The 1990s: UFOlogy's Golden Age

a reply to: klassless

I think that's why of all the conspiracy theories out there, I appreciate where the UFO people are coming from most. Here's a group of individuals with a history of their own, talking about things that could factually have some merit to them. They're well versed, usually able to make a cohesive argument, and at times can make you ask questions that then enable you to more knowledge. All that being said, whether any of it is factual or not could be open for debate.

I side on the idea that while there are UFO's as a fact, their piloting by little grey men is likely marginal to none. That's just me. I have my reasons for believing so - but I tend to hold the belief of someone who disagrees with me in regards to this at a bit of a higher staple than someone who disagrees with me on a subject (for example) like chemtrails. It's not because I don't respect the individual, or the person - it's because whatever evidence there is provided I find to be extremely weak to nill.

Of course, it also helps that those who disagree on the UFO topic, tend to be a bit more respectful of a disagreeing party. I'm not saying it's always true, but there seems to be a sense of dignity and integrity among them.

What's your beef in not accepting solid research that resulted in debunking a major myth? I didn't do it, I have it on videotape. I've also seen the video of the alleged triangular "UFO" and it looks as bad a formation as the Hudson Valley videos, a bunch of aircraft imitating poorly a UFO. The Phoenix "triangle" looks more like a slightly loose jet formation. And last but not least, on one of the videos you can see the flashing navigation lights of one of the fighters that dropped the flares. NOT an important case, just a huge misunderstanding and non-acceptance of reality.

On the contrary, it's an incredibly important case. There is no huge misunderstanding, except perhaps on your part. You like many seem to simply disregard eyewitness testimony as if it doesn't exist.

The flares seen from Phoenix were of course flares. Why does it matter if you could see flashing lights on a jet? Obviously flares. They lined the disappearance with the mountain range, so.. case closed there. That's not the issue or the real case. Although it does strengthen air force involvement in regards to the sighting.

The first sighting occurred around 3 hours before the flares were dropped in Phoenix. Another call shortly after by a police officer in Nevada soon followed. Then a bevy of calls were placed from dozens of witnesses.. for next three hours or so. Sightings continued after the flares were dropped in Phoenix, south of the city. Let me guess.. dozens of people misunderstood a formation of jets? Formations of planes occur all the time. There are not however, dozens of eyewitnesses calling the police, the Air Force bases and ufo hotline to report them. Some saw this object fairly close. For hours.. people were that confused about a simple formation of jets that were apparently traveling from Nevada into Phoenix and then south of the city? People don't give other people enough credit for not being stupid. I could buy one or two people mixing up jets with a triangular UFO. But.. not dozens of people. If it were that common, there would be "mass sightings" of this nature all the time.

The Air Force has only once dropped flares in plain view of the city of Phoenix. And this was on the nights of this sighting. Hours after the initial calls started coming in. Their largest flares, in plain view of the city.. dropped in a V formation. What a staggering coincidence. Of course, I believe they were dropped as a diversion either to add confusion to the V shaped sightings (which worked very well), or "just in case" the thing flew directly over Phoenix, since it was heading north to south towards Phoenix. Debunking often relies on "amazing coincidences." Happened in the Tehran sighting.. happened here as well.

There were reports of people seeing this flying low.. a massive V shaped object. Let me guess.. delusional? Lying? Black project?

I'm amused by your flippant disregard of these sighting as if they are nothing. Phoenix lights were very important. And there are many others I know for a fact you can't explain away, even if you act as if you know it all. You clearly don't. To name a few, please go ahead and explain away:

Phoenix lights with something more than "formation of jets confused for a UFO for more than 4 hours."
Holland Michigan sighting in 1994.
Tehran sighting of 1976.
Stephenville Texas sightings.
Portage County UFO in 1966.
Illinois UFO sighting in 2000.

