Groffdale Conference split

[Ken]

What is a "word processor?" Just an old PC running MS Word that is unplugged from the internet? Do they need to be stripped of distractions like solitare and powerpoint?

I had one in the mid/late 90's. Its a glorified typewriter. Has a little screen that you can see your script, gets fed paper like a typewriter, but will only type once you get to the end of the line, at least mine did. I think I gave mine to my BIL who was in a fellowship that didn't allow computers at the time.

Yeah, but I'm not asking about mid-1990s era laptops. I wrote my masters thesis on something similar with a black and white screen and a floppy drive. I'm asking about 2020. Are there companies that actually make these old things for the Amish (or Groffdale) market? Like tractors with steel tires? Or do they find them at old estate sales and pawn shops? I'm curious about what a Groffdale-approved word processor looks like in the year 2020. And how that lead to a conference split.

[Frodo]

What is a "word processor?" Just an old PC running MS Word that is unplugged from the internet? Do they need to be stripped of distractions like solitare and powerpoint?

I had one in the mid/late 90's. Its a glorified typewriter. Has a little screen that you can see your script, gets fed paper like a typewriter, but will only type once you get to the end of the line, at least mine did. I think I gave mine to my BIL who was in a fellowship that didn't allow computers at the time.

Yeah, but I'm not asking about mid-1990s era laptops. I wrote my masters thesis on something similar with a black and white screen and a floppy drive. I'm asking about 2020. Are there companies that actually make these old things for the Amish (or Groffdale) market? Like tractors with steel tires? Or do they find them at old estate sales and pawn shops? I'm curious about what a Groffdale-approved word processor looks like in the year 2020. And how that lead to a conference split.

The word processer in this case is a locked down computer that cannot access the internet or play movies etc. without being modified. Groffdale Conference had made a ruling that only one brand of word processer was allowed, as there are a few different small companies that are making them. The only brand or model that was allowed was actually manufactured and sold by a Groffdale Conference man and this also created a good bit of controversy as it gave him a monopoly on the market. He promoted his version as being the "safest". It's marketed as the " Classic Word Processer and runs on a version of Linux.

[ABC 123]

Sounds like Groffdale has problems that gimmic basic problems the world also has with conflicts of interests, monopolies, and regulatory issues.

They also sound petty and unable to trust their people with moral issues.

[Josh]

What is a "word processor?" Just an old PC running MS Word that is unplugged from the internet? Do they need to be stripped of distractions like solitare and powerpoint?

There are technology shops that customise a PC so it only has fixed functions, such as being able to solely run a word processor app, and perhaps other desired functions like QuickBooks. Certain church conferences allow use of such a thing who do not otherwise allow general purpose computers, smartphones, Internet use, etc.

[Ken]

I had one in the mid/late 90's. Its a glorified typewriter. Has a little screen that you can see your script, gets fed paper like a typewriter, but will only type once you get to the end of the line, at least mine did. I think I gave mine to my BIL who was in a fellowship that didn't allow computers at the time.

Yeah, but I'm not asking about mid-1990s era laptops. I wrote my masters thesis on something similar with a black and white screen and a floppy drive. I'm asking about 2020. Are there companies that actually make these old things for the Amish (or Groffdale) market? Like tractors with steel tires? Or do they find them at old estate sales and pawn shops? I'm curious about what a Groffdale-approved word processor looks like in the year 2020. And how that lead to a conference split.

The word processer in this case is a locked down computer that cannot access the internet or play movies etc. without being modified. Groffdale Conference had made a ruling that only one brand of word processer was allowed, as there are a few different small companies that are making them. The only brand or model that was allowed was actually manufactured and sold by a Groffdale Conference man and this also created a good bit of controversy as it gave him a monopoly on the market. He promoted his version as being the "safest". It's marketed as the " Classic Word Processer and runs on a version of Linux.

I find this stuff fascinating. Especially that people find it so important that they would split a church apart over the issue.

At that point I'm kind of surprised they don't just use typewriters. It saves having to also own a printer. Old vintage typewriters are actually kind of coming back into vogue. My 17 year old daughter who is something of a writer 'rescued' an old typewriter from her grandfather's office when they downsized. It has a place of honor on her desk and she thinks it's absolutely the coolest thing ever. There are two stores here in the Portland area that sell and repair vintage typewriters and they are all over ebay.

I remember reading recently that typewriter production and use peaked during WW2 as paperwork turned out to be absolutely critical for mobilizing a national war effort in the pre-computer era. Apparently there were massive typewriter shortages during the war years as all the available machines were absorbed into the bureaucratic war effort.

I would really be impressed if some of these ultra conservative groups resurrected the art of calligraphy. Of the type practiced by the old historic monks who copied down generations of bibles over the centuries. The old German Gothic fonts are pretty cool.

[Josh]

I find this stuff fascinating. Especially that people find it so important that they would split a church apart over the issue.

