When you first found ESMB, how did you explore it?

[Axiom142]

Are they?

Who?

Who's speaking for them?

As if you didn't know!

Ax

 

[Free to shine]

But when someone is fresh out of the cult (or having doubts), do they find those pages and read them, or do they just sit here refreshing 'most recent'?

From a pragmatic standpoint, if they refresh 'most recent', it makes it very important that all of us post, post frequently, and post quality content. Not doing so could actually be a failure to save a life.

Now that's a mind-trip.

But a properly run archive could relieve us of that responsibility. A good step would actually be to have a little message at the top of the site that says 'To read some of the best classic ESMB discussions, click here'.

Edit - I really don't mean this as a criticism. I see your site as one of the most valuable tools the critic community at large has for saving people. I've read far more stories of people reading ESMB and then blowing than I've read of people seeing anon protests and blowing. I recognize just what a remarkable and invaluable job you perform; and I see why a bunch of ex-members will be inherently more sympathetic and informed when read by someone questioning the cult. I just want to make sure we're making the most of your incredible resource.

I started by reading the Personal Stories section, and the other story sections and graduated to Today's Posts. Though as Paul said, there were a lot less threads then!

I think your suggestion is a good one, with the link through to the exsc.net site. I haven't had much time to add data there recently, though I will continue at some point, and I am sure Emma would welcome help from others too.

 

[Boojuum]

It was the stories

It was neat to see people I knew from the old days. I used the search engine quite a bit. Reading first hand stories about LRH has been great. I love reading about all the stupid things we did while on post. It's been a very healthy thing. It looks like a lot of us are still trying to sort out what we did and why. It's healthy to see that there's a lot of people out there that feel just like I did and do.

 

[Terril park]

"When you first found ESMB, how did you explore it?"

Much like a horny Viking breaking down the front door of a sorority house on a rampage for something to plunder.

LOL!!!

Such a nice change from beliefnet where you had to timidly knock on the door and ask what rules you were allowed to post by that week.

 

[Alanzo]

LOL!!!

Such a nice change from beliefnet where you had to timidly knock on the door and ask what rules you were allowed to post by that week.

Yes, it was quite a relief.

I might have gone overboard.

I don't know.

I'm still trying to figure that out....

 

[HappyGirl]

Happygirl, how long were you here before you registered? You mention that conversations you yourself were involved in had a priority; did you lurk much before you dove in?

I lurked for maybe 3 or 4 days before I had to jump in! I don't give "priority" to the threads I have replied to as much as I just like to keep up with my communications and respond if necessary, such as to this question you asked me that I am now answering. It has also happened that I lost track and forgotten I replied until weeks later.

"When you first found ESMB, how did you explore it?"

Much like a horny Viking breaking down the front door of a sorority house on a rampage for something to plunder.

Hahahaha!

...I'd never seen a message board before, so I had no idea what it even was.

Me too.

But when someone is fresh out of the cult (or having doubts), do they find those pages and read them, or do they just sit here refreshing 'most recent'?

From a pragmatic standpoint, if they refresh 'most recent', it makes it very important that all of us post, post frequently, and post quality content. Not doing so could actually be a failure to save a life.

Now that's a mind-trip.

I think people find what they need. I was brand new to this kind of forum and I stumbled around and found what I wanted.

The biggest surprise was that it appeared that the "best" Scientologists had left the church and were all here on ESMB.

Yes, that struck me, too!

I started posting almost immediately. I fell in love with Alanzo. Then I fell in love with Grundy. Then I fell in love with Zinj. And Paul. And Giuseppe. I became a full blown ESMB slut. I fell for many of the girls as well.

I love you too, GT!

What was the question?

Hahahaha!

 

[grundy]

and I love you too GT!!

 

[Megalomaniac]

When I first came here I checked the “new intro” and “my story” categories the most. After a while I started just clicking on “Today’s posts” to see what was going on, and that remains my main ESMB action. When I see a “newbie” or “one star” rated poster I often click on their profile to see if they have written up their story. Every once in a while I remind myself to click on “my replies” to see if anyone responded to any of my replies. I eventually discovered “subscribing” and subscribed to the threads that I refer to often (for example, I email the videos on the “inspirational” thread to my friends and co-workers) because I forget what they were unless I keep some kind of record of them, and I use subscribing in that matter (which may not be the most efficient way, but the only one I’ve come up with so far). I have yet to figure out how to find threads that no long appear in “Today’s Posts” but are only a few days old. If I have replied to them, I can find them through “my replies,” but if I haven’t, they become lost, as I don’t know how to search for posts that are older than “today.” I have tried to use the “search” link a couple of times, but either I’m doing it wrong or it never finds anything. I have perused the older threads sometimes, and found some of interest, particularly Dart’s.

I also go to the member list and click on certain members whose posts I enjoy and see what they have posted recently.