The cases that matter often have dozens of witnesses, radar returns, incredible maneuvers, sighting from multiple locations, and eyewitnesses of merit. Your blase disregard is frankly disgusting. You can't dismiss any of the above sightings, any more than you can dismiss the Phoenix lights, even though you tried with your flippant know-it-all attitude, which fools no one who has actually delved into and studied these sightings.

a reply to: fleabit

Okay, you obviously have followed this event in more detail than me. I saw what was presented and the flares are not questioned by you. I also saw the video of the alleged triangle and I don't buy that it was of an alien craft, triangles are aerodynamic so it's more a human craft in the video except to me it looks like a formation of jets with a little looseness as opposed to a rigid, one-piece craft.

There were a ton of witnesses of the flares. Not by me. Since the flares were dropped way outside of the city no one looked up and saw anything but a beautiful black sky filled with stars. Only those citizens who lived on the hills with the view of the flare drop area saw them and one video emerged above all others and that video was used to duplicate a daylight video from the same location.

To me nothing else matters. But thanks for sharing your expertise and opinion, that's what matters.

a reply to: klassless

Thanks for sharing. I got into UFOs in the 90s but grew up in a small european country. The best I could find was UFO books such as Above Top Secret wedged in the supernatural section of the biggest bookstore in town!
That is until the advent of the internet and then the X-files on TV.
I figured out soon enough that MJ12 was mostly BS but stories such as the tehran UFO really stuck with me.

The first sites I really got into on the internet in the mid 90s were the 'alt news' sites including an 'alt UFO' site. That place had a lot of nutters and a lot of brainboxes all throw together. There weren't many people on the internet in those days and I'd have chats with engineers at NASA just for the heck of it. Really opened my mind to the possibility of the internet and connecting people around the world. It kind of went downhill after that.

a reply to: ManInAsia

The way I get my UFO kicks these days is go back into the archives of MUFON and NUFORC.
I delve into the 50s, 60s and 70s stuff.

Maybe I'm fooling myself but I think those reports were often the real deal with solid craft described often in detail.

Anything from 90s on tends to be 'lights in the sky' and basically could be anything. I just don't bother with stuff.

What keeps me interested is I've noticed a few patterns in the old reports. It would seem odd that these people report separately, often decades later, and share some interesting features in the reports.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: fleabit

Again Bonez put a lot of effort into a thread to explain what caused the Phoenix lights.

The Phoenix Lights - Laying To Rest The Myth

It is of course up to everyone to make their own minds up on UFO cases. But he cites the only recognised video from the earlier (not flares) sightings.



Full video : Discovery.com

Whether you believe it was a misinterpretation of Operation Snowbird or not I still think that the Phoenix Lights was the end of an era in ufology. Ii is nearly 20 years since the incident and there are hardly any truly major incidents that have captured imaginations since.

Yea, I commented in that thread years ago. I appreciate his effort, but don't buy into that theory at all, for the reasons I posted in that thread. And while I agree it's possible for a few folks to mistake a flight of planes for something else, I don't buy that it caused dozens or even hundreds of witnesses to mistake it. Also it was spotted quite close by some witnesses, and the sighting don't correlate with that flight path. But again.. the mere fact the Air Force decided to drop a V shaped pattern of flares in sight of Phoenix on that ONE night speaks volumes.

a reply to: fleabit

I try to look at things through a sceptical eye but with an open mind and understand your point of view on this.I don't want to debate the details of the Phoenix Lights case further in this thread. UFOs exist.

My point was that I have always felt that something changed for ufology after the Phoenix Lights blinked out. There were a few big UFO stories from O'Hare, Stephenville and a handful of others. But there really hasn't been much happening in the near 20 years that have passed since Phoenix if you compare it to the preceding 20 years from 1977- 1997. Despite our technology becoming so much more advanced.

a reply to: mirageman

I suspect that its the reporting that's declined, not the sightings.

