In February of this year, I created a spreadsheet which has come to be called Peoples Temple Forums and Accounts. The document is a continuously-updated catalog of (1) online groups/forums centered around the Temple and (2) individual social media accounts dedicated to discussing Temple topics.
Apart from my feelings and intuitions, there’s currently no codified rubric of any sort that I’m using to decide what to include and what not to include. For instance, while most of the Instagram accounts are specifically dedicated to the Temple, there are a few accounts belonging to individuals who simply tend to post a lot about the Temple or Temple subjects.
Perhaps more notable than what I did include is what I didn’t include.
Despite the fact that YouTube accounts like “Jim Jones And the Peoples Temple” (@jimjonesandthepeoplestempl580) and even the channel affiliated with this site, “Jonestown Institute” (@jonestowninstitute4985), host great content related to the Temple, my general feelings are twofold:
- YouTube doesn’t really function like a traditional social media site or focused, online discussion group
- Most/all of the content one would find on channels like these is already catalogued on different parts of this site (see Film & Documentaries and Online Resources)
Consequently, there are no YouTube accounts listed on the spreadsheet.
TikTok is also conspicuously not represented for the simple reason that all of my intuitions completely break down when attempting to think about how to approach it. If, as with Instagram, I’m okay with including personal accounts that merely discuss Temple topics, cataloguing TikTok accounts could potentially become my full-time job. For that reason, I’m currently holding off on TikTok.
In addition to providing a list of forums and accounts and their associated links, for each entry I’ve also included fields for:
- How many members/followers each forum/account has
- Whether the forum/account is public or private
- Whether the forum/account is searchable or hidden
- When the forum/account was created
- Date of last activity
- The overall perceived earnestness of contributors (Low, Medium, High)
- The overall accuracy of information provided (Low, Medium, High)
- The forum’s/account’s respect for Ideas (Low, Medium, High)
- The forum’s/account’s respect for Contributors (Low, Medium, High)
- Date of last survey (so far, the first week of every month)
Being less than a year into the project—and not having a Library Sciences degree—Peoples Temple Forums and Accounts is definitely still very much a work in progress. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas on how to improve things, please feel free to get in touch with the Institute or with me directly.
(Joel Roston is the Music Editor for the jonestown report. His other articles in this edition are The Noise of the Death Tape, an interview with Death Potion, and Second Sisters Album Presents Gentle Apocalypse. A collection of his writings is here. He can be reached through his website.)