This is from a discussion on Marty’s Blog about ESMB, the Ex Scientologist Message Board. I was a member of ESMB from February 2007 until April 2011. And then a member again for 30 days in October of 2013.

I had a hard time dealing with the groupthink on ESMB, to say the least. The message board, which used to be for Ex-Scientologists to tell their stories, is now something very different for most of the people who post there.

With so many people stuck in the most negative views possible on ESMB, is this a place where an Ex-Scientologist can productively evolve and grow after their experiences in Scientology?

The Oracle | July 7, 2016 at 11:32 am | Reply Alanzo, the Internet banner for that page says it is for Ex’s. It is not and has not been for some time. That is a complete fraud. There was a “group” decision there, that “Ex”, means “Anti”. And if you have not done a reverse A to E, and stated that everything you thought and did in Scientology, was stupid and unfounded, you do not qualify as an “Ex”. It is an ANTI forum. It has been for a long time. The people are misrepresenting even on the banner. They are so covert, they can’t even admit or be straight up about their own group. Even while hiding on the Internet. So, “Ex”‘s go by there and read the posts, and move on. It is a DETOUR ANT so people very specifically do NOT, “meet up there, share their experiences, and reunite”. It is a repellent.”

This was one of the best softballs I’ve ever been thrown by The Oracle, and it was a very good point: There are many different ways to view one’s experience in Scientology than just a negative or “ANTI” way.

So I took a swing at it.

It felt so good.

Alanzo | July 7, 2016 at 1:08 pm | Reply The Oracle wrote: “There was a “group” decision there, that “Ex”, means “Anti”. And if you have not done a reverse A to E, and stated that everything you thought and did in Scientology, was stupid and unfounded, you do not qualify as an “Ex”.

I have to agree with you there, Oracle.

Most of the dead-enders left stranded on ESMB are stuck inside a nasty and fixed set of attitudes about Dianetics, Scientology, and L Ron Hubbard, and just about everything else.

They are stuck in a negative feedback loop of the emotions of disgust and outrage, as they click on the various posts on ESMB and sneer at what they see there.

The overwhelming majority of ESMBers have never fully examined their time in the cult, outside of the agreements of other ESMBers, except to develop the worst possible interpretations of the life they spent as a Scientologist.

The most developed organ on an ESMBer is his bile duct. He uses it every day to splatter his cognitive distortions on to every other poster. He works it out daily by continuing to spray his nasty sauce on to everyone he can. He even bespatters people who don’t post there.

The Ex Scientologist Message Board is no longer the place it was. In early 2007-2008, it was a main place where people who had left the Church of Scientology went to tell their stories so that Scientology could be exposed on the internet. Other media at that time refused to tell the stories of Ex-Scientologists because most media was still too intimidated to report on Scientology.

I think that the ESMB of that time heavily influenced the rise of Anonymous, for example.

Today, the best use of ESMB is as a database: a vault of recorded history of a time before Anonymous, and the time before Marty and Mike left – the 2 guys who used to intimidate the media for the Church. After they blew, Dave had no one to intimidate the media any more.

And that changed the whole landscape forever.

ESMB is a place where history will never be repeated.

And that’s a good thing.

Alanzo