People have learned that they will be laughed at or called a fool.
This is how it was "intended" to be so as to keep the subject as a non issue.
Besides, what happens if you aren't laughed at and taken seriously?
You simply become another statistic.
While it may (though I doubt it) be fun to have some attention from interested parties for a while but there's no resolution.
Reporting it won't make it come back and pose for photos, or the occupants won't suddenly appear and say "yes its true. We flew over that guy the other day and he definitely saw us!"
I have a feeling that a lot of people just look up and say "well I'll be damned! They are real." And then carry on as before.

Just my opinion.
The same cannot be said for mass sightings but they usually turn out to have some kind of explanation, even if its one that seems unacceptable.

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: fleabit

I try to look at things through a sceptical eye but with an open mind and understand your point of view on this.I don't want to debate the details of the Phoenix Lights case further in this thread. UFOs exist.

My point was that I have always felt that something changed for ufology after the Phoenix Lights blinked out. There were a few big UFO stories from O'Hare, Stephenville and a handful of others. But there really hasn't been much happening in the near 20 years that have passed since Phoenix if you compare it to the preceding 20 years from 1977- 1997. Despite our technology becoming so much more advanced.

Personally I feel the # of legitimate sightings has been fairly constant, static and low. Also oddly the solid sightings seem to get very little press or even discussion in forums such as there. There have been posts by people who put a lot of work into researching a particular sighting, and it seems to fall off the page quickly. The ridiculous and absurd however, seem to stick around, even for dozens or over 100 pages. Remember that laughable thread about a white umbrella in someone's backyard? I believe that sucker went on for well over 100 pages, while some other relevant threads have disappeared into the depths after 10 or 12 pages.

Also you have think that while we believe that aliens would possess tech that would render them incapable of detection.. perhaps that's not the case. The laws of physics are just that - and with the worlds superpowers gaining new tech that dwarfs what we had even 20 years ago, perhaps they are being a bit more shy about intrusions into our airspaces. In fact, I always wondered why some less developed (technologically-wise) countries seem to get a lot more sightings. South America is a fine example.

The sheer # of false-positives any more with every device seeming to have a camera embedded in it, is diluting the herd. Along with CGI and Photoshop that is becoming more difficult to discern as real or fake. I know it's frustrating.. but I keep my eyes on the few sightings that have real merit.

And that is why it's important imo, to dissect those cases to the point where nothing else can be gained by it. Those are the ones that will actually prove or disprove alien visitation. Just take a look at Klassless as an example (not picking at him in particular, just a more recent example).. he like some other debunkers make comments about a case as if they know for a fact what is true and not.. when they are not even remotely aware of all the facts around that case. How can you definitively speak about a case that where you are not in possession of all the facts? He is quick to ridicule Stanton Friedman, as well as Roswell.. but he hasn't even bothered to read the book by the author who is the most intimately involved with the actual investigation. And then.. these folks make loud threads proclaiming their debunking prowess while throwing stones at folks who actually have spent literally decades studying the phenomena.

I'm not terribly worried however.. if the truth is truth.. it will reveal itself in time, regardless. If alien visitation is real (and I believe it is), I have a feeling that within the next 30 years or so, they will reveal themselves. I still think we are being monitored as it were. I don't think it's a coincidence that Roswell occurred by near the time and place where our first nuclear test occurred (2 years after-ish or so). Nor that UFOs are reported to be near nuclear facilities.. shutting them down.. interfering with missile tests, and so on. If you were a "neighbor" and your new neighbors are quite close to discovering how to visit you, I'd think your concern about their level of threat, weaponry, and state of mind in regards to war or peace, would be very relevant. Nuclear weapons might be laughably undeveloped to them.. but if tossed at an alien city, I think it would still do plenty of damage none the less.

I honestly think humankind needs to be cautious. The moment we prove we can travel beyond our neighborhood, something might occur. If we are still quite warlike when this happens, it might not be a good thing.

originally posted by: ManInAsia
a reply to: klassless

Thanks for sharing. I got into UFOs in the 90s but grew up in a small european country. The best I could find was UFO books such as Above Top Secret wedged in the supernatural section of the biggest bookstore in town!
That is until the advent of the internet and then the X-files on TV.
I figured out soon enough that MJ12 was mostly BS but stories such as the tehran UFO really stuck with me.

