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Something I find interesting is the apparent greater level of fear shown by the people who are merely contemplating encounters than by the people having those encounters on a repeated basis. There's that mirror. Dare ye to look? I've seen that from both sides. During prep for a couple solo trips I got pretty stressed nearly to the point of canceling. Once I got there, stress over. I'm in the woods. Sun's out, light breeze, birds tweeting, I'm off-trail heading into a canyon where there are no shoe tracks, no sign there ever have been. My inner animal is in inner-animal nirvana. Over-thinking what MIGHT happen doesn't help. MIB

^I suspect the mudslingers expect a lot of things they have no right to expect or even hope for. In this age of entitlement, it's really no surprise. What is a bit of a surprise is the lengths they will go to prevent all positive discourse on the BF phenomenon. Skepticism is healthy, welcomed and applauded. Constant attempts at train derailment, not so much. It's a peculiar hobby they've taken up, to be sure.

I make no apology if my response to your solution wasn't well received. Continue to enjoy the General Forum free of charge... problem solved. You may not believe it, agree with it or understand it and as I see that you have not had a SSq experience. So in your request for a deeper explanation for a previous post I made (that was evidently unsatisfactory to you)...I go ahead and take the time to attempt to provide more and then you just post more about premium membership. You did take the time to provide more information, and I appreciate that. if my posting more about the Premium Access didn't measure up to any expected response you may have anticipated, I hope that you'll forgive the lack of any appropriate response on my part. No, I've not had an experience with the creature, but that doesn't mean I haven't investigated the creature and been in frequent contact with many investigators, many of them very prominent in the field. I'm sorry if I just don't take your word as fact. I have no way of knowing if you've actually seen and interacted with the creature or not. It's not that I don't believe you. I just have no way to know if your provided information is factual. Your statements contain no video, photo, or other evidence to consider. Sorry, but I just don't take everyone as an authority based on their word alone, nor should anyone else, IMO. Its a waste of my time as was my point in saying "thats all you have" So save the apologies for a time when you feel you were wrong and need to amend a caused harm, in this instance obviously that is not the case so it means very little to me. We just don't see things the same way is all. Sorry, friend - I'll post according to what I feel to be right for me whether you like it or not. If my apology meant so little to you and it's such a waste of your time, why don't you do as you said you'd do... or not do? Peace.

You have mentioned at least 2 times now (that I can recall) off the top of my mind about how this needs to be discussed in the premium section which excludes a large body of the membership. In fact the majority. which I am not willing to do. Then you come off to me as frustrated with the cryptic nature of the exchange when it is clear that the rules shoehorn the discussion into that corner. I make an attempt to try and provide more detail to a previously vague description and you re-up with the premium membership post. To me it feels more like a strategy than a desire to learn more about a piece of this phenomenon that is absolutely real, although not perhaps everyone's experience. It is no less viable than any other nor is it under reported. You may not believe it, agree with it or understand it and as I see that you have not had a SSq experience. So in your request for a deeper explanation for a previous post I made (that was evidently unsatisfactory to you)...I go ahead and take the time to attempt to provide more and then you just post more about premium membership. Its a waste of my time as was my point in saying "thats all you have" So save the apologies for a time when you feel you were wrong and need to amend a caused harm, in this instance obviously that is not the case so it means very little to me. We just don't see things the same way is all.

I understand why you may feel that way, but it's not that simple. We have to pay the forum's expenses somehow. Premium Membership Plans benefit every member of the BFF in that regard. That's the only way to keep the forum going without annoying ads, soliciting donations, or some generous member(s) providing the money from their own pockets. The other alternative is to let the forum go out of existence, and I don't think that anyone wants that to happen. Ads have been shown to frustrate forum users, thus driving down traffic which affects ad values. Although it's been claimed by many members that they'd gladly donate the needed funds, that's hard to budget because you don't know how much or even if members will donate at all, or if the gifted amounts will be sufficient for the needed funding. Expecting anyone to pay out of their pocket (as was done routinely before the implementation of the Premium Access Forum) is unreasonable, especially in this economy. So, allowing free access to the Premium Access Forum doesn't solve any problems. It causes hard choices such as those listed above. The General Forum is provided free to all members due to the appreciated support of our Premium Members. For only $20 dollars a year, it's a lot of bang for the buck. A Premium Membership Plan purchase helps to ensure that all of our members can enjoy the BFF for the foreseeable future. For that support, the BFF offers two forums (The Tar Pit and General Bigfoot/Sasquatch Discussion) as a place to allow our valued supporters to express themselves as they wish to a huge degree. This is a product we can offer to those wishing to help support the entire forum with their hard-earned money. In addition to those two forums, there's the BFF 1.0 Archives, The BFF Virtual Library (including the late, great Tirademan's Historical Archives), The Sightings Database Project, uncensored news feeds, and much more. I'd like to take a moment to thank our Premium Members and to encourage our regular members to consider joining them by purchasing a PMP. If you choose not to purchase a PMP, you may continue to enjoy the General Forum free of charge because of the generosity of our Premium Members. If you're interested in supporting the entire BFF, you may sign up today by visiting this link - http://bigfootforums.com/index.php/topic/30015-important-news-premium-access-memberships-are-now-available/ If you have any questions or need help with your application, contact an Admin. They'll be happy to assist you.

Plus on your last, GM. Excerpt from President Theodore Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910 It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier."

I get that you're not willing to post your supposed information in a section that allows for frank and candid review and discussion. A phrase from Harry Truman, regarding heat and kitchens comes to mind.