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I submitted a paper to RHI last November, but it's still in peer review. In the meantime, here is a YouTube video of my presentation at the Kiamichi Mountains Bigfoot Conference in May: The first few slides, omitted here, were about DNA and the microphone was not on and so were not recorded. Nothing new in them that you probably don't already know.

Agree. Agree BUT .. Agree BUT !!!! ... I think the quality and detail of information on the non-forum platforms is somewhat lacking. Or maybe you could say the signal to noise ratio is lower. So while forums may be perceived as old fogey stuff they're still where to go for better quality. The others are fine if you're primarily there for entertainment but if you are trying to do research .. nah.

Several years ago, when I was active on the JREF/International Skeptics Forum, I ended up betting that Sasquatch would be scientifically proven by X date, which was a couple of years in the future. In the negotiations, I was able to talk them into giving me odds of 50,000 to 1, so I put up $50. That X date came and went and I paid $50 to a charity of his choice. It was fun and added something to the back and forth banter that I dealt with on that site. I wasn't ever going to collect $2.5 million if science finally proved they exist, but I was willing to put my money up for the cause.

This is a drawing of my first encounter. Late 70's, so no cell phones. I have explained it before, but thought a drawing of it would help. I will post the drawing and then post an explanation a little later.

I was a pretty prolific member for a while. I still check in semi-regularly, but don’t feel the desire to post much anymore. For me, it’s the overwhelming negativity on a topic that is supposed to be enjoyable. The overall Bigfoot community is growing larger every day, but it’s also becoming more fragmented every day as well. Even this thread, which is about why is the forum dying, is filled with complaints about pretty much everything under the Sasquatch sun. TV shows, YouTube, rehashed topics, etc. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, but there is a constant complaining that permeates the Bigfoot community that often turns into outright hostility when what are relatively minor differences arise. People who believe or have an interest in Bigfoot should have a great deal in common, but instead those minor differences of opinion cause a lot of discord. Don’t like Mountain Monsters or Expedition Bigfoot? Don’t watch it. However, shows like that plant a seed of interest in a new generation, insuring that there is a fresh crop of enthusiasts who will hopefully carry on the search. TV executives don’t really make shows geared towards real life Bigfoot researchers. Maybe just be glad that the subject has enough mainstream acceptance to make its way onto television in any form? Tired of a topic that (for you) has been beaten to death? Scroll past it. Are you a flesh and blood proponent irritated by the Woo? Are you a Woo supporter who hates the Apers? Well, at the end of the day you both have more on common with one another than you would have with a skeptic. Not to mention that we are dealing with almost zero proven facts about the phenomenon, so you both have a good chance at being somewhat correct. A lot of the members here want a more active forum, with more active participants. You can’t have that with multiple filters put into place. Anyway, I would like to see the forum become more active again. But, to do that you need new members who stick around. They need to enjoy the place to do that. Maybe start there?

For me? The problem with new members is that many of them are trolls. You never know if they are asking a question in good faith, or are setting up a gotcha moment. So I would say I have become somewhat jaded with new members unfortunately. Back to the forum in general. I do not possess the tech saavy to run this forum. But as long as Gigantor sticks around for the tech stuff? I pledge to keep the lights on one way or another. Just like the jet boating forum Mean Chicken, this forum is a repository of knowledge that I do not want to see extinguished.

True. But the Smela case followed Backdoc's suggested scenario almost to a T, only failing because Smeja and his partner failed to take and distribute pics immediately. Which is the precise reason cited by Smeja as to why they left the scene immediately. This should be no surprise, especially in the current litigious society, and especially with a creature that might very well be a feral human or human subspecies.

Real or Fake? Is it a biological life-form? Or a rubber dummy stuffed with pig guts? I can say with complete conviction that it doesn't matter. Why? No physical evidence. And that video has made the rounds on social media. It did not matter.

It is now proven that government didn't need to silence Patterson and Gimlin. All they needed to do was place tighter controls on access to the Bluff Creek area. BTW, the area is closed all winter long, when tracks in the snow can tell their tale. Every year. You really don't have to "cover it up". All you have to do is officially ignore it and occasionally make a silly joke to make believers look stupid. Your scenario is fine, and if it went that way, it would essentially out the squelches. But, like I wrote, that's essentially what happened with Smeja, but without the videos and body parts, but of course, that's because he figured he'd be arrested...................and he was right................... I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

and I was told this forum was dying. great thread. thanks all.