The first sites I really got into on the internet in the mid 90s were the 'alt news' sites including an 'alt UFO' site. That place had a lot of nutters and a lot of brainboxes all throw together. There weren't many people on the internet in those days and I'd have chats with engineers at NASA just for the heck of it. Really opened my mind to the possibility of the internet and connecting people around the world. It kind of went downhill after that.

It's good to hear from someone who participated in the "alt UFO" forums, there were quite a few of them that attracted the "nutters" and "brainboxes" such as James Oberg. I bought his book "UFO's and Outer Space Mysteries" when it came out in 1982 and in the '90s it was a treat to communicate with him on the alt forums. Nothing much has changed as we still have UFO forums that attract "nutters" and "brainboxes" and Oberg is also here!

I had WebTV in the '90s and I put its output through my VCR and I taped some of the conversations and once in a while I watch that old stuff and remember how I was always getting into some peoples' nerves! Still doing it!

originally posted by: ManInAsia
a reply to: ManInAsia

The way I get my UFO kicks these days is go back into the archives of MUFON and NUFORC.
I delve into the 50s, 60s and 70s stuff.

Maybe I'm fooling myself but I think those reports were often the real deal with solid craft described often in detail.

Anything from 90s on tends to be 'lights in the sky' and basically could be anything. I just don't bother with stuff.

What keeps me interested is I've noticed a few patterns in the old reports. It would seem odd that these people report separately, often decades later, and share some interesting features in the reports.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Time is the only difference as nothing has changed. The reports were, up to a point, the real deal because all that would happen is people reported their sighting to an organization who would type it up and file it away. For some reason, some of those organizations would send a rep who would interview the claimant(s) and, again, file a report. Tons of reports. The details didn't add anything since you couldn't tap the claimant's mind to project on a wall or screen what they had witnessed. IOW, just words. Sometimes accompanied with photos and/or films.

The '90s and on to the present were different in that now instead of writing or dictating a report, a video is made of the interview which now may be accompanied by digital still photos and videos, tape and digital.

And the reason many reports sound alike is because UFO/alien reports are available on the Internet and people reading those reports may tend to borrow details or just downright confabulate. Photos and videos are always preferred to hearsay.

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: fleabit

Again Bonez put a lot of effort into a thread to explain what caused the Phoenix lights.

The Phoenix Lights - Laying To Rest The Myth

It is of course up to everyone to make their own minds up on UFO cases. But he cites the only recognised video from the earlier (not flares) sightings.

Full video : Discovery.com

Whether you believe it was a misinterpretation of Operation Snowbird or not I still think that the Phoenix Lights was the end of an era in ufology. Ii is nearly 20 years since the incident and there are hardly any truly major incidents that have captured imaginations since.

I'm glad you mentioned Bonez excellent effort at dispelling the Phoenix Flares myth posted on Jan, 24 2015. I had been doing it since the early '90s in the old alt.UFO forums and I found a 2012 thread in which I, under another name - The Shrike, piped in:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
The Massive UFO Flyover of Arizona, March 13, 1997 aka: The Phoenix Lights
posted on Mar, 13 2012 - My name is Mike Fortson and this is my first thread.

That gif of the "triangle", above, just shows what were 5 jets flying in a chevron formation.

One view of the nightime/daylight expose should be enough for all believers to get their act together and not jump to impossible conclusions.

