This page maintained by
David Gerard.
Victoria University of Technology, in sunny Melbourne, Australia, is where
I had the account I was using when I started on my merry path of
criticising Scientology on the Internet. Unfortunately, VUT is run by
jerks. Ask the students or
staff. Indeed, they act very like they've been swallowing Hubbard
Management Tech. (I am not implying that they have; they run the place that
badly, however.)
I haven't got everything here, and it certainly isn't strung together
as coherently as it might be. But you can start on the following:
In which I announce the first signs of the letters from da Ho'. Spit,
curse.
A response to my first Ho'-note (paraphrased from memory), to inform Info
Tech that Helena Kobrin is blowing smoke. (Recipient's name deleted.)
A paper letter from me to Info Tech, detailing every way to get in touch
with me at the time. This was handed to them at the meeting, along
with about a hundred pages of Web printouts.
A post containing a letter to my postmaster from Scientology lawyer Helena Kobrin. This
complaint got my account locked for a day.
[That locking of my account, by the way, was what got me pissed-off enough
to make CoS-chasing my main hobby. So Helena can take responsibility for
this Web page, the Melbourne pickets, up to thirty posts a week since that
time ...]
My long explanatory tale after the second time my
gerdw@cougar.vut.edu.au account was locked, in November
1995. (If you have an archived copy of this with the header intact, please
let me know.)
Memo-pattycake with Ian Rae
After a meeting with Uni administration (see above entry), myself and the SRC
engaged in this amusing game with Professor Ian Rae (then one of the Deputy
Vice-Chancellors) and the University administration. The aim being to get the
account unlocked with the minimum of fuss or loss of face.
- Sucky letter from me to Ian Rae,
asking nicely for account back;
- Memo from Ian Rae to me, saying he wants more information [haven't
found this one];
- Blazing letter from Roberta Picton (SRC President) to Ian Rae, saying it
is highly inappropriate for him to ask for "private account details",
and to take us at our word or have a shitfight [haven't found this
one];
- Memo from Ian Rae to Roberta Picton;
- Memo from me to Ian Rae giving details
of my Suburbia account;
- Memo from Ian Rae to me, restoring
access to gerdw@cougar.vut.edu.au.
Announcement of word from on high that my
account would indeed be unlocked.
(For the curious: 'finger' didn't reveal anything potentially libelous. In
fact, VUT's firewall refuses outside 'finger' connections ... not to
mention 'telnet' and 'ftp' ... damned nuisance sometimes. The 'politics'
referred to here was Suburbia
leaving APANA in late 1995.)
The account was finally unlocked on January 2nd 1996, and life continued more
or less as normal.
Mid-1997: I finally lost all VUT access, after a
complaint from the CoS which was in fact completely spurious, but which
served to bring to VUT's attention that I had had no official position to
justify an account there for about a year at that stage ... and volunteer SRC
helper and hanger-on didn't count for this purpose. Ah well :-)
[Me and Scientology] [Personal
encounters with Scientology]