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Why Do Hoaxers Hoax?


Doc Holliday

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Guest Jodie

I found an interesting article on the psychology behind practical joking, here are some excerpts from that article:

In a paper published last year, three psychologists argued that the sensation of being duped — anger, self-blame, bitterness — was such a singular cocktail that it forced an uncomfortable kind of self-awareness. How much of a dupe am I? Where are my blind spots?

“Being duped holds up this mirror to people,†Dr. Vohs said, “and may in fact show them where they are on the scale†— too trusting or too vigilant. Paranoia, too, has its costs, and it can sour relationships.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/health/01mind.html

There is also the other side of the coin when it goes too far and becomes a form of bullying.

There are many types of negative physical interactions that can occur between young people, including fighting, practical jokes, stealing, and sexual harassment. These things are not considered physical bullying unless:

* The same victim is targeted repeatedly ( that would be bigfoot proponents )

* The bully or bullies intend to hurt, embarrass, or intimidate the victim ( most definitely want to discredit you while elevating themselves)

* The actions occur in a situation with a real or perceived imbalance of power, such as when the bully is stronger than the victim or has a higher social standing.

( It's more socially acceptable to be skeptical of bigfoot than it is to be a proponent in main stream society)

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/physical-bullying.html

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Guest tirademan

My first question is "What are "hoaxers" hoaxing?" In other words, why a giant hair covered man-ape?

Hoaxing is one convenient excuse in the "there must be a more reasonable answer" tactic of dismissal. "Escaped gorilla" and a "crazy human gone primitive" are others repeated over and over in old articles.

I'm very skeptical of hoaxing claims of the 1950-70s and don't think they did much except maybe in their back yard...and even then, I've seen no evidence furnished other than pictures of wooden feet. And I don't count people's opinions of the wooden feet matching purported track ways either, as I don't think they match.

I think hoaxing today might be easier, as others have mentioned, due the myriad of TV shows exposing casual viewers to the reality of witness sightings and sasquatch information in general. Along with the availability of materials.

But here we have an 1861 college kid in a "gorilla guise." Multiple events, avoiding gunshots, across state lines...I wonder why?

tirademan

MA1861GorillaGuise.jpg

CA1958BigfootStoriesCartoon.gif

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  • 5 years later...
On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2011 at 11:26 PM, Doc Holliday said:

Hoaxes are nothing new in the BF world. I think proponents & non-proponents alike could agree hoaxing hurts the BF case.

Seems to be an integral part of the BF scene & IMO, makes it that much harder for this to be taken seriously by the general public.

So , i thought i'd throw this out there for discussion.

ive already got a few ideas of my own, but figured it might be interesting to see what is said concerning this.

is it for attention,to undermine credibilty of researchers,or do some just feel the need to try & screw with your head?

IOW, why do hoaxers hoax? what motivates them?

& any thoughts on how could they be exposed /stopped?

 

Hoaxing shouldn't hurt the bigfoot case for two reasons.

 

1.  You'd have to prove *everything* the result of a hoax.  Note that the skeptics don't try that; they know it wouldn't be possible. They go all mentally loose on us and postulate, you know, all kinds a stuff. Which only increases the improbability of their case. Which if you're a statistician, you'd know.

2. Anything that has been identified as a hoax has been so because it is *clearly separable from the live evidence, which behaves like an animal.*

 

You can tell a scientist hasn't evaluated the evidence if he gets all squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeely about hoaxes.  They simply don't matter.  Discard them and move on.  They are in no way significant.  They are a minuscule, and predictable, reaction to a scientific vacuum.

 

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3 hours ago, DWA said:

Anything that has been identified as a hoax has been so because it is *clearly separable from the live evidence,

You didn't do so well a couple of April Fools Day ago.  Meldrum did not fare so well with snow walker, either. Just to name a couple...

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dmaker,

 

Not sure the didn't do so well a few April Fools ago ?  An Jeff changed his opinion with further study, I don't need to go into a list of other scientists, groups or institutions that upon further reflection have changed their opinions do I ?

 

Pat...

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Guest OntarioSquatch

We live in a highly complex world where even some of our brightest make mistakes. Discrediting everything someone says because of a flaw in their track record is in itself a mistake. 

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Why do hoaxers hoax?

 

Because there will always be someone to fall for it, discuss it, buy into it and sometimes franchise it.

 

 

Edited by Squatchy McSquatch
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Admin
1 hour ago, PBeaton said:

dmaker,

 

Not sure the didn't do so well a few April Fools ago ?

 

I think he's referring to the masterpiece April Fools Day prank a couple of years ago, when we put up fake ads all over the BFF. It was great :lol:

 

A lot of people fell for it initially, but truth be told, DWA got pwned.

 

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I was talking about the fake trail cam prank by a university in Alberta, wasn't it? He described the audio as sounds "no other animal in North America makes." It was fun.

Edited by dmaker
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Remember folks:  nothing people say who aren't up on this changes anything I said, or anything I think.

 

Because evidence.

 

If you think hoaxing is significant, you need to get up to speed on this topic.  It is not.

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gigantor,

 

haha ! That was a good one, if not a little evil if I do say so myself ! haha !

 

dmaker,

 

Don't recall it. But you do recognize Meldrum isn't the first scientist or scientific institute for that matter to change their findings...yes ? I reckon we've all been there.

 

Pat...

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27 minutes ago, DWA said:

If you think hoaxing is significant, you need to get up to speed on this topic.  It is not.

 

I agree, the number of sighting report hoaxes is low enough as to be a non-factor.  Video and photoshop hoaxing is all the rage, but its really just an adolescent rite of passage and also not a factor.

 

12 minutes ago, PBeaton said:

gigantor,

 

haha ! That was a good one, if not a little evil if I do say so myself ! haha !

 

 

Thanks. Lets remember for Friday night's sake. 

 

bff-ap2.pngbff-af16.PNGbff-af9.jpgbff-ap4.jpgbff-ap6.jpgbff-ap3.pngbff-af1.jpegbff-af5.jpg

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2 hours ago, dmaker said:

I was talking about the fake trail cam prank by a university in Alberta, wasn't it? He described the audio as sounds "no other animal in North America makes." It was fun.

 

It even said it was fake.

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  • 2 weeks later...

BigFooterY is in need of a good hoax right now.

 

It's been quite some time since the last Matilda, Wookie Costume, Blinkycgi...

 

Absolutely nothing has happened.

 

 

 

 

 

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