While events such as the "Lights" bring a sort of excitement to UFOlogy, the wind is eventually taken out of the sails and since a real event is "due", it'll be the end of life as we know it on earth. Believers use the "Lights" to convince themselves that it has happened. Yet, nothing radical re: UFOlogy has ever happened.

originally posted by: fleabit
Yea, I commented in that thread years ago. I appreciate his effort, but don't buy into that theory at all, for the reasons I posted in that thread. And while I agree it's possible for a few folks to mistake a flight of planes for something else, I don't buy that it caused dozens or even hundreds of witnesses to mistake it. Also it was spotted quite close by some witnesses, and the sighting don't correlate with that flight path. But again.. the mere fact the Air Force decided to drop a V shaped pattern of flares in sight of Phoenix on that ONE night speaks volumes.

"speaks volumes" could be correct. But only the volumes that accumulated containing all of the planning and coordinating the various defense departments to get everything ready to go off, or on, schedule. It had to have been a mammoth undertaking. A triangle-shaped "alien" craft decided to poop on the event by making sure that x amount of "witnesses" viewed the craft to throw everyone off the flares.

It's a done deal and the skeptics/debunkers won!

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: fleabit

I try to look at things through a sceptical eye but with an open mind and understand your point of view on this.I don't want to debate the details of the Phoenix Lights case further in this thread. UFOs exist.

My point was that I have always felt that something changed for ufology after the Phoenix Lights blinked out. There were a few big UFO stories from O'Hare, Stephenville and a handful of others. But there really hasn't been much happening in the near 20 years that have passed since Phoenix if you compare it to the preceding 20 years from 1977- 1997. Despite our technology becoming so much more advanced.

1947 - "The Roswell Incident"
1947-1978 - silence

1997 - "The Phoenix Lights"
1997-2016 - silence except for the din coming from believers

In both cases truth emerged triumphant over beliefs. That should tell believers something. But truth falls on deaf ears and a closed mind.

I think the STS-48 "Incident" was superior to both and the in-fighting was "thrilling".

originally posted by: Tulpa
a reply to: mirageman

I suspect that its the reporting that's declined, not the sightings.

Don't tell that to these organizations!

United States
Active
Aerial Phenomena Enquiry Network (APEN)
Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI)
Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS or JAHCUFOS)
Disclosure Project
Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR)
International UFO Congress (IUFOC)
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)
National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC)

Inactive
Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO)
Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS)
Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI)
Coalition for Freedom of Information
National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDSci)
National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)
UFO Investigators League (UFOIL)

And at Wikipedia the list includes other countries.

People have learned that they will be laughed at or called a fool.

What people and who is laughing at them or calling them a fool? How did you learn of such?

This is how it was "intended" to be so as to keep the subject as a non issue.

Who intended what to be and haven't they failed "to keep the subject as a non issue"? UFOlogy is a big issue, among a percentage of the populace.

Besides, what happens if you aren't laughed at and taken seriously?

Let individuals react individually. There is no blanket statement to cover such situations.

You simply become another statistic.

Our life is one big statistic.

While it may (though I doubt it) be fun to have some attention from interested parties for a while but there's no resolution.
Reporting it won't make it come back and pose for photos, or the occupants won't suddenly appear and say "yes its true. We flew over that guy the other day and he definitely saw us!"
I have a feeling that a lot of people just look up and say "well I'll be damned! They are real." And then carry on as before.

Just my opinion.
The same cannot be said for mass sightings but they usually turn out to have some kind of explanation, even if its one that seems unacceptable.

The Average Joe/Jane may look up but I doubt if all of them get interested in something that doesn't look familiar. Even if they're smart enough to recognize something out of the ordinary but are not interested in UFOlogy, like you said they'll just carry on. It takes one of us to recognize that we are seeing a non-human aerial object and become excited enough to film it.

Mass sightings such as happened mostly in Mexico are exciting events that nothing can be done about aside from taping and discussing. The good ones are acceptable. The explained ones are unacceptable only to those that were fooled.

originally posted by: fleabit

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: fleabit

I try to look at things through a sceptical eye but with an open mind and understand your point of view on this.I don't want to debate the details of the Phoenix Lights case further in this thread. UFOs exist.

