My Ensign subscription has mercifully ended and I've received the annual renewal form. Even though this is a trivial matter – insignificant by any standard – I'm somewhat torn as to whether to let the stupid thing go away for good, or re-up for another year. These are the arguments as I see them, pro and con. Anyone care to contribute an opinion on this least consequential of subjects, even if it's to tell me to stop wasting bandwidth?

Lapse: The Ensign is genuinely, seriously dumb. It's dumber than "Fox & Friends." Dumber than a month of "Marmaduke." Even TBMs think it's dumb. Plus, even though the amount is miniscule, writing a check to the corp for any reason or any amount will be painful; worse, they may actually think (horrors!) that I give a royal damn about them.

Renew: I've got a full set since 1988, so if the corp decides to scrub its website, I have physical evidence. I can hold the paper copy of Russell Nelson's Rock in Hat speech, and can prove he gave it, no matter what the corp does online – no gaslighting possible. I can show that TSCC is indisputably YEC from its 2014 Ensigns, despite its "official" no-position. And even though I have to shell out $10, at least I'm getting something tangible in return. At 83 cents per issue, I can't imagine the corp is making any money from it.

When I saw the title of this post, I thought the answer was an easy 'no'. However, you make a good point that having a hard copy could come in handy when the church tries to rewrite history again. I wouldn't worry about the church making money from your subscription. At 83 cents an issue, I doubt the Ensign generates a direct profit - the effects are secondary such as encouraging members to stay active and pay a full tithe. Since (hopefully) you are not going to pay tithing regardless of what is in the Ensign, it could be worthwhile to keep your Ensign collection going.

Lapse. Every issue is online free so there is no need to pay anything.

I say let it lapse and just download the PDF.
I glanced at December's issue. Total drivel - I certainly wouldn't pay for it.

That's what I do. I download the PDF version

Why pay for something of questionable value in the first place that is also available for free?

My Dad's subscription came to me for 6 months after he passed away, so I skimmed over the issues a bit, and I realized how reading that rag amounted to an exercise in intense navel gazing where one must ask oneself "am I worthy" over and over and over again. What a waste of a life in the service of a monumental MLM scheme. So I let it lapse. And the old high priest asshole that I've written about asked if he could send me a gift subscription to The Ensign? I was dumbfounded at the idea. I, of course, declined.

Ron Burr

They will send it to the person who is paying for it or to the one receiving it. Just tell them which. They'll also tell a giver to never send it to a certain someone again. The phone number is in fine print on every magazine.

Propaganda organ of the church is what it is!

Paper media is still a beautiful thing for the very reasons you outline. My advice is renew.

I second Alma's advice.

I'd personally want to keep the collection going in real-deal magazine form.

While PDFs could be stored on a thumb drive and take up no shelf space, a rabid TBM could make the argument that you've edited the content for your own diabolical ends. :)

And ten bucks is a bargain. I know people who spend that much on take-out coffee daily.

I've worked in the publishing industry and I assure you that they're running in the red at 83 cents a copy. Don't worry about helping to fill their coffers.

You could also download and save the PDFs to a local drive or to the cloud. There are also services that archive webpages such as: https://archive.org/web/
I am not sure if they capture issues of the Ensign, however.

How do you keep that many magazines organized? I have mountains of paper in every house that I need to tackle as my 2015 resolution. So would love to hear advice if you have any. If you have an easy-to-look-up library system, go ahead. Otherwise, it's not worth the hassle of looking up that "certain" issue.

Hi, hausfrau! Have you ever seen periodical organizers in the public library? That's what I use. Mine are old-style cardboard, but they make them in plastic now in cheerful colors.

Google "magazine organizers."

As to content, I just photocopy the table of content page of each periodical and keep them in a thin ring binder on the shelf with the collection--homemade index.

I have a collection of professional periodicals to which I refer again and again. Some index entries I've highlighted in yellow and jotted a descriptive note, like "clip art sources," etc.

Also, some magazines once did a year-end index of that year's issues--National Geographic comes to mind--so that's an indexing possibility, too.

Hope this helps!

