Mike Rinder's Blog

Something Can Be Done About It

So Explain This CF I Keep Hearing About

By 104 Comments

A lot of people are curious about the “CF filing” that scientology obsesses over.

It is a mystery to many of the uninitiated, though certainly anyone who has been around an org knows about CF and its perpetual backlog of filing.

“Central Files” is a Hubbard invention to keep track of everyone that has ever bought a book or taken a service in a scientology organization. Each person has a file folder (or many as time goes on) that includes copies of all invoices (yes, invoices for payments are still written with colored copies to be filed in Accounts Files, Student and PC Files and Central Files), all correspondence, success stories and other records. Every org is supposed to have a team of “Letter Registrars” who stay in touch with every person in the CF to encourage them to pay more money.

The letter writing is commonly done by “all hands” or “volunteers” or the lowest level, illiterate staff who can perform no other function.

But sending out these letters, according to Hubbard, is the “key” to an org’s income. It’s all very 50’s.

And it is why you see insane, hand-written, grammatically challenged letters routinely appearing on internet forums. They slop these things out because Hubbard says its what they should do. He also says there is one statistic in an organization that is COMPLETELY under the control of the staff. They can ALWAYS write letters. So if you don’t see the “letters out” statistic going up you know they are not trying.

Here is a write up from the self-appointed king of backlogged CF filing in Clearwater. This guy rallied the troops for Tampa, Atlanta, Miami and now for Orlando.

I guess even the most dedicated KoolAid drinker tires of the endless “CF Filing” projects — so he did a write up to describe the steps needed. As you can see, they even have “CF digs” in one of the Flag buildings. Flag, the “Mecca of Techncal Perfection” actually have a dedicated space for sorting files from other orgs and they ship them in… Of course, this is because these orgs cannot scrape together the manpower needed locally to do their filing. They have virtually no local scientologists — but they are going to be “ideal” this year. Because everyone knows, a shiny new building will change everything, Field of Dreams style.

Get a kick out of reading this craziness:

Comments

  2. I posted this on Tony’s blog….but it seems to fit well here….NO SMILES WITH THESE FILES

    1) Recall a time when the hours in the day belonged totally to you
    2) Recall a time when the money you earned was your own
    3) Recall a time when you had your own room, apartment, house to yourself
    4) Recall a time when your children lived WITH you
    5) Recall a time when your family & friends could speak with you anytime they wanted to
    6) Recall a time when you didn’t have to file nonsensical files
    7) Recall a time when your deepest secrets didn’t have to be fodder for gossip & recorded
    8) Recall a time you weren’t worried someone would write a K.R. on you
    9) Recall a time you were free to come & go as you pleased
    10) Recall a time you didn’t have to fear you’d be sent to “the Hole”
    11) Recall a time you didn’t have to fear being beat up by someone
    12) Recall a time you could have finished high school & gone to college
    I could go on and on….but for those who were IN…..you already know the score….

    Reply

  3. What is even more insane is that people can spy on your PC folder. Ive seen it first hand. Ive done it. Everyone does it. All of the sudden you are left alone with all of these folders with the most person of information in it….its a totally messed up situation, akin to breaking all sorts of HIPAA laws.

    Reply

    • If anyone has ever watched the oldie movie “The Breakfast Club”….one will see the so called Saturday Detention Teacher….sitting in the file room reading the personnel files out loud to himself of another fellow teacher employee. I’ve also seen it done, things are never really a secret.

      The old statement still applies….If ONE person knows your secret….it’s no longer a secret. People can’t keep their mouths shut. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of information might be in these files, horrific events available to the eyes of anyone who has access to them. Secrets once displayed to public view might cause great harm to that person or their family and friends. Secrets that might push someone to the brink of ending their own life…..WHO would be held responsible if that should occur??

      Reply

        • WAYC…I would agree with that statement 100%….DM fears that TC or JT might “blow” taking their money & associates with them… Could it be possible that even ONE of their associates, if seeing TC leave, would follow suit? I can only imagine the ammunition against TC & TJ and others that would bring them to their knees, ruin their career etc…..

          No doubt that DM sips his Scotch with glee reading some of the material that’s been obtained. This would of course contain issues with Kirstie…….