My point was that I have always felt that something changed for ufology after the Phoenix Lights blinked out. There were a few big UFO stories from O'Hare, Stephenville and a handful of others. But there really hasn't been much happening in the near 20 years that have passed since Phoenix if you compare it to the preceding 20 years from 1977- 1997. Despite our technology becoming so much more advanced.

Personally I feel the # of legitimate sightings has been fairly constant, static and low. Also oddly the solid sightings seem to get very little press or even discussion in forums such as there. There have been posts by people who put a lot of work into researching a particular sighting, and it seems to fall off the page quickly. The ridiculous and absurd however, seem to stick around, even for dozens or over 100 pages. Remember that laughable thread about a white umbrella in someone's backyard? I believe that sucker went on for well over 100 pages, while some other relevant threads have disappeared into the depths after 10 or 12 pages.

ALL sightings get a fair hearing in this and other forums. But you can say only so much about distant, detail-less, objects in daylight sightings which gets worse with night sightings. The MSM does seem to ignore unexciting UFO reports which is why I started the thread about UFOlogy's golden era: the '90s. As far as getting into details of particular sightings, there hasn't been any sightings worth more than a few words, even with a video of it. What case can you name that deserves serious research?

I agree with you about some of the threads here going on forever when they were not worth it 'cause the threads turn into abuse, flame wars, derailing, etc. A lot of the thread titles on the list are enough to ignore but once in a while something catches fire and the fire extinguishers are empty! It seems to me that there are really a low amount of members here, not like 5 years ago. A lot of interesting members are gone. Exciting people such as John Lear had a vast interest even though he was full of it.

Also you have think that while we believe that aliens would possess tech that would render them incapable of detection.. perhaps that's not the case. The laws of physics are just that - and with the worlds superpowers gaining new tech that dwarfs what we had even 20 years ago, perhaps they are being a bit more shy about intrusions into our airspaces. In fact, I always wondered why some less developed (technologically-wise) countries seem to get a lot more sightings. South America is a fine example.

"We" doesn't include all of us. I'm not a believer so the idea of aliens is presently on hold and I don't use them as reference. And "they" have proven beyond doubt that it's not our airspace. Your point about South America is interesting except some South American countries have sophisticated aircraft courtesy of the US and USSR.

The sheer # of false-positives any more with every device seeming to have a camera embedded in it, is diluting the herd. Along with CGI and Photoshop that is becoming more difficult to discern as real or fake. I know it's frustrating.. but I keep my eyes on the few sightings that have real merit.

It isn't that different from the '50s and '60s which resulted in the necessity of Ground Saucer Watch to be created to catch the hoaxers.
encyclopedia.com

Ground Saucer Watch
A now-defunct organization, founded in 1957, that had a membership of scientists, engineers, professionals, and educated laymen interested in taking scientific action to resolve the controversial elements in UFO reports. Its objectives were as follows: to provide an accessible outlet for all interested persons who wish to report any aerial phenomena experiences without fear of ridicule or undue publicity; to "edify a confused media" with factual press releases, lectures, conferences, and interviews; to research and evaluate all UFO cases to which scientific criteria can be applied and analyzed with the use of specialized talents and instrumentation; to continue to pursue legal action against the federal government with lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests for release of UFO materials; and to bring forth workable hypotheses and theories of UFO origin and reasons for their continuing surveillance. The Ground Saucer Watch ceased when it ran into financial troubles.

And that is why it's important imo, to dissect those cases to the point where nothing else can be gained by it. Those are the ones that will actually prove or disprove alien visitation. Just take a look at Klassless as an example (not picking at him in particular, just a more recent example).. he like some other debunkers make comments about a case as if they know for a fact what is true and not.. when they are not even remotely aware of all the facts around that case. How can you definitively speak about a case that where you are not in possession of all the facts? He is quick to ridicule Stanton Friedman, as well as Roswell.. but he hasn't even bothered to read the book by the author who is the most intimately involved with the actual investigation. And then.. these folks make loud threads proclaiming their debunking prowess while throwing stones at folks who actually have spent literally decades studying the phenomena.

