The State of UFO Research on ATS

Our UFO credibility rating is dropping like a lead brick.
It seems that the current level of UFO investigation here on ATS has bottomed out with not much more going on in these halls than members finding YT videos and reporting them in this forum. Over and over and over.
And one after another these threads are jettisoned to the hoax bin.

If we are to strive as a community with serious interests in UFOlogy, it might behoove us to do a little more research, do a little more logical contemplation on just what the heck we are witnessing in our skies rather than just regurgitating lame ass videos from around the internet.

Shouldn't this be in the "Rant" forum?

BE the Change you seek.



Seriously, though - I think there may be an influx of noobs, especially with the Facebook sign-up app thingy. I think gentle guidance will help, and it may be a constant need now.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Thing is If I saw a UFO and filmed it I would put it on you tube because more people can see it.
Then I would post it on ATS.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

The subject of ufo is probably just getting a little old in the tooth. I used to have a lot of enthusiasm for the subject but after 10 years of the same old stories being rehashed and absolutely no evidence of any worth I guess it's just getting a little Boring..

Shame too..

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire

Our UFO credibility rating is dropping like a lead brick.
It seems that the current level of UFO investigation here on ATS has bottomed out with not much more going on in these halls than members finding YT videos and reporting them in this forum. Over and over and over.
And one after another these threads are jettisoned to the hoax bin.

If we are to strive as a community with serious interests in UFOlogy, it might behoove us to do a little more research, do a little more logical contemplation on just what the heck we are witnessing in our skies rather than just regurgitating lame ass videos from around the internet.

I don't even bother to open the YT video reports; they're always debunked as CGI.

My best source for new sightings is the UFO Reporting Center. The guy who runs it makes a weekly report on C2C. He's getting hundreds of reports a week and many are multiple witness sightings from multiple locations.

Part of the problem seems to be that none of the media outlets report on sightings

Double post

a reply to: boymonkey74

As I hope you would Boy, At least then you could comment from first hand experience. I am sure that members would bennifet from such a sighting. But second and third hand pickups from YT are watering down the issue.

a reply to: raedar

Almost Raedar. I almost posted it there but felt that I wanted to express my exasperation here in the UFO forum. I hope it stays here. But mods will tell.

a reply to: DigitalResonance
Digital

As you point out, the evidence that we have is iffy. Not to the indivudals who have experiences, but in the telling, the proof is still something to be taken of faith, or evaluation rather than out and out proof. If this is all we have to go on then at least maybe we can weed out the chaff.

a reply to: TonyS

I don't even bother to open the YT video reports; they're always debunked as CGI.

As proof seems to be lacking, it seems to me that what we have to go on is little more than individual speculation on this topic. With the advent of UFO Chronicles and Ancient Aliens and a host of other TV shows spurring belief in UFOs on a pop level, I guess it is not surprising that people are developing interests along these lines.
The thing though is that those shows are not interactive. They do not allow serious discussion on the topic as many here would wish to find on ATS. Those pop programs repeat the same kinds of things over and over. And all rely on the phrase "ancient alien theorists believe" and those with no experience themselves of this phenomena for the most part get their beliefs from pop culture.

I am still hoping that we can maintain a higher lever of discussion and contemplation here on ATS

a reply to: TonyS

Part of the problem seems to be that none of the media outlets report on sightings

But when they do it's tongue in cheek.
The problem is that an unidentified flying object is what the name suggests , when the day comes that an object in our atmosphere is identified as not of this Earth then I'm sure they'll report it , until then we are where we are , believers want to believe debunkers want to debunk.

Youtube is the scourge of Ufology.

a reply to: seagull

Yes but to post on ATS you post it on you tube first. We even have a you tube button so I do not think you can blame You Tube.
But I agree with the other point you have made.