If anyone goes they should come see me in Newport! I am still healing up from surgery.

Probably the appraised auction value like with antiques because of all the fossils we have here we call members, speaking for myself in the antiquarian sense too

Ive watched your videos with you and your wife doing research together. Quite frankly with a Discovery camera crew? You guys are every bit as good as any other TV show out there. And maybe thats the secret to the BFF? It needs a media front to funnel people back to the forum. And same goes for the WV crew and Lane County crew. Also a shout out to everyone that posts in the Field Trip section. Looking at pictures and video of beautiful mountains and forests and possibly evidence is always a highlight for me personally.

I haven’t posted in ages and rarely comment, but I am watching. Willing to bet there’s a lot of others on here doing the same. Casual lurkers make up sizable chunks of any forum

Thank you for sharing. No matter what that impolite poster said.

I feel like this person(s) has 10 more sock puppet accounts loaded in his gun.

Well, I did do an online business lookup of the Bigfoot Forums which revealed that this site is worth over $1,000,000!!! Amazing how fast those $20 contributions to the cause add up. Also amazing? How wrong online business lookup sites can be.

Any audio, video or photos posted here are stolen by internet keyboard warriors. Posting is a choice. Keep in mind that this forum is an internet message board, not a research site. I think that newbies visit expecting instant answers. There are a lot of smart people on the BFF and there is no expectation to post daily, weekly, monthly or longer. Just keep checking back. There will always be haters. Trolls self destruct on the BFF, some sooner, some later.

Do you think contributing to this forum is making posts about hoaxes, circle jerks and insulting researchers? And this question also goes to our members that liked his post? Or where do we draw the line with “Troll derangement syndrome” as Foxhill put it? Why do you do it? Why can’t you be amicable?

@norseman Cool. I'm down in that country (north of the border) for the first time in my life this week - the last part of BC I haven't spent time in. A few days of work in Cranbrook and Fernie, about 100 miles north of Kalispell. Man, it is beautiful down here.

For the record, Reddit is a dump, designed to elicit one word replies and ruled by leftist statist trolls who would as soon set you on fire as entertain your opinion if you don't strictly follow the populist zeitgeist. R/Bigfoot is thus a cesspool of short attention span theater with constant repeating deluge of AI garbage, repeated photo posts and people who can't be bothered to Google something. It's fine that it exists, it keeps that kind of idiot off here.

I agree many online communities can be described this way. it's certainly true of open source software development communities. But if we look at bigfootforums.com as a 'brand' that people hold a certain impression toward, we can look at the site's direct competitors for members -- say, r/bigfoot -- and see if ChatGPT gives us the same or similar description of that online community (prompt and response pasted below). Of course, this is ChatGPT and its pulling mainly from reddit for its response; there's certainly bias here -- actually, it reads like an advertisement for r/bigfoot. I'm not saying one brand's impression is better than another. Brands (including online communities) should be positioned differently to stand out as unique and attract certain customers or members (e.g., Ford vs Toyota vs Tesla). Go to X if you want this kind of experience; go to Y if you want that kind of experience. I guess my point is that bigfootforums can fix stuff internally (server crashes, search capabilities) but the external image might also need to be considered. This would depend on what image BFF wants to have among its competitors... and what kinds of members it wants to attract and retain. "Come to BFF if you want some good ole American in-your-face confrontation and arrogance. Go to r/bigfoot if you want European civility and kindness... and then kindly **** off." That's just as an example of course. Back in my marketing research days there was a story about Coca-Cola many people would paraphrase. It went something like, "The CEO of Coke once said that you can take away all of the company's facilities, equipment, people, and other assets. Just leave me the brand name and I'll be just fine." ------------------------ ChatGPT on r/bigfoot Prompt: Can you give me a description on current attitudes and perceptions people hold toward the r/bigfoot subreddit as an online community? Response: The r/bigfoot subreddit is a vibrant and inclusive online community dedicated to discussions about Bigfoot and related phenomena. Established in December 2009, the subreddit has grown to become one of the most active platforms for Bigfoot enthusiasts, researchers, and skeptics alike. Community Atmosphere and User Experiences Members of r/bigfoot appreciate the community's openness to a wide range of perspectives. The subreddit encourages civil discourse, allowing both believers and skeptics to share their views. A recent post highlights this inclusive environment, stating: "Believers and skeptics alike are welcome here, and friendly discussion is highly encouraged." reddit.com This approach fosters a respectful and engaging atmosphere where users can discuss various aspects of Bigfoot lore and research. Moderation and Governance The subreddit maintains a clear set of rules to ensure constructive discussions. The primary rule emphasizes civility:reddit.com "Please keep all discussion civil. First infraction you will get a warning. Another incident will result in a ban." reddit.com This policy helps maintain a welcoming environment for both new and long-standing members. Content and Discussions r/bigfoot hosts a diverse array of content, including personal encounter stories, analysis of audio and video evidence, discussions on folklore, and debates on the authenticity of various claims. For instance, users often engage in critical evaluations of purported Bigfoot sightings, discussing factors that may contribute to misidentification. One user questioned the tendency to label certain evidence as fake, prompting a thoughtful discussion on the criteria used to assess authenticity. lirias.kuleuven.be+1reddit.com+1reddit.com Additionally, the subreddit features lighter content, such as Bigfoot-themed art and humor, contributing to a well-rounded community experience. Overall Perception Overall, r/bigfoot is perceived as a supportive and engaging community that balances open-mindedness with critical analysis. Its inclusive nature and emphasis on respectful dialogue make it a valuable space for anyone interested in exploring the mysteries surrounding Bigfoot.