It should be rather obvious that no Anabaptist group would split over a sole issue like using typewriters or not, and that there is much else going on to foment a split like that. Generally there will be one issue placed front and center like this, however.

Usually, the more liberal group mocks the more conservative group, saying "They only split from us over the issue of having typewriters", leaving out all the other reasons at play. The more conservative groups usually just keep to themselves and don't trash-talk the more liberal group, usually content to say "They were going in a different direction than we are."

[Ken]

I find this stuff fascinating. Especially that people find it so important that they would split a church apart over the issue.

It should be rather obvious that no Anabaptist group would split over a sole issue like using typewriters or not, and that there is much else going on to foment a split like that. Generally there will be one issue placed front and center like this, however.

Usually, the more liberal group mocks the more conservative group, saying "They only split from us over the issue of having typewriters", leaving out all the other reasons at play. The more conservative groups usually just keep to themselves and don't trash-talk the more liberal group, usually content to say "They were going in a different direction than we are."

I understand that. I expect intransigent egos are often involved as well. Although I know nothing about this particular group. I'm just responding to you and Frodo who brought up the topic:

I know one of the issues in Berks Co. was use of word processors. The more conservative group felt it was turning into general computer use.

The group in Berks Co. has all stayed with Groffdale Conference. You are correct however that the " word processer" was one of the hot issues. There are a number of communities that all stayed part of Groffdale Conference, the community in the Finger lakes area of NY, Hopkinsville KY, and Versailles MO. were the main areas that actually saw a split if I'm not mistaken.

[Neto]

What is a "word processor?" Just an old PC running MS Word that is unplugged from the internet? Do they need to be stripped of distractions like solitare and powerpoint?

I had one in the mid/late 90's. Its a glorified typewriter. Has a little screen that you can see your script, gets fed paper like a typewriter, but will only type once you get to the end of the line, at least mine did. I think I gave mine to my BIL who was in a fellowship that didn't allow computers at the time.

The first word processor we owned was a Brother model, but before the option of a floppy drive was added. (Not the 'real' floppy disks, like the Kaypro or Osborn used, but the 'modern' diskette.) The one we had doubled as a thermal serial computer printer. It was about the size of an old style laptop, after they came out later. (We bought this word processor in about 1984.) Anyway, it could save a single document of about three pages in length. We used it to print out 'personal' letters to our ministry supporters. We typed out a letter with beginning and ending personal notes, then had all of the things we wanted to tell everyone in the middle. If we had been writing or typing letters one by one, they would get shorter as we got farther & farther down the list of addresses. It was a real time saver, because after printing the first one, we could just keep revising the first & last paragraphs, change the address line, and print the next letter. We eventually gave it to a Brazilian couple who worked in the same tribal area as we did.

Back in 2007 I was approached (indirectly, through my employer at the time) by an Amish business owner, about building a Windows 'word processor' that could run QuickBooks (a popular accounting program capable of tracking inventory, etc.). That was in the XP days, and about 6 months later I started manufacturing them. It's obviously not a huge market to start with, and then others, as they saw what I had done, jumped into the business as well. So today there are a number of different Windows-based word processors on the market. I still hold to the original stipulation that the appearance must also be distinctive, that something built into a commercially available computer case is not to be considered a 'word processor', but most of the competition does not. Some of my customers do not care about that, but there are a fair number who encourage me to stick with that standard. Some also move on, wanting more and more of the modern world of the internet, etc. For example, one of my early customers now simple leases computers for their business. So like an Amish-owned business may lease a building from 'English', or 'high' people, and thus use grid electricity, it is possible that that business has full internet access in their office. (I do not know one way or the other.) Some may think that I have caused that, but because many others are content with just the basic functions, I suspect that it is just revealing their own attitudes; some might say 'heart issues', if you see it that way. Current versions of many programs (and also what hardware is still being produced) have now pushed us into the Windows 10 world, which is not friendly to the established objectives at all.

'Word Processors' are not the only element of technological change in the Amish world. I dare say that most of the Amish homes in this area (excepting a couple of the strictest groups) have some sort of alternative electricity power in their homes. When my wife was growing up in her Amish home, the only option was to have a friendly neighbor who would allow an extension cord to be occasionally strung across the lawn to run a vacuum, etc.

I have only had a few Groffdale Conf. customers over the years, one in north-western Iowa, where we stayed over night while delivering & setting up the word processor for them. (We were on our way from Ohio to Nebraska, where we attended a family reunion on my side. - I'm Plaut Deetch. And yes, I know that I misspelled it. I write it that way because I get tired of PA German people 'correcting' me, to say it in High German, instead of in the language itself.)

[Josh]

There are a few Plat speakers where I live, and they call it "plat", much like English speaking people would say "platter".

We used to have 2 elderly people, but a young person just moved here whose family originally came from Bolivia, so maybe the language will have a tiny bit of revival.

[steve-in-kville]

The first word processor we owned was a Brother model, but before the option of a floppy drive was added.

I think that is what I had. Took floppy disks and I think mine had a phone port for some reason. Early version of email?