          Reply

  4. Let me guess, no one “important” does this filing lark. It’s a mindless job for those guilted into helping the cause probably because they have no money that can be pried out of them or are of little use to the other functions that have to be fulfilled around the org. You’d have to have a low brain power to believe that filetech was a significant contributor to planetary clearing. Or maybe just have no life and content to while the hours away.

    Does anyone get disconnected for sabotage? I think if I was press ganged into it I would go on auto pilot within seconds and then daydream about how I could screw up the mess even more. My legacy would be to leave all the “semi-colons” within the files which someone would have to come in later and fix by cross referencing with the computer file. And sure as hell that won’t happen before the whole house of cards (sorry file folders) has collapsed.

    Reply

    • they’d get folks in to sort out the ashes and duplicate what they can read onto fresh paper. Then they might go to Treasury to photocopy all the invoices and cross-reference them with CF/Addresso. Then dup their success stories to file them away.

      Reply

  7. Mike Rinder, THANK YOU for this post. I have been dying for this.

    I have one, and only one, comment on this, and please everyone, know this is delivered with evil intent and ridicule toward scientology:

    HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!

    Reply

    • I hear ya. I was so glad Mike posted this. I had been scratching my head wondering what on Earth was so important about those files, totally forgetting that $camatology is stuck in the 70’s, and that they can’t ever get rid of a possible lead.

      Reply

      • They don’t have to get rid of any possible lead. Just scan everything first. Make no decisions, if its a paper, scan it. THEN, organize them on the computer by date or whatever, delete what’s not necessary or a duplicate, and shred the old paper. They can always print out any papers needed for recovering people or whatever. Look, I probably have some of this wrong but you get the general concept. Why all this paper and mestiness, (and that word is not a typo)?

        Reply

  8. This cracks me the hell up. Particularly, commendation for the ethics file if you show up to help with this ridiculousness. Another words, volunteer to file the backlog of pure crap records and we’ll create more crap records to be filed. So stupid.

    Thanks, Mike, for providing information on this very compelling process of the cult’s amazing organizational standards of operation.

    Reply

    • But, also, don’t think for one minute that “important” commendation will help you if one of your loved ones gets declared. Leah Rimini had a lot of commendations

      Reply

        • I have hundreds; one by LRH and 3 or 4 by DM. Yet I was declared without trial or even being notified and have never seen the issue, not that I care about that. I’ve seen enough of their “Justice” to know that it makes no difference.

          Reply

  9. Thanks to those who have shared their stories of interactions with CF. To a never-in like me, it’s hard to understand what people are thinking when they’re doing this fruitless, pointless nonsense.

    I would love to do a more detailed blog post on the insanity of this. If you worked on CF and would like to give me more horror stories, please reach me on the contact page of my blog at http://www.johnpcapitalist.com. Thanks!

    Reply

  10. What would happen if an Idle Morgue caught fire? Would they rescue the CF? Or, would they just let it burn…

    Reply

  11. “Flag, the “Mecca of Technical Perfection” actually have a dedicated space for sorting files from other orgs and they ship them in… Of course, this is because these orgs cannot scrape together the manpower needed locally to do their filing.”
    Wow! Evidence of the small number of current staff and local public. I never heard of Flag doing something like this and the extra cost shipping boxes. I know there is no policy stating this be done.
    I’m happy they’ve gone so off the rails 🙂

    Reply

    • I bet the entire time those volunteers are working, they are being regged to pay for the expense of shipping filing around.

      Reply

  12. [rolls eyes]
    I was puzzled by the hysterical Central Files pleas, but the answer is hard to believe. These people who are supposed to be the salvation of the entire universe are utterly incompetent at file management in the modern era. (You know, guys, it’s not a useful system if you keep a lot of outdated irrelevant data. It’s not INFORMATION.)

    I suppose it’s ultimately a good thing. All that time wasted on busy work is time not spent harassing critics and exes.

    Reply

  13. Central Files is a BIG game! Meet new friends, don your favorite pirate outfit and turn up the party music! Why be PTS handling A-J when you can have a ball doing A-Z?

    Reply

  14. The biggest suppressive group on the planet is obviously Google. They’re preventing Scientology expansion and stopping all Orgs from reaching Saint Hill size. As a result all Orgs are only Saint Hell size. The handling is to convince world leaders to ban all Internet use and get back to the golden age of letter writing with good old pen and paper. It may be tough to do at first, but like Ron says, when you’re dying from malaria, you don’t usually complain about the taste of the quinine.