In a previous life I worked in market research, mainly conducting attitude surveys regarding brand names in various product/service categories. So when I think about changing interest levels in bigfootforums.com, I wonder about the site's brand image. In the absence of a full-blown marketing study, I just asked ChatGPT to tell me. (response pasted below, screenshot attached). Looks like there *might* be a few issues that deter new members from joining and/or sticking around. It's helpful to keep in mind that if a new (or even a long-time) member feels slighted here, they could go over to Reddit and bad-mouth bigfootforums.com. -- that one slighted member has turned off possibly hundreds of prospective members. ------------------------- ChatGPT prompt & response Prompt: Can you give me a description on current attitudes and perceptions people hold toward bigfootforums.com as an online community? Response: As of mid-2025, BigfootForums.com appears to be inactive or offline, with users reporting difficulties accessing the site since mid-2024. reddit.com Community Atmosphere and User Experiences Historically, the forum was known for its stringent registration process, requiring new members to post an introduction and limiting them to one post per day until reaching a certain threshold. This approach, while intended to deter trolls, was often described as convoluted and discouraging for newcomers. Long-time participants observed that the forum tended to be dominated by a small group of regulars who were often skeptical of outsiders. This led to perceptions of the community being grumpy, combative, and resistant to differing viewpoints. Moderation and Governance The forum's moderation was perceived as heavy-handed by some users. There were instances of users being banned without clear explanations, leading to frustration and, in one case, a user threatening legal action over their banning. thelaw.com Content and Discussions Despite these challenges, the forum hosted in-depth discussions on various Bigfoot-related topics, such as audio recordings and field studies. However, the overall tone of the community may not have been conducive to open and inclusive dialogue. Current Status Given the reported inaccessibility of the site since mid-2024, it is unclear whether BigfootForums.com will resume operations. For those seeking alternative platforms to discuss Bigfoot and related phenomena, communities like the r/bigfoot subreddit may offer a more inclusive environment.

reddit is run by fascist dictator moderators who ban anyone they don't agree with politically. given that most conservatives are banned, and given that most hunters are conservative, they have priced themself right out of most of the encounters.

By Jove, I think you've got it.

"I do believe there's a significant possibility of there being a hoaxer in these woods." Just my opinion and totally understanding that others could conclude otherwise (if you were drunk or high). And I do believe you have correctly identified the mask used. I'm guessing that boot black was applied to the mask to make the face more consistently dark. Listening to the video (so others don't have to), the purported pictures aren't even shown until around the seven minute mark and the "witness" is having a conversation with "Nef" (so recording audio) but only taking stills, not videotaping so that the super-true, really lifelike movement (of people rearranging the props) can be seen. Amazing he has 80,000 subscribers on YouTube. And very sad.