Saree,
feeling like "Hints from Heloise" :)

Thank you!

Great tips for me. I'll be organizing all my kids' magazines soon. :)

Another "pro" is that you are just a few Ensigns away from being featured on "Hoarders - Mormon Edition"!

;-)

Second that. Why store such a useless rag? Why not make a small donation to Mormon Stories? It will do more good.

I can't think of how you could ever make use of back copies. Don't worry, there are lots of people who are already storing old copies.

Had an ex BIL who filled his entire basement with old newspapers he thought he would want to use again some day. I learned early that some day never comes.

Maybe you could switch over to something more meaty like Highlights?

If the Ensign had "Goofus and Gallant" I'd say renew.

I say let go - both of the Ensign and of the need to somehow "prove" the church wrong with evidence. There's already sh*tloads of evidence that the church is false, and you're already out. What more is there to prove?

Every time a mormon cancels his or her Ensign subscription, a letter carrier smiles in gratitude.

Renew, and use it for toilet paper.

The church will never stop printing the single most important piece of evidence of its fraud - The Book of Mormon.

Dump the whole lot and save yourself the 10 bucks.

Drop it.

Most of the articles are fake and you can bet they won't write any more self-incriminating stuff, so why waste space or money on it.

Thanks for all the responses. I figured I'd get a wide variety of opinions, on both sides of the issue. I know I'm overthinking this. Random answers, in no particular order:

– The magazines don't take up much room, just a row of 11 organizers way up on the shelf (literally). Each organizer holds two and a half years, so it's very manageable.

– If the December issue was bad, January (final issue) is worse. If it's any indication as to how the church will go in 2015, they'll be doubling down on the Obedience card. In Monson-speak: "Screws were tightened; spirits were crushed; dreams were shattered." I was tempted to yell at the empty s***-eating grins of the Q15 photographs littering the pages.

– I agree with the premise that nothing more needs to be done to prove the church wrong. At this point, I see the magazines more as a guard against the church LYING about its past. Some here believe the church is planning to purge the ward libraries in January, including older Ensigns. So I don't think I'll throw out the ones I already have. These mags are in no position to do any damage. There's no one in my circle to be indoctrinated.

– The worst part of it for me is that it's still a tether to the church, however light. They may still see it as a hook in me, not understanding that said hook is weaker than the claw of a newborn kitten. Spending $10 for A Year of Dumb, silly on its face, pales next to the tacit implications of support for TSCC's agenda. On the other hand, the idea of them *losing* money on each issue is an appealing prospect in principle, even if the amount is literally pocket change.

– Hoarders and Highlights? Ouch, LOL! Classic!

– The church keeps control of their online messages. Nothing prevents them from making subtle changes and re-posting a PDF. Then they can point to the (changed) edition and say, "See, we never taught that!" But when that magazine hits the mailbox of Norm the NOM or Ethel the Exmo, the church no longer has control. It's out of their hands. They can't successfully lie or gaslight their way out of it.

Its one way they would know your address. That is if you're out and want to stay out without contact.

Our Stake had a person in each ward who was the publications subscriptions specialist of something. Their job was to keep track of who had subscriptions to Ensign, Friend, New Era, but especially Ensign.

It was said to be to make sure that everyone could have sucscriptions, but the thing that was left unsaid outside the Bishopric was that it also allowed us to see if someone had chosen not to recieve the magazine. Those whose subscriptions were not renewed were given an interview at some point where the topic could "innocently" pop up. The reaction to this seemingly inconsequential question could tell the Bishop quite a bit about the current spiritual state of the member.

I happened to get the renewal notice while my TBM wife was not home and chucked it immediately.

Thought I might hear about it but haven't yet.

I am more than surprised she has not noticed no magazines and reordered but time will tell. Doesn't matter that she never reads them --- I was the only one that use to do that!

Tell her they discontinued Ensign and replaced it with a new publication called "WatchTower" or "Golf".

Save a tree - don't renew. Trees improve our environment.

I once had a niece that wrote an article for the Ensign.

