It rather depends on when you joined.
In the 1950's, based on the data available . . . and since the man had a credible publisher carry his book that became a major best seller, and based on the promoted credential of a PhD . . . and based on the fact of no publicity critical of the scam and there being no internet spelling out the truth . . . one should validate your judgement based on the data available and the prevailing times.
Remember that the Anderson report of the Melbourne Inquiry was not published till 1965.
It is in hindsight of all the communication about the truth of the scam and of Hubbard's outright lying about who and what he was, that one could come to a more accurate and proper judgment of what the scam is.
The correct answer to this question then becomes, what data/information was available to you at the time of your decision and, did you make a valid decision based on the data available to you. and secondarily, did you ignore any warning signs that were perceived by you.
R
Hubbard's lying is nowhere near as bad as it's made out.
Just before I joined staff I worked with The Great Volcane's Magic Show and we were down in Martha's Vineyard at the Methodist campground. The local paper sent a couple young reporters to interview George, our beloved Great Volcane and I smiled warmly at his side as he told them a cock and bull story about his fresh return from a European tour. Just usual show biz PR copy. Hubbard was well familiar and credentialed with show biz PR tech. He was a widely published author and his poetic liscence was in good order and he was a mariner, an old salt a culture well famed for tall tales
I was then and am now interested in the truth he produced. I trained in the academy up to CLIV HGDS and there just wasn't very much garbage on the checksheets.
As a matter of fact, one of the things I was quickly impressed by was reading "Dianetics, The Original Thesis" on the HAS course. DMSMH is a hot air balloon pumped with hyperbole and wild promises but the first thing they did was to present the simple unadorned basics of Dianetics.
Think about that...
I find that impressive and I found human warmth and truthfulness to be fairly strong among my fellows...
And you are one of my favorites here Rog with a remarkable and noble background.
You were Declared eleven times and did A to E ten.
In effect you awarded Kha Khan to LRH and gave the full measure of respect to The Old Man; all ten heads off the totem stick.
Yer my kinda guy Rog, here's to ya!