My name is Shelley and I recently had an encounter on a BFRO expedition. I have always been interested in this subject, but this experience has motivated me to learn as much as I can about this subject. I appreciate being added to the Bigfoot Forum and I hope to learn from some of the experienced researchers here. Cheers!

Computer guy here. High scale, petabytes scale, and higher. Tens of thousands of servers and hundreds of thousands of "containers" scale. And of course loads of old and recent machine learning and AI experience. It's a tool. It's fed poorly, limited information from limited sources, sources that are biased towards certain answers and limited in many ways. I am curious as to what it would regurgitate if it were trained in all US government archives, like one had access to a trove of secret documents. For example, I use an SDK or software agent to deliver log files and metrics to time series databases, that SDK and agent have libraries written for it. When asked how to plumb up certain technologies with the SDK, some AIs will make up answers out of whole cloth, faking a reply. For me it's not a huge deal because the libraries are protected by many layers but for other tools a bad actor could write that fake library and use it for compromising systems. Unreliable. But teach it to only reply with proven libraries with digital signatures signed by some author and your answers improve. I suspect that if we ever let it in to truly hidden archives, the secrets it would out would far sooner start WW3 than expose a cover-up of cryptids, but that's the only way something like this would be revealed by AI. We would have to plumb the archives of a dozen agencies to get access to the mundane reports from the field and even then have to piece it together ourselves. Archives that won't be made public anytime soon. The current language models are trained on mundane stuff, unfortunately. But, someday, you'll stumble into some university archives only accessible via secret username and password, and pass that login information and URL to an LLM and feed and prompt it, here's a URL and the login ID is Joe, password is password123, digest all you can find and summarize the reports mentioning Bigfoot, Sasquatch and any other similar species... And only then will it start to get fun. The question is who lets one in first and who writes the first prompt to expose it.

Hi im daniel i have always found a interest in bigfoot i own a cottage and have had some encounters i really hope to do more research on this website

^^^ Made up stories can have elements of truth. But part truth is still not the truth. My hotel receipt or speeding camera picture in my rental car is convincing I was in Chicago on some date and time. It doesn't mean I saw Elvis alive while I was there if I made such a claim. People tell untruths sometimes innocently and sometimes for some other motivation. The problem comes for someone who NEED that person or needs to believe them. It's just like how Greg Long needs Heironimus so he overlooks the changing suit, stories, timelines and so on. They can't walk away when these witness' stories don't add up. They should, but they don't. In this case of the Bob Lezar thing, some NEED him. In the event the storyteller is exposed by massive holes in their story, those who need him will say, "Wow, the government was SO powerful they convinced him to lie for them!" For them, that government can even somehow remove him for yearbooks. I wish this didn't have to spin into a UFO forum. Just so you know, Mike Farrell's UFO show in the 1980's tells me Aliens like ice cream; especially strawberry. Got to be true, right

I gather a set-up akin to a bowfishing rig on a crossbow with low power draw and tipped bolt that has a stop, like the business end of a ski pole or somesuch. I'm sure it's doable, it's getting it into the hands of a prepared individual, in the right place, at the right time--the usual wrench in the works...

It wasn’t mean to degrade you in anyway. Your opinion is a popular one, trust me. What would it change? Much. Well for starters it would shut up all the nay sayers that make fun of the topic. It would also be a stark warning for anyone that ventures outdoors. 411 books? Don’t hike alone. Don’t wear bright colors. Etc. I also think it would be profound for humanity to suddenly realize we are not the only species in our genus. If it plays out that way. That a bipedal relative still shares the planet with us? Science would study this for the next 100 years. Official scientific recognition would also bring about profound changes in resource extraction on public lands. There would be environmental impact studies that would come about because of this discovery. A 800 lbs primate in North America would make the spotted owl pale by comparison. And the bottom line is that it would expand human knowledge. If science can miss this? What else are we missing? What’s in our oceans? Our cave systems? Under the poles? Our jungles? Maybe this discovery would light a fire in humanity’s belly to get out and explore Mother Nature. We have become a species of electronic alternative reality. And it’s not a good thing IMHO.

