Internet Recruitment

[secretiveoldfag]

I wondered if we underestimate the danger from Internet advertising. This came from a French site.

Jeff protests against Scientology in Paris. He has done so for five years. He is now astonished to find that they are very active on the Web, that they advertise on Facebook. He wonders how this is allowed to happen.

But nothing in French law prevents Scientologists from advertising on the Web. Their use of the internet is thought to be very astute. 'The problem, for Scientology, as for other similar groups, is how to make the first contact with potential clients. The Internet solves this problem. It has replaced pavement stands and is much more effective', said François Belanger, an advocate.

The self-styled Church of Scientology denies that it recruits on-line. "Our presence on the Internet is not aimed at recruitment', explained Francine Bielawski, spokesman of the organisation. We simply wish to explain better the reality of Scientology and to polish up an image which has been tarnished by the media and those who attack us.'

Nevertheless several Scientology sites offer viewers the opportunity to fill in an on-line personality test, whose results serve as the basis for personal development within the cult. That is slightly more than a mere question of image.

How effective is this [very expensive] campaign?

[Nicole]

If you are going in Germany to a Scientology - Org Homepage you can make there a personality test online too. The first what they want to know is your personal data.

IMO they want to get your personal data, for advertising, for evaluation and they want to recruit. I think this is very ineffective in Germany. The most people know about Scientology. I am not sure about other countries.

I don't know, if the complete campaign is ineffective. People often believe what they read and see. But in Germany it is often very bad made.

I saw Scientolgist in Forums. They gave answer to all questions of life and links to Scientology sites (and you didn't see immediately that it was a Scientology site). IMO this is a bigger problem. But there are very often Anons and they explain what the Scientologist are doing there.

[Royal Prince Xenu]

If you are going in Germany to a Scientology - Org Homepage you can make there a personality test online too. The first what they want to know is your personal data.

IMO they want to get your personal data, for advertising, for evaluation and they want to recruit. I think this is very ineffective in Germany. The most people know about Scientology. I am not sure about other countries.

I don't know, if the complete campaign is ineffective. People often believe what they read and see. But in Germany it is often very bad made.

I saw Scientolgist in Forums. They gave answer to all questions of life and links to Scientology sites (and you didn't see immediately that it was a Scientology site). IMO this is a bigger problem. But there are very often Anons and they explain what the Scientologist are doing there.

Yes, the much-maligned OCA is used on the 'net as a recruitment device. You can sit there and answer all the questions, but to get the results you have to supply, at the very least, an email address.

Of course, this practice is not unique to Scn, and many other retailers and so-called "free" sites encourage you to fill out IQ tests for interest or use some other hook, and then require your cell phone number to get the results via what can be a very costly SMS.

On the LooseChange (3) forum which is about the events of 911, I have noticed Scn banners popping up all over the site (it's a free site, so the mods have no control over the advertising material that appears) and the last one I saw invited people to find out why Scn was the most popular and fastest growing religion in the world today--I guess if they recruited one person last year and two people this year that would make it a growth rate of 200%: Lies, damned lies, and statistics!

[GreyWolf]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics!

Yup. Figures don't lie, but liars figure.

[Type4_PTS]

How effective is this [very expensive] campaign?

Internet recruitment campaigns don't have to be expensive. They're using www.craigslist.com over here in the U.S. to recruit which I believe is completely free for the types of ads they are running.

[secretiveoldfag]

Have we run any craigslist cleaning operations recently? The last one was fun.

I wasn't thinking so much about free ads but the others: 'Who Are You? You are not your name, the clothes that you wear, the food you eat, the beer you drank last night..." You see, people remember them. Even of they don't have a clue what they mean.

If I had a lot of spare cash I'd run my own adverts. Like the butcher I knew who got tired of reading fundamentalist adverts saying: THERE IS HOPE... So he ran his own with identical graphics saying, THERE IS HOPE... OF A BETTER SAUSAGE.

Opened again to say: does anyone else think there is a discrepancy here between Who Are You? and the videos saying, Meet This bright young person, Scientologist. They are nothing but their names, the clothes they wear, the horses they ride, the cars they own, their achievements in the MEST universe (did I get that right?)

[namaste]

Their use of the internet is thought to be very astute.

By who? The OSA clowns themselves?

[secretiveoldfag]

By who? The OSA clowns themselves?

I translated what was posted. I imagine the comment was made by François Belanger, an advocate, of whom I know nothing. Being an advocate doesn't make a man sensible but it seems to make him worth quoting.

I don't think he had anything to back it up, if that's what you mean. So I wondered how successful Internet advertising is for the alleged cult.

[namaste]

I translated what was posted. I imagine the comment was made by François Belanger, an advocate, of whom I know nothing. Being an advocate doesn't make a man sensible but it seems to make him worth quoting.

I don't think he had anything to back it up, if that's what you mean. So I wondered how successful Internet advertising is for the alleged cult.

No, I wasn't questioning you. I understand your posting and I thank you for it.
I just kind of threw that out there. It caught my attention because I had read a similar statement in a book at my library even before I became anti-COS -- something about how some "tech-savy" churchies had spammed ARS. The more I learned about the current COS and about the internet the more I realized how idiotic that mission actually was. Not tech-savy at all. I get confused about where some people get the idea that the COS is tech-savy. Crikey (my new word I picked up from the ozzies ), the internet has come along and bitch-slapped the COS practically into non-existence and they have mishandled it entirely, as usual.

Funny that LRH didn't see the internet coming just around the corner with his superior knowledge of advanced intergalactic civilizations and all.

The catch 22 for them is that they can't really have too many people train up to how to use the internet without them finding out things that they aren't supposed to find out.

I know that you were not the one who made the statement, sof.