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Thanks to all for the input. We don't share specifics of where the research is being done or who owns the land. Some of it is federal land, so that's irrelevant really. We do work with other groups, and some info is shared with them on a limited basis. We aren't trying to be the first kids on the block to find this creature. We recently did a trip to the MT. Adams area up here in Washington with some of our affiliated folks from Southern California. When we did that trip, we had a film crew along doing a pilot for a possible Discovery Channel show. After that "experience" we are up in the air as to if we want to participate in something like that. It was a total PITA. Besides, who knows if it will even see the light of day. One reason is, we don't do re-enactments of things that happen, that is just fake presentation. If you can't hear or see something the first time it's on tape or video, it's useless and dishonest to replicate it for a show. That's just how we feel about it. That is also where the reality hit us as to what you see on the screen is not always what actually happened. Plus the fact that not everything you hear is a Squatch, not every pile of branches is a nest, and not every depression is a footprint, no matter how much you want us to say it may be. Our field of interest varies, so we do go on radio shows from time to time, but hardly ever share BF info because it is so hard to relate the experiences over a blind medium where video and photos are actually needed. It looks like I may have to rejoin the Premium area again. I discontinued premium membership a while back as I didn't come here too often, and my great dislike of the Tar Pit. I have been a member here since the days of BFF 1.0, and still have barely over 400 posts, so not a prolific posting machine.

I would say that they have provide necessary jadedness. I stumbled onto the BFF quite late when I began looking into this topic and first found a few sites that laid out who all the interested parties were in Big-money-foot.com, and provided documented instances of some of these people faking photos, wood knocks, tracks, stone-throwing, and even the supposed finding of bodies. The traveling snake-oil salesmen of yore would be proud of their efforts to make bigfoot into a profit center. Yep. In addition to my database, I have a list of "researchers" who are reported to have been caught knowingly and purposefully hoaxing and known hoaxes. I use that information as a factor in evaluating the credibility of reports in my database - if the "researcher" is rotten one time, it's hard to trust anything from that researcher any other time. Also, if a series of reports just happen to occur in the vicinity of a known hoax, they may be tainted as well. However, that is something that each individual has to do on their own as there is no Better Bigfoot Bureau that objectively certifies researchers or reports. Agreed. Although passions can occasionally run high and sharp elbows get thrown, this place is pretty good at doing neutral, none-outcome-based, analysis. And to tie back to my comment above, this is why everyone has to have their own reference point for what researchers and evidence that they trust or don't trust. Assuming that you're describing a case where objective truth can't be known with certainty (i.e., you're the witness who has the evidence and knows the certainty of it's validity), people can legitimately disagree on whether something should or should not be accepted as valid evidence w/o either of them being wrong or mule-headed. One reasonable man sees it one way, another reasonable man sees it another. And to be fair, absent strong evidence that something is in fact a hoax or bad ID, then declaring something a conclusive hoax should be almost as rare as calling something conclusive evidence of bigfoot.

Old Dog wrote: I have been wondering how widely folks here share their findings with others. Do you share universally? Within a formal research group? Perhaps with only a select few? Or possibly not at all. I'm part of a small, very, very close knit group doing research on Sasquatch, among other things, and we have kept all of our findings within that group. We start back up on the Sasquatch front this May, and are debating if we should share our findings more widely. We have shown some things to Meldrum, but not publicly. I'm wondering if anyone has shared their findings, how widely and with what results. I have resisted releasing findings on forums because it always seems to devolve into chaos over theories and personalities. Anything anyone would like to share about their experiences would be greatly appreciated. ================================================================================== This is how I see it, take it for what you will. I think there are hundreds of groups like yours across the USA. And they do not really communicate much. So in essence they are all insular groups all trying to reinvent the wheel. They are more like competing expeditions to be the first to reach the moon. Versus scientists working closely together to come up with a cure for cancer. Boiled down to brass tacks, we could have some groups that could be in very good areas that simple do not have the man power or resources to capitalize on the DNA opportunities presented. And over here we could have a well funded group that's in a bad area beating a dead horse. On top of all this almost all of these groups are not committed to taking a type specimen if the opportunity presents itself. Look at any group and count the number of witnesses who have had a sighting. Now chalk up each sighting as a missed opportunity no different than stepping over a hair, stool or blood sample..... I think it's imperative that groups work together if we are ever going to solve this mystery. And I also think we need fresh eyes from different fields involved that might come up with different solutions to our problem. Todd Disotell comes to mind with his mosquito traps. Let's face it, if we are looking for answers? Whoops and wood knocks at 2 am are not cutting it. I try to share what I find, but unfortunately I haven't found super interesting stuff. But the femur I found went to big tree Walker for his bone study. If I had not been apart of this forum and shared my find? I would know nothing of BTW's bone study. We need to get the right stuff to the right people. The BFF research area is great because you are the moderator of your own sub forum. You control the content and the discussion of what is shared. No need to worry about non applicable theories or personalities taking over. It also gets your groups name out there which may present new opportunities for you from other research groups. Its a great tool!

On the subject of the tech guys on the forum, I appreciate the new staff POC block in the header. Now that it's there, I'll probably need it, but what the heck, it's a good improvement. Anything I cipher out with my spreadsheets and slide rules and stubby pencils, I post somewhere here. Someday I'll make an e-book of it all and charge a modest fee, but most of it will show up here first. Should I ever find clear and compelling evidence, or even "maybe-this-is-something" evidence, I'd likely share it here first before sending it in to someone with a tv show. This is a good group that will vet everything without having a pre-ordained conclusion.

Thanks XC, cool area. Good luck and be safe out there

I would say yes, but the circumstances would have to be so perfect that I believe it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to ever occur. I wrote this up a while back as a possible scenario where it could conceivably happen. http://bigfootforums.com/index.php?/topic/48381-how-will-it-happen/&do=findComment&comment=853494 But for the average cell phone video/pic you see these days, I agree; no way.

Also, guys in suits lately haven't faired too well. Run over by cars and even getting shot. As bad is it sounds it could be that hoaxing in suits isn't such a good idea and may have even served to reduce the chances of being hoaxed by guy-in-a-suit. At least anyone who reads the news might think twice about pulling such a stunt. While the thought might initially be funny to run around pretending to be Sasquatch the potential outcome certainly isn't. The "Killing Bigfoot" guys no doubt would be devastated should something turn out to be not what they expected.

Anyone who has a premium membership can access the research areas, read, comment, whatever. If you choose not to act accordingly however, the person who controls their research area can block you out. There are several other research areas you could still access however. Plus, the $20 bucks for the premium membership supports the forum. It also gives you access to The Tar Pit, where you can let anyone and everyone know what you think about them with no restrictions. Just beware however, The Tar Pit is where they keep Huntster chained up.

Bigfoot fanatics that need to see something are probably NOT seeing anything at all.