You posted: That is opinion, not fact. I stated my experience. You can accept it or not, but you cannot claim your opinion as fact. But I consider it arrogant that you would publlcly post that I'm seeing things that are not actually there and is all in my head. That does not say that they disregard potential existence like what you claimed. There's nothing in the statement that demonstrates that they're discouraging the possibility that it exists like what you claimed. But that statement, too, is factual: It is not opinion. The U.S. Forest Service: 1) Does not confirm Bigfoot's existence 2) They maintain open spaces and wildlife habitat therein 3) And those lands could potentially include habitat for such a creature should it exist Isn't that true?

What does Tom know about paranormal bigfoots? We do have a section on UFO reports and I haven't snooped around there yet. If you go to a 'Flash of Beauty' and find two fellows from Coquille, Oregon. One has a blue shirt and a slender man has a red shirt and they speak of a paranormal bigfoot that they ran across on a mountain road.

Appreciate it, man.

I don’t know about the Forest Service, but it seems there’s been people in the US government leaking info to Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 on bigfoot and aliens in an attempt to disclose info to the public. Supposedly they have DNA evidence that they have trouble decoding. DeLonge calls the phenomenon “The Wildmen” and believes it involves the paranormal. I haven’t seen any updates on it since he released the news.

I agree that it's your opinion, but what i said isn't my opinion. It's facts. Their statement said what I stated, not what you claimed it said.

Hello- My name is Bobby, currently living outside of Dallas, TX. Born and raised here in TX and i have also travelled to a majority of the lower 48 states, whether it be for work or pleasure. my entire adult life i havent had much interest in cryptids or Sasquatch/bigfoot until a few months ago.. I had a sighting in 2009 when I was driving back to school in Huntsville, TX. It was a sunday night around 10pm, i was driving south down I-45 just passed Madisonville. Both sides of the Highway are covered in thick pine trees once you get to the edge of the Sam Houston National park. I was cruising around 65mph on the right lane when i seen a very large bi-pedal creature, walk across the 2 lane highway in 2 steps. I estimate he was around 7-8 feet tall and covered in black hair except his face. He was holding what looked like a racoon in his left hand as he was walking from west to east, I was travelling south. the entire sighting lasted about 5 seconds. I was 21 years old when this happened, I am 39 now. I havent shared this moment or incident with a single person, not even my wife.. this was something i just tucked away in my mind. I didnt sleep at all that night and just kept telling myself i was seeing a deer.

What is their position of the US Forrest Service...? The short answer is this: They support things that are proven like wolves and bears. Things that are unproven are just unproven. They can't be expected to have an official position on the subject or any subject that remains unproven. For instance, I doubt they have an official position on ESP or ghosts. I say 'unproven' because that is the general consensus of science. It seems- due to the discovery of Lucy and others- science has moved from 'Bigfoot can't exist' to 'Bigfoot might exist but so far is unproven'. If I went hunting and shot Bigfoot those government forces (US Forrest and so on) would go where the facts take them. 'They' would say Bigfoot exists as soon as they saw the body. They might be a local sheriff, some DNR guy, some US Forrest guy in a fire spotting tower, and 100 reporters who happen upon the story. Someone in government making an April fool's joke about bigfoot doesn't change any position. I really don't think NORAD is trying to support or harm Christmas based on the Santa Tracker on Christmas eve. There are some on the BFF and elsewhere who see the Government as some evil all powerful conspiracy about Bigfoot and about anything else they can image. If you ask those type of people, they will attribute things to the government that take you down quite a bunny trail. This even assumes something and big as the government made up of many layers and employees are all going to move in unison under one group think direction. Not likely. Don't believe me? See how fast they are to down vote me for posting this post. Even during the moon landing times, we had different factions who argued about the very mode we would take to even get to the moon. That is a simple unified goal fully funded and yet the various opinions and growing pains were evident. Those who say the government knows all about Bigfoot being out there and, here is the key, they are keeping it hidden are ones who NEED to have this be the case. They require a certain view of Government who probably that has even more deeper intentions even beyond Bigfoot. Sorry, I can't see it that way at least as it relates to Bigfoot. The answer is Government, or the US Forrest Service probably have people who work in it that believe in Bigfoot and some that don't. Beyond that, they are concerned about Budgets, hunting season, litterbugs and Yogi bear stealing picnic baskets.

