking cult news stories, articles, your views, alerts and your personal experiences, and recovery stories immediately to our many topic driven discussion forums. And, if the information you want to share is of vital importance to our community and/or the general public also send them to our news editor where they may be placed on our home page or used in our newsletter or placed elsewhere on our website.

• Submit news stories, articles

  News stories, articles, press releases, etc., which you think are of interest for the FACTNet newsletter, news section or other sections on the site can be emailed to the news editor (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the words "News Editor" and that you include the materials and/or a link to the source.

  As long as you do not violate copyright laws, it is also correct to post these submissions in the appropriate discussion forums

• Submit links, related web sites

  Links to related web sites and informative resources can be emailed (note: this link will open your default email program) to manage@factnet.org.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the word "links".

  Links will be added at our discretion and as time and resources permit.

• Submit new cult and mind control education organizations or experts

  Links to psychological, legal, ministerial or security sites assisting with cult and mind control support for victims of destructive cults can be emailed (note: this link will open your default email program) to manage@factnet.org.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the words "Alliance Manager".

  Links will be added at our discretion and as time and resources permit.

• Volunteer at Factnet

  Email us (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and tell us about yourself and what you want to do.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the word "New Volunteer".

Complaints, report problems

• Discussion board:

• Lost password, login problems

  See I've lost my password. How do I get a new Password?.

  For additional help see Discussion Board Service Charges.

• Personal abuse complaints, alleged slander, libel, or copyright infringement, remove posting

  Before you send us an alleged slander or libel complaint, please read the following carefully. It is agreed to by everyone who posts in the discussion forum in the registered user agreement and it also is posted as the general website disclaimer for all other areas of the Factnet website blogs etc.

  Because of the following online library disclaimer there can be no slander or libel on Factnet. If you feel that someone is saying something you do not like or agree with or, you think is not right then the absolute very best and most certain and swift way to deal with the issue is to post your information, opinions and perspectives in the appropriate discussion forum and thread and openly state what you believe to counter what you do not like. No one will censor your right to speak for all to see providing you follow the registered user agreement discussion forum rules. People say all kinds of negative things about Factnet and its staff in the discussion forums and we allow it because of what is said just below in the following two sections.

  “F.A.C.T.Net (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) is a nonaligned electronic lending library and preservational archive. The purpose of Factnet's news and historic archive service is to promote independent investigation and public debate and dialog on cult and mind control issues critical to our social and individual well-being. Statements made in any documents in any of our libraries or message boards on or off the Internet do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the F.A.C.T.Net organization. F.A.C.T.Net provides only the electronic medium for transferring information, with the explicit understanding that each user will independently evaluate it and carefully make up his or her own mind as to its factual accuracy and usefulness.

  For the following reasons, F.A.C.T.Net treats all of the information in these electronic research libraries, e-mail boxes, electronic chats, message boards, editorials and electronic conferences as allegations, opinions, or theoretical research discussions and makes absolutely no claims for the factual accuracy of any information, statement, or document contained in any of its electronic libraries or services.

  Independent individuals, organizations, or authors contributing documents to F.A.C.T.Net's research libraries may be exercising their constitutional rights of petition, free speech, participation in government, or freedom of religion in researching, evaluating and freely discussing any matter. These discussions or statements may be the constitutionally protected opinions, allegations, satire, fiction, or religious beliefs or religious opinions of these independent individuals, organizations, or authors and, as such, may or may not be factual.

  Most of the documents in our research libraries have been electronically scanned and mechanically translated. Even using the newest technologies, errors occur naturally during this process.

  Some of the information contained in these libraries may be fictional works, "works in progress," or archival materials included in the library or archive only to preserve their possible historical or bibliographical value or for which even the author or contributor makes no claims as to the document's factual accuracy.

  Because of the preceding, neither F.A.C.T.Net Inc., any affiliated entities, nor any of its information providers offer any warranties, expressed or implied, concerning the performance of the F.A.C.T.Net information network or the veracity of information available through on or provided by F.A.C.T.Net. All information is provided to F.A.C.T.Net library users on an "as is" basis subject to the qualifications of this disclaimer and all use of such information for any purpose is at the library user's sole risk!”

  "....The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error...We have now recognized the necessity to the mental well-being of mankind (on which all their other well-being depends) of freedom of opinion, and freedom of the expression of opinion, on four distinct grounds; which we will now briefly recapitulate.
  
  First, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.
  
  Secondly, though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.
  
  Thirdly, even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds.
  
  And not only this, but fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but encumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience." John Stuart Mill:
  "On Liberty"(excerpt from Chapter 2). Also see What will happen if I'm naughty?, Is there a moderator for the discussion board? and I really don't like what other people are saying on this discussion board.

  For additional help see Discussion Board Service Charges.