    Reply

  15. Wow! I can’t believe more people don’t quit once they are asked to do this stupid, make-work project. The computer was supposed to simplify things, not doubly complicate it by having to make a hard copy and then put the info on a hard drive on the computer.That has got to be the most tedious job ever. Of course, I never audited for 4 hours straight, so what do I know? I do know that I would rather sit through the 3-D Xenu films with all the other Body Thetans than have to do CF. CF to me would soon stand for “Can’t Function.”

    Reply

    • For me it was GUILT.

      I wouldn’t join staff. SOMETHING inside ALWAYS said, “Don’t do it don’t do it don’t do it don’t do it…” There was always this SOMETHING that spoke to me – firmly. And I listened, and didn’t.

      But I would feel guilty as all hell for not joining staff. I mean here was this little group, “with their sleeves rolled up”, “working their guts out”, etc. etc while I…just…refused…to help them. You get the picture.

      So I’d volunteer. Doing CF, selling books via stress tests. Spent many a Saturday doing these. Not happily.

      Between my business and course time I didn’t get much time off and I longed for Saturday, or at least Saturday mornings, to have to myself. I always had to push myself, force myself to show up to help at these things. I REALLY didn’t want to. But guilt was stronger.

      There was no question of quitting because I was asked to volunteer. In my mind, I was already “skating” by not joining staff!

      Plus, I believed that helping out in CF and bookselling were “vital” actions. (Hangs head in shame.)

      Reply

      • From a legimate “church” perspective, volunteering is an important aspect to supporting the efforts of your “church”. However, I believe our volunteer work should represent something we are called to do or feel in our hearts we want to do. A lot of the parishioners in my church volunteer behind the scenes and others are called to be leaders, teachers, organizers etc. You should feel no shame for supporting, what you believed at the time, was supporting your church. The reason you hated doing it, in my opinion, is that the cult guilted you into believing that this is what you are suppose to do to support it. In reality, they limited your volunteer options (as a non-staffer) and created employment without pay. Today, you can be as benevolent as you desire to be and you get to choose what that looks like. Isn’t that lovely?

        Reply

        • Thank you, Teen.. I liked helping people when I could So when over the years I would refuse (repeatedly) to join staff, I considered that there was something wrong with me. That fundamentally I was selfish and uncaring, not altogether a social personality. Joining staff was the crucible for a truly social personality (was what I thought) back then. God help me if I had been a Whale with any real money – talk about being a soft touch! But though I was comfortable and could usually be depended upon to come up with a respectable amount, I had no serious money to donate, so I volunteered.

          Reply

        • Yes, thanks,, Wynski!

          I’m filled with gratitude and a kind of awe today.

          That “inner voice”, “angel over the soldier”, “common sense”, “God” – never mind what it is or what we call it, so long as we listen to it!

          Because sometimes it directs us into turbulent waters t we would otherwise avoid, but still, this voice is directing us on the right course, on the correct path, and we will get there so long as we pay attention to it, whatever “it” is.

          Hard to explain but you know what I mean.

          Reply

  16. I took a double take on first seeing Mike’s headline here, thinking “CF” alluded to the old military meaning of “cluster [email protected]”, which in a way, is completely appropriate when describing anything Scn…

    This ongoing “central files” narrative, speaks “volumes” about the rigid admin and managerial inefficiencies that are so engrained in Scn.

    Here’s an interesting stat for Thursday at 2:00 PM: how many trees died this week for your org’s CFs? Probably a good swath of the Central Coast I’d imagine!

    Reply

    • Ha Ha… from now on, in everybody’s mind, CF means “Cluster Fuck”.

      You are so right, CO$ Money Doc, and you will be fondly remembered for this.

      So put this down in your “history”, you lurkers still in scientology. They may call CF Central Files, but we all know what it really means now – CLUSTER FUCK

      Reply

  17. Result from trying to access SCN Addresso current 2018 web site from my workplace:
    Attackers might be trying to steal your information from files.addresso.scientology.net (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). (I was blocked from going to the site.)
    Search result text was:
    Secure File Upload. Your name. Org or group. Email. Choose file(s). or drag and drop files here Drop files here! (no files uploaded yet). Having trouble uploading your file? Contact the administrator here. © 2018 Church of Scientology International. All rights reserved.