I'm a believer in Sasquatch, and i hope to someday become a knower but I asked chatgpt if Bigfoot is real and this is what it said: is bigfoot real? ChatGPT said: No, Bigfoot is not real. There is zero scientifically credible evidence to support the existence of such a creature. Every supposed sighting, footprint, or video has either been debunked, lacks verifiability, or is anecdotal. In contrast, extensive wildlife studies, camera traps, and modern tracking technologies have failed to produce a single verifiable specimen or consistent biological trace. The idea persists because it's profitable (TV shows, merchandise, tourism) and taps into human fascination with the unknown. But from a practical standpoint, a large, elusive primate population surviving undetected in North America is implausible. It's fiction, not fact.

How so? I am wrong that the Bigfoot community and this forum can sometimes be pretty negative? I am also wrong that the forum seems to be unable for the most part to attract and retain new contributing members? I am wrong that those two statements might be connected? it’s an odd response to my post, but have at it. If you are more comfortable in the archives and don’t want a thriving online community with new productive members, so be it. In that case, start a new thread about how can we chase off even more people so there can be even less annoyances on the forum. I won’t post an opinion in that particular thread. You are a patron, so you have financially invested in this forum. If you want to take it in a certain direction, go ahead. Hell, if you want to take it down to ten people who all contribute to its upkeep and ban everyone else, go ahead. Cow thermal? A level researchers? Monetization? I thought that the thread was a discussion about the decrease in activity on the forum. Not an apparent airing of grievances. My opinion stands. Sometimes people are in the community so long that they become overwhelmingly bitter about the subject. That bitterness is not really welcoming to new people and their involvement. From what my buddy tells me, the Ham Radio community faces something similar, although from what he says it’s actually getting better slowly. if I am misunderstanding what you are saying and am misrepresenting what you say, then I apologize. But, there were no “grains of sophistry” in my comment. How so? I am wrong that the Bigfoot community and this forum can sometimes be pretty negative? I am also wrong that the forum seems to be unable for the most part to attract and retain new contributing members? I am wrong that those two statements might be connected? it’s an odd response to my post, but have at it. If you are more comfortable in the archives and don’t want a thriving online community with new productive members, so be it. In that case, start a new thread about how can we chase off even more people so there can be even less annoyances on the forum. I won’t post an opinion in that particular thread. You are a patron, so you have financially invested in this forum. If you want to take it in a certain direction, go ahead. Hell, if you want to take it down to ten people who all contribute to its upkeep and ban everyone else, go ahead. Cow thermal? A level researchers? Monetization? I thought that the thread was a discussion about the decrease in activity on the forum. Not an apparent airing of grievances. My opinion stands. Sometimes people are in the community so long that they become overwhelmingly bitter about the subject. That bitterness is not really welcoming to new people and their involvement. From what my buddy tells me, the Ham Radio community faces something similar, although from what he says it’s actually getting better slowly. if I am misunderstanding what you are saying and am misrepresenting what you say, then I apologize. But, there were no “grains of sophistry” in my comment. How so? I am wrong that the Bigfoot community and this forum can sometimes be pretty negative? I am also wrong that the forum seems to be unable for the most part to attract and retain new contributing members? I am wrong that those two statements might be connected? it’s an odd response to my post, but have at it. If you are more comfortable in the archives and don’t want a thriving online community with new productive members, so be it. In that case, start a new thread about how can we chase off even more people so there can be even less annoyances on the forum. I won’t post an opinion in that particular thread. You are a patron, so you have financially invested in this forum. If you want to take it in a certain direction, go ahead. Hell, if you want to take it down to ten people who all contribute to its upkeep and ban everyone else, go ahead. Cow thermal? A level researchers? Monetization? I thought that the thread was a discussion about the decrease in activity on the forum. Not an apparent airing of grievances. My opinion stands. Sometimes people are in the community so long that they become overwhelmingly bitter about the subject. That bitterness is not really welcoming to new people and their involvement. From what my buddy tells me, the Ham Radio community faces something similar, although from what he says it’s actually getting better slowly. if I am misunderstanding what you are saying and am misrepresenting what you say, then I apologize. But, there were no “grains of sophistry” in my comment.