• Can’t see the Discussion board

  Your IP or IP block might be blocked form accessing the board, either by accident or on purpose (see under: What will happen if I'm naughty?).

  For additional help see Discussion Board Service Charges.

• Removing posts from our discussion forums:

• You are given about 15 minutes after you post something in our discussion forums to remove it yourself. After that only the board Admin can remove a post. There are guidelines the Admin follows when they get removal requests. Generally posts will not be removed, except in rare cases. If you think you are a rare case you can pay a board service charge as described below.

  But, sending us money as a service fee to remove a post does not guarantee we will remove that post! It only means we will if it meets our criteria for removal. Please keep in mind everything on our bulletin boards are treated as opinions and allegations not facts so there can be no libel or slander when people are expressing their opinions and allegations and the board has been clearly designated as a opinion discussion board. If you feel that someone is saying something you do not like, enter the dialog and express yourself fully. No one will censor your expressing your opinions if you follow the registered user rules.] For additional help see Discussion Board Service Charges.

Please send detailed information where it allegedly has occurred and most importantly concrete proof of who owns the copyright and when the copyright was filed and created for the alleged infringing materials. Mail them to our PO BOX or email them to us with all materials in the body of the email as we do not open attachments because of virus issues.

• General web site:

• Donation problems

  Please email (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and describe your problem.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the words "Donation Problem".

• Broken links

Please email (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and include the name and location of the broken link.

Ensure that the subject line contains the words "Broken Links".

• Problem with one or more pages

Please email (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and include the description of the problem and its URL location.

Ensure that the subject line contains the words "Website Problem".

• Other

• Your successes in using Factnet or with our volunteer staff

  Please email (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and tell us all about it!

  Ensure that the subject line contains the word "Success".

• Removal from our mailing lists

  There are two ways you can do this:

  • To unsubscribe send email from the address you wish to unsubscribe to factnet-news-unsubscribe@lists.factnet.org (note: this link will open your default email program).
  • Use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your last received issue.

• Other types of issues/complaints not covered

  If after reading the Factnet disclaimer you feel we can and should address your issue, please email (note: this link will open your default email program) at manage@factnet.org and include all relevant verifying information and documentation relevant to your complaint.

  Ensure that the subject line contains the word "General Complaint".

About email communication with Factnet:

• Unclear requests or missing information

  If we don't fully understand your email, or if relevant information or documentation is missing, we return a form letter stating so.

  If needed, redo the email and resend it and give us all the details of time and place. Include URL addresses for anything you refer to. Include all relevant names and times. Include documentation where possible.

General ideas for getting more of our attention for your email requests

• Politeness in all communication is a must

  Rude, demanding or threatening email requests are ignored without reply until we receive another request that speaks to our staff and volunteers in a polite, respectful and adult manner. Our cult victim recovery and advocacy work is far, far too challenging and the pay is far too humble for the very few Factnet staff that are paid to tolerate ANY abusive language or behavior. Most of us are former cult victims and have already been severely abused by high control destructive cults. Consequently, we respond very poorly and slowly (if at all,) if you are rude, demanding or threatening in your communications to us.

• Provide clear and complete information

  If you email is incomplete with out all the details, specifics and documentation necessary for us to figure out what you are asking or understand what we must do to fix a technical situation, we will not be able to help you and will do nothing. You have to realize that we barely have enough volunteers and staff to handle all the requests we get that we can understand. We definitely do not have time to try to decipher what you need if you are not simplistically clear and detailed.

• Donate

  Because we are a non-profit almost always short of funding and staff for both existing and new projects, one great way to get our attention and get something done on your request is include a donation either by snail mail or online to help cover any additional work our staff would have to do to assist you or update our site with your information. This does not mean you have to donate to get something on the non-discussion board areas of our web site. If we can use what you have sent we will get it up as time and resources allow. If you can donate to help support this difficult life saving work, that would sure help too!

In closing...

Please remember this is mostly a do-it-yourself non profit information support organization composed of unpaid volunteers. If we have a way for you to help yourself using our website tools and references you will be always be directed to them to do your own research. If it is something we must do and you have made it easy for our volunteers to assist you we will get to it as we can in light of the many requests we receive with over 5,000 individuals a day using the website.

-- Sincerely,
Lawrence Wollersheim
Director, For The Board of Directors of Factnet

FACTnet

F.A.C.T.net Inc.

Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network Inc. Since 1993

Since 1993, Discussion, Resources and Support for Survivor Recovery from the Abusive Practices of Religions and Cults

Did you know there are three other easy ways to donate? For example; buying your cult and mind control research and recovery books via our recommended books website links is an easy and important method of helping to support our mission and non-profit organization. As an affiliate of Amazon.com we get a percentage of every book we sell from our website.

Because only You have the right to control Your Mind.

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