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Watching alt.religion.scientology in 1993 was very much like ogling a road accident. It was so weird how the adherents would attack the people that were leaking their church secrets - they literally had a playbook to follow - I guess there just modern public relations now.

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Speaking of leaking secrets, Operation Clambake[1] was perhaps the most formative early-internet website I visited in my youth. Examining secrets and mysteries of another religion was crucial to turning that lens inward and examining my own religious upbringing and eventual atheism.

I don't think it's controversial to state that early internet had the same effect on many others as well.

1. https://www.xenu.net/

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