Not "completely human" but human-like with some distinguishing characteristics (i.e. mutations), according to my research in eDNA.

When I drew this, I drew it from memory. Then today, I thought why didn't I google it so I could see the area. So I wrote in the drawing that the tree twists went in a line on the north east of the road, when in reality it was along the south east, running up the road to the north and I figured a half mile, however, on the map, it is around a 1/4 mile.

I'll echo BRB's thoughts and add a few myself. It use to be those who developed an interest in bigfooting either got out in the woods on their own or hitched a ride with someone else who did. Local BF groups took root. Those who were already experienced in the outdoors, such as hunters or hikers, took to it with ease. They had the equipment and the knowledge to spend a weekend in the woods. The one thing that was missing was the familiarity with, or knowledge of, matters related to sasquatch. You learned that by coming here and sharing information. You asked questions you weren't certain about and answered questions you had experience with. In my opinion, it has always been about, and still is, the search to get the one glimpse of a sasquatch. If that never comes, it's ok because every moment in the woods has been cherished and was the winning hand already. I visit BFF everyday and find that newcomers want to reap a harvest immediately without having sown the seeds first. I was probably like that too but ,in the end, you get out exactly what you put in. Learn, ask questions, experiment, share, and even try new approaches. Hostile remarks are the hallmark of people who expect others to do their dirty work. Sorry, you'll get no where with an approach like that. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. Put in the time, contribute your knowledge and experience, and enjoy the ride. You'll be glad you did.

I was also encouraged by this episode of Expedition Bigfoot. These samples may be the first of their kind for Bigfoot. I will be glued to the screen when Season 7 begins. Christina Burns is the DNA Profiling Facility Manager at the International Forensic Research Institute of Florida International University. She should be well qualified to do the DNA sequencing. Her human-like preliminary results are what I found in aquatic eDNA, which, however, is less definitive than a blood sample and more extensive sequencing. https://case.fiu.edu/about/directory/profiles/burns-christina.html

Well, from my perspective, I think it is the simple fact that there is nothing new happening in the field. There are no big events such as a major sighting caught on film or DNA evidence being reported. And when the only t.v. exposure is the ..imho...dismally overdone and woefully laughable "Expedition Bigfoot" (the twin sister of Mountain Monsters) where the principal actors are always thisclose to catching one only to have it vanish into thin air...why wouldn't the subject turn into a joke or piece of fluff entertainment? Why would people want to "waste their time"? Hell, Sasquatch is everywhere now as a pop icon from stickers to jerky to toys to tv and i think that hurt the credibility of the subject as well by making it kitschy. I listen to the B&B podcast and I think some interesting, new evidence is being readied for presentation in the comments Cliff makes about certain research. Hopefully then, new life and new blood will perk things up. When Norseman collects a body for us...then you watch how active this sight becomes.

This caught my attention, since my topic post w/ graph showed an observable downward trend. Looking back on my data, code, and graph, I discovered I had mistook the date field as the submission date, when in fact what the Kaggle author called 'timestamp' is actually the reported sighting date. I should have caught this. The submission date is not available in the dataset I had used. The trends that AI pulled from Reddit are based on what the Redditor called an updated dataset relative to the one I used. This updated version has a submission date and a messy sighting year field (e.g., 2022, 2014-ish, 2001-2002, 1987 and 1994, 2011, etc.). The updated version also cuts off at 2021. There are other differences between the datasets, but here's what I found in terms of AI's response: Yes, there was a spike in 2012, though these were largely Class B sightings. My guess is that this comes from heightened awareness from Finding Bigfoot, which premiered in 2011. The downward trend resumed its course after the spike in 2012. Yes, there was an upward trend but it reversed around 2005. Here's my updated graph with correct labeling (LEFT) and a graph I created from the 'updated' data linked by the Redditor (RIGHT). Note that i had fewer records to graph (on the left), as I removed any records missing a date/year value (due to the witness unable to recall the encounter date). The graph on the right, since it's using the actual submission date (rather than the encounter date), had far fewer missing values (roughly 1000 more records to graph). BFRO launched in mid-late 1990s, and this is reflected in the near-zero submissions prior to then (righthand graph).