    Reply

  18. I wonder what large business giant companies do with their “income” making info, do they keep it or send it to marketing companies who crunch all the big companies’ data?

    Surely the Hubbard CF Addresso upkeep could be simplified.

    When I was in the Computerized Routing Forms, it was constantly thought of how to computerize and get this info cross referenced for management purposes, but it obviously is not yet done down to the lowest sales level, and adding up automatically up the lines to the Int CF Addresso.

    I wish some ex Int CF Addresso person get interviewed by Chris Shelton or Aaron Smith-Levin about all this. And some ex INCOMM person who knows what the plans are, or are not.

    Reply

  19. Aand, once again, the Dostoyevsky quote which I think describes this the best:

    “The idea has occurred to me that if one wanted to crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most terrible of punishments so that the most ferocious murderer would shudder at it and dread it beforehand, one need only give him work of an absolutely, completely useless and irrational character”

    From ‘The House of the Dead’ written after a stint in a Siberia penal colony.

    Of course, if one were to take the claims of L Ron Hubbard at face value, the fact of having to get volunteers to organise the paperwork rather begs the question of what are OT powers good for, if anything? If some silly files is not some of the “MEST” that “OTs” are “at cause” over, what the actual heck?!?

    Reply

    • Jens, you have nailed it.

      Where are you, oh powerful OTs?

      How selfish of you not to remotely organize the central files from wherever you are. According to LRH, you should be able to accomplish this simple task from the comfort of your own armchair.

      Scientologists, you should be ASHAMED.

      Reply

  20. All this addreso computerized info would potentially be used by Scientology when calculating and presenting their public total numbers if Scientology would just open up.

    The addresso sub categories would be so revelatory to see.

    I’d love to see the year by year stat breakdowns of “International CF Addresso” in a binder.

    International CF Addresso for Scientology I think is in the HGB or the building next to the HGB, correct, anyone?

    CF Addresso, especially ex members who worked at the Int CF Addresso which I think is at the HGB or at the building next to the HGB in Hollywood, the computer data from them would be an incredible gold mine of info.

    Those with good memories and management like dissection of the sub categories of addresso by sector (orgs, missions, sea org orgs, Flag’s CF, etc) would be staggeringly good info the type that some academics would relish having, if only Scientology gave it out!

    Reply

  21. It will be “interesting”, in the Chinese curse sense of the word, to see what happens to CF’s in Europe when the GDPR kicks in a few months from now.

    Reply

    • Each request is taken as the work of a threat, will be channelled through to OSA and require individual processing and the whole thing will overwhelm the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology. Unless they change. Which they can’t.

      Couldn’t happen to a more deserving cult. I should be getting stock in popcorn wholesalers..

      Seriously, everyone who is tired of getting Co$ mail in Europe should take the time to find the form and send it in (the data controller for the Co$ in their country will be defined and available on the Web). Just once.

      Reply

      • It should also include data contained in PC / Ethics files as well as OSA’s sleazy data files and DA packs. Pretty huge! Every Euro ex should make use of it when the time comes.

        Reply

    • For those who don’t know, GDPR refers to “General Data Protection Regulation,” a European Union law specifying with great detail what data that companies (looking at you, Facebook!) or other data-compilers are allowed to compile about people, how they must protect against breaches or misuse of the data, and the rights individuals will have to find out what companies know about them, and to obtain changes or deletions. It provides for significant fines on data-collectors for failure to comply with its provisions.

      Almost needless to say, it goes far beyond the few protections available to people in the United States.

      Reply

  23. Well, at least he tried to put in some sound estimates. I’ll give him that.

    Needless to say he should at least start with evaluating a folder before reordering, as to find out if it is still needed. If e.g. a person hasn’t bought a book or service in, say, a year the folder could be deleted.

    Oh wait.

    That would be logical, not scientological.

    Reply

  24. I used to call handwritten letters from the orgs “mrph mrph” letters. Hastily written, illegible with a couple of sentences of mindless prattle, they all read like “mrph mrph mrph mrph.” Scientology communication at its best. I know of what I speak. I wrote my share as a student after course almost every night(Wed night was guaranteed). The course sups would hand out CF folders and beg us to write letters, and no one had the heart or nerve to turn them down. For me the formula was simple. I’d memorized a short all-purpose boilerplate message that I used in all my letters. And every student knew the faster you cranked’em out, the sooner you could get the hell outta there. The letters were never qualled so you could pretty much write anything.