Probably the answer you are looking for is slightly more complicated than your first sentence. Forebear with me please.
Just over 4 weeks ago I had a sighting, a blackish circular object that crossed the visible sky very, very fast. No noise. It was not a bird, plane or swamp gas.
That sighting actually happened. Why didn't I report it at the time?? That is your answer.
Quite a few well known posters on here are downright disbelievers, not skepic as a skeptic might be persuaded to change his stance if reliable evidence showed up. None of them will accept any verbal testimony (whether it's airforce or law enforcement officers) or photographs or video.
What they want is irefutable hard evidence. The ONLY evidence they will accept will be what proves to the whole world that aliens exist. So every scrap of evidence is false in their eyes and as such this evidence is to be shown as false even to the point of inventing phenomena to explain a sighting or incident and then proving that such a phenomena exists therefore the incident is false.
The ONLY evidence they will accept is a body or physical remains of a craft. But even that MUST be accepted by the mainstream scientific community as anyone else are liars or con artists.
Myself I think YT has a lot to answer for in perpetuating frauds. I think anyone putting a video on YT that purports to be genuine and is proved to be a hoax they should be prosecuted and fined a serious amount of money. Only then would serious clips would be uploaded. But knowing the morons on YT they'd do it just for the notoriety.

a reply to: gortex

Gortex[Youtube is the scourge of Ufology.

I have been interested in contact since my sightings 50 and 60 yearts ago. I was sure at the time that general contact would be coming soon. As general contact has not been established in that time, one can wonder just what IS is all about. Is it human advanced tech? Is it that the speculated aliens have already contacted earth and those that have been contacted are holding out on the rest of us.

Or could be something else. I am keen on the idea that as gerneral contact has not happened, that most sightings and stuff have all been on a more individual level, that there might be something more to this phenomena then just 'physical" events. That there might be a more 'spiritual component' to the whole issue. Why some have these experiences and others do not. Barring miss-aligned brain matter that is.

Part of the problem is the lack of material that's isn't an obvious hoax or click-bait/money scheme.

It's my personal opinion that most actual UFO's are our own secret craft, and we haven't had any sightings in a while because...they don't want us to see anything.

If you look at the JSF (F-35) doing vertical take offs and hovering, at night people would see it and exclaim "OMG A UFO!"

Nope, just something we don't know about or understand. I highly doubt a race of beings that have figured out FTL (faster than light) travel would come to Earth and either crash land or allow themselves to be seen (unless they want).

a reply to: crayzeed

And your little post means more to me than any of the YT videos or ancient aliens combined. You have little motive to post your short story. You share it, you put it out there, seriously, with no commercial purpose or benefit, rather it has the sound of another normal person who have seen the unexplainable. My sightings are, likewise, my stories to tell. What we wish to do with them, barring general contact is strictly up the the individual.
Thanks for that share Crazy.

a reply to: MystikMushroom
I tend to agree with this point Mystik

Nope, just something we don't know about or understand. I highly doubt a race of beings that have figured out FTL (faster than light) travel would come to Earth and either crash land or allow themselves to be seen (unless they want)

That it is all man-tech remains a strong possibility. I cannot disprove it just as I cannot prove UFO's are advanced aliens from another part of our physical galaxy. I kind of wonder about just writing it off to man-tech though as what I witnessed 60 years ago was pretty well beyond what we, even now know to be possible. Upgrade that to today, if the tech of that long ago was real, then where must we be in that super secret tech by now? Were the tech of then advanced enough to spur on the sightings then how could something that have been kept secret all this time without it becoming common knowledge?

May I suggest an idea. To improve the UFO portion of the ATS forum is to adopt a different concept. Create a stand alone ATS UFO section whereby individuals can easily report their own personal experience. No one will be permitted to add someone elses video nor information. You may not like this next idea but no one will be replying to the post. This will keep the nay sayers from causing issues like they are currently doing. An ATS resident UFO expert will manage this section. I'm not going to add additional idea detail because I seriously doubt the owners of this site will allow this to take place because it is a different philosophy.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

There IS a problem with YT as a source for ufo video captures and the problem is one of credibility.

There is also another problem, in that it is basically the catch all video posting site on the planet as well.

As mentioned, there are well-known hoaxers on YT, but what a lot of people seem to forget is that a lot of these hoaxers also spend A LOT of resources/money actually buying the credible videos that are posted, with promises to the original uploaders of massive click revenues to be shared between them. Channels like Secure team 10 and thirdphaseofmoon for example.

So here is the point, and this does get a bit conspiracy, tinfol hatty, but the fact is that the wheat (real anomalous video) gets lost in the huge amount of chaff (the fakes).

Who benefits from that situation?

I still believe that there are a lot of really anomalous videos on YT, even amongst the hoax channels in fact. The objective is to sort the wheat from the chaff. Not throw them all in the HOAX bin from the start. That is, after all, encouraging ignorance. Each video on its own merits.