If anyone has any tips on how to use ESMB more efficiently, I would love to hear them.

I think people find what they need. I was brand new to this kind of forum and I stumbled around and found what I wanted.

Yup, what Happy Girl said. The stories are the best. I think ESMB doesn't need too much improvement. Anyone checking it out should find something interesting right away, and by a bit of stumbling should get to what they want. If there was some automatic way of listing the most viewed or highest rated, that would be good. But if it requires someone to continually judge and update lists, then I think we'll just be burning out Emma or some other poor soul.

HG yes man, mac

 

[Night Owl]

"When you first found ESMB, how did you explore it?"

Much like a horny Viking breaking down the front door of a sorority house on a rampage for something to plunder.

oh shit....me too...that's just how it was. no, really it was only it was a fraternity house for me.

 

[xseaorguk]

How did I explore ESMB?

I actually found it all a bit confusing in the beginning on how to work the board, but that may be just me.
Took a while to figure out how I would get what I was looking for.
As most other people have said I was mainly interested in peoples stories and still look most days to see of any new members have joined.
After an initial period of putting my 2 cents in on subjects, and then getting reminded that it had all been discussed before in detail I became interested in certain posters from the very early period of $cientology, in the 60's and on the ship. People who had experienced Hubbard personally.
Then I was also hoping to find people who were on staff with me at the same time, and shared dormitories etc, only to find that nobody remembered me....sob..sob (but I rememberd them.!!)
So much for the 'tech' improving your memory....lol
I was interested what had become of the Org where I was, and what about the people working there.
Were they still in or out?

A week ago I started chatting with somebody on here from my time on staff who actually remembered me, yippeee.....and we are still talking about old Sea Org times and other people we knew.
It is funny what you start to remember!

Now I just check 'todays posts' to se if something catches my eye, skip over any Freezone stuff.....erhummmmm.... and chime in accordingly trying not to make too many spelling mistakes.

This board has given me so much background information on the Cult and the early days of how it all began.
Thanks especially to all those posters and may you live long lives to make many more postings.

 

[michaelangelo]

I think I was just doodling on google and came across this forum. I had been out of Scientology for about 23 years and really had no interest in it. Though I did wonder from time to time about what happenned to old friends. It took a little while to see how the forum worked. What interested me mostly was finding people I knew. But nobody had put there names on it seemed apart from a couple which I thought was a bit weird and annoying as how was I supposed to find people who had become anonymous?. I put my name on at first and then removed it later. I have managed to find a few people I knew from the S O days. I've found that the site has become a bit addictive but it has had a healing effect on me.When I didn't realise I needed healing. Have also found some interesting article and tales.

 

[feline]

I think I was just doodling on google and came across this forum. I had been out of Scientology for about 23 years and really had no interest in it. Though I did wonder from time to time about what happenned to old friends. It took a little while to see how the forum worked. What interested me mostly was finding people I knew. But nobody had put there names on it seemed apart from a couple which I thought was a bit weird and annoying as how was I supposed to find people who had become anonymous?. I put my name on at first and then removed it later. I have managed to find a few people I knew from the S O days. I've found that the site has become a bit addictive but it has had a healing effect on me.When I didn't realise I needed healing. Have also found some interesting article and tales.

I had a similar experience, Michaelangelo. Had no idea that I needed healing. Got it anyway.

Have you found the ExSO site yet? It is moderated by Mick Wenlock and is open only to ExSO folks. You might find that a good way to reconnect with people also.

 

[michaelangelo]

Reload this Page When you first found ESMB, how did you explore it?

Thanks for the info re the exso site. I may look it up. By the way, I like your cat.

 

[GreyLensman]

ESMB is an invaluable resource for helping people leave the cult. Many of you, when you began having doubts, found this forum and it helped you in ways no other resource could have.

When you found it, did you read active threads? Did you browse past threads? If you did, what criteria did you use for selecting threads to read? The thread rating? The number of posts? Or simply the thread topics?

Getting a grasp on this could seriously help people to better utilized this resource and further turn the tide in getting people to question Hubbard.

On the SomethingAwful forums, where I hail from, we have a 'comedy goldmine' where only the best threads get archived. There's a thread archive, which you have to pay extra to access, but the best, funniest, most productive threads are kept in the comedy goldmine where non-members can read it, both to entertain and as a 'hook' to get people to register.

Could there be a 'goldmine' here, where the most helpful threads are cataloged? It seems like most people who are just starting to doubt are encouraged to read a lot of essays and books, but forum dialogs can be more productive, more easily perused and so on.

So yeah. I'm curious how you found this site, what you read when you first did, and, if the 'goldmine' idea is popular with the site admins, it'd be awesome to post links to threads you'd like to see archived here.

I found ExScientologyKids first, then ESMB. Then Staff War Stories, and Leaving stories. I read those for several days before registering. Those to me resonate, but then it was shared experience.