    Reply

    • Dear “name of person who once stopped to take a personality test in the 1950’s)

      Move. Change your name, social security number, phone number, spouse, and hairstyle. We will never stop bothering you if you don’t.

      Reply

  26. The best part is that a 2+ hour volunteer receives an instant commendation to the ethics file. If I’m getting major kudos for being a warm body, something is amiss.

    Reply

  28. Wow how exciting, I’ll fly down to volunteer so that I can get that commendation sent ‘immediately’ to my ethics file.

    Reply

  29. This is a remarkable document. So pathetic, it is difficult to think about how to comment. But the line that struck me – in January 2018 he actually writes, “with the advent of computers…” as though this advent were recent. Where have they been the last 40 years? Oh wait, now I remember, they have only the 1950s tech.

    Reply

    • Definition of “advent”: “The arrival of a notable person, thing or event”.

      “Where have the been the last 40 years?”

      Thanks for the laugh, free.

      Co$ – endless material. The J & D gift that keeps on giving.

      Reply

  30. What we should do is lock all the doors of any CF activities. Give it about 10 years and then see if anything has changed. I think we all know how this is going to end…

    Reply

    • OSD, what you should do for these CF slaves is out-create / out-invite them to one of your Beach Blanket Bongo parties and no, that’s not a typo. Can you imagine how funny it would be if, say all of a SoCal org’s CF Confirms blew the filing to be on Huntington Beach for one of your famous (infamous) Beer, Bong, Band and Burger parties…too funny…all them, the next day,still stoned, in Ethics, needing to be handled…too funny! Old Surfer Dude, SoCal’s Premium SP! Well, you did say once that you never got your Golden Rod, didn’t you? Here’s how!

      Reply

      • I’ve tried!!! God knows I tried. But you do have one thing wrong. It’s not, Beach Blanket Bongo. It’s Beach Blanket Bingo.

        Reply

        • LOL. OSD, you’re adorable sometimes. Yes, of course, its “Beach Blanket Bingo”. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, I saw this movie back in the day. A very important film. It shaped my life.

          “Bongo” was my feeble attempt at a quip as it might pertain to both the income producing ventures and recreational pursuits of a certain Surfer Dude in Huntington beach.

          Reply

  31. Addresso no comprendo.

    So they maintain paper and computer files. The computer info being collected would seem to be a violation of EU rules on collecting and keeping personal information.

    The paper files are worth a lot to the mOrg. They must contain notes on how to push the pcs buttons. That info is the Regs bread and butter. Well, bread anyway, probably no butter.

    Reply

  34. Yo Dave.
    When Joy Villa bolts the paddock Your next problem will become a predicament.

    I suggest You get her onto a good regimen of Sec Checking to help her avoid pulling in more negative Pee-Are. Help her to achieve greatness Dave, only You can do it good buddy!

    Oh yea, and You better retread Grrrrade 1 and git yer problems tech tuned up. Here is the deal Dave ………… Problems have solutions (Refer to Mr big being numero uno) but predicaments have outcomes.

    (short answer to the question not asked): there is no solution to Your current problem Dave ……only the inevitable outcome of a failed cult filled with the failed lives and families of a failed belief system.

    Have a great day and lets toast to You announcing that ‘Orlando is Done’ for Big Being Numero Unos B-Day!

    Reply

  35. So you need 16-24 people working full time over the next 2-3 weeks to get Orlando done. Sure, that’s gonna happen. What a waste of life!

    Reply

  36. I hope the number of people actively opposing Scientology is becoming large enough that they are overwhelmed by a blizzard of unorganized “bad person” files.

    Reply

  37. And what will the clameroons in the new Orlando Idle mORGue do with all of these shiny new folders?

    Those that have come and gone will stay gone regardless of the quantity of forests dear Dave is willing to cut down for His glossy lie fliers.

    Those still-innies will remain hunkered so the stares of the regges and unethical officers will not spot them. Lots of low crawling organisms will remain circling the drains of life in and around the centers of idealism.

    Any ‘new meat’ will revolt as soon as they get home and check the internet.