No case that I know of has ever had any merit to it worthy of deep research and no case has had any evidence of "alien visitation". If by "alien" you mean beings from outside of earth. So you use me as an example worth your ridicule but you couch your intent by saying you're not picking on me. Of course you are! When I debunk, trust me, it's worth debunking and I've always been successful. Name a case I debunked and failed. You don't know anything worth knowing about Roswell and Mr Feeces-ist Friedman is its major flea.

I'm not terribly worried however.. if the truth is truth.. it will reveal itself in time, regardless. If alien visitation is real (and I believe it is), I have a feeling that within the next 30 years or so, they will reveal themselves. I still think we are being monitored as it were. I don't think it's a coincidence that Roswell occurred by near the time and place where our first nuclear test occurred (2 years after-ish or so). Nor that UFOs are reported to be near nuclear facilities.. shutting them down.. interfering with missile tests, and so on. If you were a "neighbor" and your new neighbors are quite close to discovering how to visit you, I'd think your concern about their level of threat, weaponry, and state of mind in regards to war or peace, would be very relevant. Nuclear weapons might be laughably undeveloped to them.. but if tossed at an alien city, I think it would still do plenty of damage none the less.

I honestly think humankind needs to be cautious. The moment we prove we can travel beyond our neighborhood, something might occur. If we are still quite warlike when this happens, it might not be a good thing.

a reply to: klassless

I was speaking in very general fashion.
It seems the media has (mostly) treated UFOs as a bit of a joke and the result has been the instant crackpot effect.
I never use the word crackpot myself but its language that seems to follow the subject.

I know there's plenty of places to report to but your average Joe might not know or even want to, given the above.

I've met a few people who have seen pretty bizzare things and not reported them. Seen one or two myself that I'm not sure about but, regrettably, its just not that important to some.
I asked a friend if he reported a sighting once and he said "Why?"
I really couldn't think of an answer that would've swayed him.

He wasn't bothered and apart from those of us who have an interest, I imagine the same could be said for others.
Unfortunate, but unless there's some cash inducement or something, some folk just don't care to be involved.

I could be wrong but that's just my take.

I don't agree that the 90s was Ufology's heyday.
I've read Ruppelt's book 'the estimate of the situation' and it was clear from that that UFOs were really a big deal back then!
That's obviously related to the space race and the cold war between US and USSR. In the 50s there was even a network of civilian observers whose job was simply to scan the sky and report any anomalous phenomena or sightings to the government. Some of the sightings were classified technology, such as the blackbird, then you had rocket re-entries and launches, and probably CIA set-ups to cover real secret aircraft testing. Many sightings were of green fireballs which were probably meteorites.
Of course you also had blue book in the 50s and the condon report in the 60s.
After the 50s and 60s the classic UFO sightings tail off fairly quickly and it becomes very much a wacky pursuit.

When I debunk, trust me, it's worth debunking and I've always been successful. Name a case I debunked and failed. You don't know anything worth knowing about Roswell and Mr Feeces-ist Friedman is its major flea.

You mean like the case we were just talking about, the Phoenix lights? You were not even aware of all the facts of the case. While I'm sure you have convinced yourself you have solved the mystery, you have not. Did you bother to check the actual locations of all the reported sightings, and correlate that with the supposed flight plan of this formation of jets? Doesn't match up, in case you are wondering. I can only assume you have simply disregarded any eyewitness testimony that is at odds with your theory about a formation of jets.

How is ignoring all eyewitness accounts that dismisses a flight of jets as the explanation intelligent investigation? Typical debunking mechanism - just ignore anything that disrupts your debunking claim. Are you that slapdash with all your debunking? No wonder you can claim "I have debunked everything! It's pretty easy when you can apparently read a few news clippings or watch one video about flares, and assume the case is closed.