 

[Zinjifar]

When Emma first announced ESMB on ARS there was a bit of a flap because it was seen as a 'competing' forum to OCMB which seemed like a silly kind of feud. Eventually I stopped in to check it out and got hooked.

Zinj

 

[Aerial]

When Emma first announced ESMB on ARS there was a bit of a flap because it was seen as a 'competing' forum to OCMB which seemed like a silly kind of feud. Eventually I stopped in to check it out and got hooked.

Zinj

Interesting, I didn't know about that history. I've never read anything negative about ESMB on OCMB. What ill feeling there may have been back then seems to be long over as I first came here ages ago because of a link from OCMB.

I like OCMB but I don't lurk there as much as I use to. I see both boards serving a different purpose and this place suits me better.

I just like it here.

 

[RogerB]

Good Call Consensus!

But when someone is fresh out of the cult (or having doubts), do they find those pages and read them, or do they just sit here refreshing 'most recent'?

From a pragmatic standpoint, if they refresh 'most recent', it makes it very important that all of us post, post frequently, and post quality content. Not doing so could actually be a failure to save a life.

Now that's a mind-trip.

But a properly run archive could relieve us of that responsibility. A good step would actually be to have a little message at the top of the site that says 'To read some of the best classic ESMB discussions, click here'.

Edit - I really don't mean this as a criticism. I see your site as one of the most valuable tools the critic community at large has for saving people. I've read far more stories of people reading ESMB and then blowing than I've read of people seeing anon protests and blowing. I recognize just what a remarkable and invaluable job you perform; and I see why a bunch of ex-members will be inherently more sympathetic and informed when read by someone questioning the cult. I just want to make sure we're making the most of your incredible resource.

Sensible questions these.

I was referred to ESMB by a friend who is an ex who occasionally sends me snippets of goings on. I asked where he got his jollies from.

When I first arrived I was on the Home Page listing the Discussion Topics. I scanned the spectrum of topics to see what was being discussed, then picked a couple that interested me to get a sense of how they were being discussed. In other words, I was doing an eval as to if this a site/board that was worth spending time on.

Boy, I found it sure was! Not only are the topics well chosen, but by and large (mainly largely) the discussion is lucid and helpful. I observed most folks were really trying to either be helped, being helpful, were getting real help and valuable info, or at least being friendly and supportive.

I joined as a registered member the next day so I could contribute.

This is a valuable scenario. As the Board stands, it will perform a valuable service to ex's and doubtful enquires alike.

I just did another look to eval from the perspective of what if anything might/could be improved to assist new viewer ex Scn and also those enquiring into Scn.

I cannot see any improvement that can be made.

Rog

 

[Wisened One]

I first joined ESMB in 2007, yet I don't remember how. I think it was a link I saw from OCMB. We had found OCMB in 2004/2005 when me and hubby *left* due to watching the OT Panel vids, Astra's story, etc.

So I registered and even posted just a few neutral posts, as I was still too scared. (Don't think I posted too much even over at OCMB, either!).

Then a few years went by...and something prompted me to look at ESMB again...tried using my login info..and to my surprise it still worked!

Well, I was still scared shitless to post (and of OSA/being declared, etc. ). YET, I was DYIN' for.....release and relief by sharing my own story of how we left staff. For a while, I kept going back and forth, not wanting to share it, cuz I was convinced everyone would see me as a victim, that I didn't handle the tech right in the 1st place,to even have such a story to tell, ...blablablaaaaa! but then I just....did it! lol.

Then I got such nice responses to it! Nobody yelled at me or made me feel stupid and victimy or anything!

Then, once I started feeling more comfortable here and saw that I wasn't being stalked or anything, I looked in Reconnecting with old friends Thread first looking for Miami people.

Nada.

Then, I get up the guts to ask if anyone knew of Miami Org, etc. Nobody answered it!!

So then I moved onto Staff War Stories, read, laughed, cried, felt anger, relief with them, etc.

Wow, I wasn't alone!

Started posting like gangbusters..THEN the BEST part was making new friends here, and ESPECIALLY finding some friends that I worked with as Staff!!!

The rest is history, as evidenced by my post count.

 

[byte301]

I stumbled across ESMB on the net while learning what the cult was really all about.

I was terrified that I wouldn't be allowed to get in by answering a question wrong or something since I'd been out of the cult for so long.

I lurked for a few days and read the stories first hoping to find someone I knew while I was in. I have yet to find any old friends. Maybe they hate me and don't want to talk to me or maybe the group I came from was just so hardcore they are all still in. It's okay though. I've made new friends.

It seems like 10 years ago that I registered here when it's only been 8 months or so.

Feels just like home to me.

 

[SweetnessandLight]

I'm bumping this old thread, because I think in light of the upcoming changes we at ESMB are going to experience, some of the thoughts shared might be useful.