    Joy Villa and the $cientology Pee-Are geniuses helping her rise to stardom will show the remaining population of earth the true greatness of the Total Freedom American Dream – Cult Style.

    Meanwhile back in Orlando, Dave the Dildo will assume ownership of another chunk of real estate bankrolled by the true believers and handed to Him with the smiles only found in mesmerized belief addicts.

    Yo Joy,
    Save yourself. Make a public statement! Approach Trump with the truth about R-1 visas and illegal immigration and get yourself elected by doing something to help America by removing the threat of $cientology as a tax exempt ‘fake religion’. Or ……… pull the hatch cover closed and prepare to go down with the ship. Make no mistake ….. it is going down …….with or without the pile of trash known as central files.

    Reply

    • “Approach Trump with the truth” is never gonna happen.

      Here’s the good news though:

      An article dated today, 1/29/18 from “Redstate”, a conservative political blog:

      “Don’t Be Fooled By Scientologist joy Villa’s Pro-Life Grammy Stunt – She’s A Fraud.”

      As a female firmly linked to a cult which is accused of forcing abortions, the article heaps ridicule on Villa’s hypocritical anti abortion/ pro life politics including the fetus dress at the Grammy’s.

      And this is an ultra-conservative Republican blog.

      They’re ON to her. Its already starting.

      Run, Joy, run! Can’t wait to watch the lions eat you, dear.

      Reply

  38. I used to get mad at how people could be so dense to stay stuck inside this decomposing cherch.
    Now I feel pity.They stay stuck because by now they have nowhere else to go.

    Reply

    • “They stay stuck because by now they have nowhere else to go.”

      True, for a number of them. But others DO have somewhere else to go if/when they leave the cult. Others have families, loving parents, longing for them, ready to fling open their doors and give their kids ANYTHING they need and want in order to get them back.

      So why do they stay?

      Here’s my theory, for whatever its worth, which may not be much, but here it is anyway and it applies to staff, Sea Org and public who do indeed “have somewhere to go”:

      Just about all of them by now have seen enough outnesses to know that something is seriously wrong with this organization called the Church of Scientology. The KNOW.

      But this KNOWING makes them WRONG.

      Parents, spouses, siblings, loved ones, friends – have told them, “Watch out! Look at this! LOOK at this and pay attention to this because there’s something wrong here, very wrong!

      And these still in said, “No. You’re wrong. You’re wrong and I’m right.”

      I mean, effectively, that’s what they said, correct?

      And so, they’re fucked. They can’t save themselves and leave the cult because that would make them wrong!

      Take up for a minute the viewpoint of a young person, born and bred in the cult:

      You’re a young cultie, and your PARENTS warned you , and they’re OUT, and you’ve disconnected from them. Andyou’ve SEEN things going on Iin the cult, wrong things, harmful, unfair, unproductive – you know they’re wrong…and it ties in with what your PARENTS, what Mommy and/or Daddy TOLD you, which you defied. It starts DAWNING on you that they were RIGHT They DID have your best interests at heart.

      Big problem!

      Being wrong means you have to go BACK to them with your hand out, because you’ve never had a job, paid a rent bill, paid a utility bill, have no training to earn a living…????In life experience outside the cult, you’re a young child who needs to be taught and has to stay somewhere.
      Think of how humiliating the prospect of this is for any young person with any pride!

      Think about it: you were hot shit, a Big Being, one of the Elite of Earth, the upper 10% of the 1%, and you’re getting past young adulthood and possible fast approaching middle age and horror or horrors, Mommy and Daddy were TOTALLY RIGHT after all and YOU NOW NEED THEM TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.

      Slit your throat.

      Better stay in and put up with all this horseshit than admit this!

      That’s my theory, for whatever its worth.

      Reply

  39. I was part of the ASHO CF project in the mid-1990s and before that worked in CF at one of the local orgs. While I held many hats one of them was to “find” addresses of people who were “Add Unk” as it was written on the folder, meaning Address Unknown. I remember receiving words of encouragement from seniors about turning “Add Unks” into “Addresso Okay” …. And you know what, it was people who bought a book back in like 1973, fell or fled off the Scientology radar and then 25 years later they start getting letters that state stupid crap like “hey I see you bought Dianetics back in 1973, did you ever finish it? Do you have any questions about it? Stop in for a free personality test.”

