Hiya

[astra]

Howdy there Nazl. Actually, I'm a bit of a newbie myself, and so rather than make another introduction thread, I thought I'd drop a line here.

Like you, I'm intrigued by the entire Scientology drama as it were; I find myself drawn to it in a curiously academic way, as well as an emotionally frustrated and distraught one. I have been showing up to protests from Feb 10th forward, and will continue to do so.

While you describe yourself as a hacker, I think it might be a service to you and others to point out to those who are not in the computer-lingo know that 'hacking' is actually a term that, beyond media hyping, exists long before the internet in reference to a style of engineering, as opposed to 'hacking' someone's computer or necessarily doing damage. Hacking, to a hacker, is a form of engineering that manifests in reverse engineering and/or dirty solutions composed of pre-existing materials. Therefore, hackers are often people who describes themselves so from their spirited and almost McGiver like engineering from the deconstruction of materials around them. I don't know if that made any sense to anyone but me, but this has long been my understanding of the word 'hacker' in the field of computer science, but please correct me if I am wrong in assuming you meant this application of the term.

Right. So, as I was saying, Scientology has been intriguing for a very long time, and I often have long discussions with my friend on the matter. I decided to join the ESK forums to have an opportunity to listen and discuss more on the subject, and hopefully have some opportunities to give some positive feedback and get involved indirectly as well. So... hi!

And for that matter, I second on the thanking the wonderful admins on this site for standing up and speaking out. And especially for putting together and running this site, because I know how much trouble that must be, with almost no direct compensation in return. But I believe that it is, and will continue, to make a difference, in that it provides probably the most real, vivid, human perspective onthe inside, which is lacking from the sometimes sharp, snide (but understandably so) objective analysis of an outsider provided by say, xenu.net. Which is all just to say; you have your niche and you fill it well!