Being a borderline convert is a lonely experience; it's personal, you rarely share it with others and you feel like you're the only person who's ever gone through it.
 
And what makes Overcome interviews so magical is that, in the midst of that loneliness, someone who once stood in your shoes turns to you and gives you heart-penetrating advice.
 
This happens at the end of our high quality video interviews and it very much defines the Overcome ethos... people who have accepted Islam inspiring people who are attracted to Islam.
 
Yet, at the same time, this approach suffers from 3 shortcomings:
 
  1. The advice is broad and shallow.
  2. Each convert can only give 1 piece of advice.
  3. You watch 10 minutes of video to hear a few seconds of advice.
 
And we feel that "Crowdsourced Conversion Advice" can help us overcome all 3.
 
So what is Crowdsourced Conversion Advice?
 
Imagine being a borderline convert who is concerned that accepting Islam will be harmful in some way. So, he shares his issue with us and we notify our network of converts. He then starts receiving advice from people who converted to Islam, some of whom shared the same concern whilst others actually faced the harm itself. 
 
We moderate everything to ensure that:
 
  • The system is not abused by trolls.
  • Only converts can answer.
  • Extremist views are prohibited.
 
We publish the advice to our website in a Quora-like manner to benefit the borderline converts who visit Overcome in the future. And, of course, converts that are yet to discover Overcome can chime in when they do. 
 
It's a unique approach that aligns with our ethos and we expect it to help us overcome the 3 shortcomings faced by our model:
 
  1. It will provide advice that is both specific and deep.
  2. Converts can advise about many issues.
  3. You can get straight to the advice.
 
We currently have a young borderline convert from India who is seeking help from us. So, rather than advise her directly, we're going to try this approach out via email. 

If it does, we'll work on updating our website to make it easier for borderline converts to ask and for converts to answer. 
 
We ask Allah Most High to make it successful. Ameen. 
 
But what about the original Overcome videos?
 
Relax! Overcome videos play a very strategic role which can't be replaced, so we don't plan on stopping them. God-willing, we'll continue to produce them, though they are on pause for now. 
 
So, what's next?
 
If you're a convert, please introduce yourself to us so we can notify you whenever we have a borderline convert who can benefit from your advice. 
 
And if you know any converts, please share this post with them so that they can get involved.