    Talk about stalking. But from the internal Scientology view there were two things going on … a) each file is worth $xxxxx money and 2) now we can save that person.

    Fast forward, I’m still trying to figure out how to get off their mailing list. The only successful thing I have seen is to get declared and end up in “dead files” or threaten to sue them, call the postmaster, or hire a lawyer to send a letter to them. Their antiquated policy on writing letters is completely wasteful and like so many other parts of their “religion” are just antiquated and end up pissing people off.

    And they spam. Like crazy. Since the advent of emails, I can’t count the amount of emails I receive in a day AND hard copy junk mail too. It’s like the “Central CF” or whatever got updated and after that I started receiving crap from orgs I’d never been to and never intended on going to. Places that were far out of my way. How does any of it make sense?

    No doubt another Miscavige brilliant idea of bombarding people with spam and thinking it equates to book sales and walk-ins.

    Reply

    • A Shadow,

      ” Fast forward, I’m still trying to figure out how to get off their mailing list. The only successful thing I have seen is to get declared and end up in “dead files” or threaten to sue them, call the postmaster, or hire a lawyer to send a letter to them. Their antiquated policy on writing letters is completely wasteful and like so many other parts of their “religion” are just antiquated and end up pissing people off. ”

      One solution which works pretty fast is to take the prepaid postage return envelope and write something back like ” If you have not yet seen the Aftermath I highly recommend it.” Include a youtube link for added effect. Or make up some copies of say Debbie Cooks e-mail message and include that.

      Emails can have attachments of Regraded Being sent to them via return mail along with all sorts of other info. It’s kinda fun because you have a direct line into the org which they will then have to cut for their own damage control. The idea is to get the cult to cut it’s own comm lines which they are expert at doing anyway!

      Have some fun with it and they will stop fast!

      Reply

  40. Look for Dan Sherman to present rare and never before seen source material on LRH’s Birthday to help get all Orgs to Ideal – the long awaited and invaluable hatting guide for all Scientologists: Ron, The Filer.

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  41. CF: The Ideal Hamster Wheel of make-work, used by every executive to keep the con going. Like giving the kids coloring crayons when there is nothing else to do.

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  42. In the age of digital era this does not make sense. Wouldn’t be simple to scan pages and make digital folders?

    A fixed idea and no product really.

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  43. Makes me wonder why a few SO staff aren’t simply assigned to the project. Seems that could get it done in short time. Did Blubbard demand this work be done by volunteers instead? Well, if the only payback is getting a commendation there is little motivation. You’d think someone could see change is needed. But maybe real staff are focused on making money and updating CF doesn’t do that? All in all, for a group that has the technology to save the planet shouldn’t updating files be a breeze?

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  44. Mike – do these folders include personal financial information such as credit card numbers, copies of checks used and the like? Do they also include DOBs and/or SSN numbers?

    Protected PII (Personally Identifiable Information) laws exist to protect information such as what they state in the above letter as well as some items I suspect are included.

    (SSN not included- as SSN alone requires protection.) The government has a 3 inclusion rule meaning, 3 items collected and stored from multiple types specified makes it required PII protected info. (Not that I think it would inhibit their actions without much gov intervention/time consuming lawsuits.)

    Curious if you know what type of info besides what is specified in the letter above is included in an individual CF folder?

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  45. It’s just a religious ritual.

    Somehow I never did much CF filing. Maybe because I was on staff? My ritual labor was the bookstocks count. Every so often Bridge would want the Org to do a physical bookstock inventory.

    This was made worse by Bridge overstocking the Org with books. Basically, if you sold one Dianetics book they would send you ten based on the idea that you should be “upstat” and sell more books that you did last week (I assume). Anyway, 20 or so years of Bridge inflating their stats by overstocking the org left us with a large room full of new and old books, dusty, musty, disorganized books that had to be counted individually.

    I’d say the CF is the most inefficient activity ever and the bookstocks count second.

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  46. It’s time for me to ‘fess up’. Early last year, I signed up for a couple of Scientology online courses. I needed to see for myself, some of the ideological theory behind this organization…and I was curious. Needless to say, I didn’t last long. I just couldn’t get past Tone Levels lower than “dead”. Nor was I going to walk up to complete strangers and ask them questions so I could determine THEIR tone. Anyway…

    Oohh….do I have a CF now?