I never subscribed again after that. That was the proof I needed
that their stories are complete fiction. And even worse, it's mormon fiction that they try to pass off as truth. I really don't want that stuff taking up space in my house or my mind. I already know they're a pack of liars.

It's kinda like rolling in cow manure for your whole life. It isn't too bad, some days are warm and mooshy, some days might have an extra tangy aroma, but over-all, it's comforting because that is all you have ever known. Then one day you discover that maybe you don't have to roll in manure anymore so you stand up and look around. Over by the farmer's house is a large patch of green grass and people are drinking coffee around a table of cookies & truffles.

You walk over and join these people who have washed off the manure that they used to wear and are happily enjoying themselves as they converse about what it was like when they were manure rollers. As you look out over the pasture and see those cows meander around dropping one steaming cow pie after another, you start to get a little bit smarter. The appeal of going back to rolling in cow manure starts to fade and pretty soon you don't want any part of that again.

As for the magazine subscription, to me it reminds me of a time when I was a manure roller. Now, I don't want to be reminded anymore. That was then, now is now. I would say to let it lapse and let the aroma fade.

Whoa… someone brought this old thread of mine back to life? Who would do that, and more importantly, WHY?

Turns out that I did let it go in the end. The pen was poised over the checkbook and I… just… couldn't… bring myself to do it.

Hahaha. At least now we know the rest of the story!

I inherited my dad's subscription for the 6 months after he died.
Their pages were adequete fire starters in the burning barrels where I burned numerous B of M's, D&C's, POGP's and bibles and all the other Mormon shit he had.

RB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2016 12:20AM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

I think I remember a previous post of yours saying that you kept only ONE thing out of all the Mormon materials -- a much-used and read Quad owned by your parents. That stuck in my mind about the love between mother and father and son despite not agreeing with everything.

I still have the quad. Turfed everything else.

claude l. smith was the clever poster who brought this thread back out of two year old obscurity and darkness. S/he didn't even add anything, just slapped on an empty post to drag it to the top of the list.

Who knew reactivating random old threads on a holiday weekend was a thing? I guess Ensign-withdrawal can be a real struggle.

:-/

OTOH, I went to the trouble to look up what yoyo had done this. How pathetic is that? Irony abounds. Happy Friday, y'all

Defiantly Lapse.
BTW - is it online. If not why not.
Do you still pay for a subscription? Why? Should be free.
The fee should only be to make up for printing it.
The publication should all be done by the church for free, as members (other duties as assigned) the time and talents should be given freely.
Although I guess someone has to pay for the hosting services.

I just want to know why it's pronounced EN-sign, and not En-sin, like the rest of the world.

I mean, Jack Lemmon played Ensign Pulver in the movie, not en-SIGN Pulver....

I received the last 6 months of my dad's subscription after he died. I had never read an Ensign....I'm from the "Improvement Era" generation. I couldn't believe the fucking drivel in that rag. I did not renew.

Why abuse yourself any longer? Let the subscription go. Instead can you donate the $10 to a teacher who needs funds to buy her/his students supplies? Or donate the funds to a pantry that feeds the hungry and homeless.

Lapse! Do not support the cult. Do not give the tscc any money. Especially, don't give them any more numbers to count in their total subscriptions sold.

Lapse.

It may be interesting to keep up on the stuff, but it gets boring, or will just make you mad as you move on with life.

There are better other things to read "with a lot information here you can really use."

Lapse

I finally let mine lapse about 4 months ago.Without having ESP, I already knew what articles I'd find in each issue, at least a couple issues on pornography, and marriage being between a man and woman, being worthy , blessings of temple work, never varies.
At least in the 80s and 90s, I enjoyed most of the articles

Thanks to everyone who weighed in with their thoughts – but I made the decison to let it lapse two and a half years ago.

It's funny when naïve TBMs (looking at you, Claude Smith! and you, Myrnalee!), using the evil Internet, search for a phrase like "renew ensign" and stumble onto this thread. In a panic, with their very soul in the gravest jeopardy, they hit "Post Message" instead of the back button, shooting it to the top without adding any actual value to the discussion.