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    • Yes, you have a CF now. You bought something so you’re in CF now. Great that you were curious and had the guts to do this, Ohio. Great that you needed to “see for yourself”. Just saying.

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  47. Keep them mentally occupied with busy work around other like-minded individuals, giving them a sense of purpose for even the most mundane activities, and they are less likely to question someone’s commands or ponder their own circumstances in life, thus keeping them trapped in their psychological prison.

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  48. I’ve always been amused by the Central Files follies. I’ve assumed that they do all this because their computer systems are so scrambled that they don’t have central electronic records of everyone. But from the memo, it sounds like “Addresso” contains all the information about people over time, and it appears that this information may be free of the oceans of duplicate folders that they keep. So if they have a workable computer system, that makes keeping paper files in addition to the computer utterly ludicrous.

    It thus appears that the only reason that they keep CF anymore is that Hubbard said that you have to have certain stats including “Files sent to CF” and if they stopped keeping the paper folders they wouldn’t be able to report their stats, And stats thus would go down. So instead of spending all that time forwarding the organization, they chase meaningless stats.

    Is there anyone out there who can give a little more perspective on this Addresso system and whether it does anything useful? Could it replace Central Files in a sanely run business?

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    • ” It thus appears that the only reason that they keep CF anymore is that Hubbard said that you have to have certain stats including “Files sent to CF” and if they stopped keeping the paper folders they wouldn’t be able to report their stats…”

      John P,
      I think it is also used to sample the level of dedication of the remaining clams. A no show or no interest equates to disaffected; whining and sniveling about time equates to Pee Tee Ess Ness which equates to Ethics call in; reluctant but compliant indicates that leverage is working; enthusiastic participation can mean two things …………. massive kool aide consumer or parent with child in See Orge.

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  49. Just to undercut the (sleep inducing) step by step process of getting CF up and running, here’s what I experienced back in the day. I was on staff at a mid sized mission and was supervising a crew of low level ‘letter regges’. At the time, I was new on staff and gung-ho. I really believed that by increasing the number of letters out would increase the number of people coming into the mission. I was convinced that these letters would rekindle people’s desire to make spiritual progress using the only workable technology on the planet, scientology. Someone asked me about one of the names that was in CF that they knew had moved from that address. I told them to just mail it anyway because if someone else opened it then surely they would be inspired to ‘reach’ for scientology. This was the mindset I had and I’m sure every ex here has had at one time or another. Embarrassing to say the least.

    I had made the assumption that scientology was 100% workable 100% of the time on 100% of the population. Wrong. Not even close.

    I actually got into scientology watching and following critic’s blogs as a result of Central Files. After being happily away for more than a quarter century, I was found by the cult and suddenly I was being deluged by mailings from at least a dozen orgs and missions. Desperate to find a way to stem the flow of glossy mailings and do my part to save small forests from being clearcut I turned to the internet to see what was going on with the cult and try to find a way off the mailing lists. I tried several methods, even going as far as contacting my local postmaster but none worked except for one.

    1) Save all your mailings.
    2) Use the occasional postage paid business reply envelopes and stuff all of their promo pieces into them and mail them back free of charge.
    3) Make sure that you include a long list of friendly questions written in a bold color to fill any blank space on the promo or survey. “Where’s Shelly?” “How is Heber doing these days?” “When is the last time you talked to your parents?” “Do you know where your passport is?” “How’s your pay?” “Do you get enough to eat?” “Are you happy?” etc. etc.

    The downside of using this method is that you no longer get these mailings and the opportunity to communicate for free using step 3. The upside is maybe you have reached someone or at least planted a small seed of doubt that may one day sprout. Also you keep folks at the Post Office employed and do your part in saving a tree and therefore help curb global warming just a small bit.

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  51. COMPLETE and utter insanity.

    Also, they have duplicate “addresso” files of persons because El Con Tubbolard with all his running of galactic empires experience to draw from never heard of having a Compound Primary Key for each record in database design…

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    • Using a unique record ID in the database makes it EASIER to have duplicate records, not harder. All it accomplishes is an easier way to change the associated name or data. Been there, making databases, for a few decades.

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      • Jere reread what I said. I’m NOT talking about a auto generated unique record ID. A Compound Primary Key is derived from the fields of EACH individual record and PREVENTS duplicative data in two or more columns

        Take some more classes

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