Is the Bigfoot Forum losing interest?

[georgerm]

Welcome Idlehour30 to the forum. One of your suggestions was interesting but we need to figure out how to accomplish what you suggested. You said, "With all the information and valuable contributions to this forum - is there, or could there be something like a Bigfoot Forum youtube channel or podcast? That could be used to highlight the latest content and signpost to upcoming themes - and of course, this would drive lots more people right here." How do we create a youtube channel or podcast?

 

I also suggested to contact various individuals who are already interested in primates and invite them on to the forum. I will do this and does anyone want to help me?  contact gmcnair800@gmail.com These people might be primatologist. "Some of the most famous and influential primatologists today include Jane Goodall, Birutė Galdikas, and Dian Fossey. These women revolutionized the field with their groundbreaking research on chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas, respectively." These universities have primate studies: Emory University, Tulane University, the University of California-Davis, the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Edited Monday at 02:03 PM by georgerm
make corrections

[MIB]

On 5/29/2025 at 7:14 PM, Patterson-Gimlin said:

I also believe Many newbies do feel unwelcome. I can understand why. 

 

One of the things about many noobs that frustrates me is they don't do their research before posting, they throw stuff up that has been rehashed countless times as if it has to be new and startling to others merely because it is new and startling to them.   There's a significant component of narcissism and entitlement there.   I'm old, tired, and short-fused when it comes to that level of disrespect .. and it may be that a lot of long established members are in the same boat choosing to disengage rather than react to it.    

[georgerm]

Sounds like the primatologist tied to this center might be too busy to join Bigfoot Forum. "The University of Washington has dismissed the director of its primate research center, adding to a series of concerning developments at the controversial lab.

The dismissal of Dr. Michele Basso last month from the Washington National Primate Research Center — one of seven federally-funded primate labs nationwide — comes after a routine inspection report faulted the UW for the death of a rhesus macaque monkey last year, and amid an ongoing review by the state veterinary board."

 

 

 

• California National Primate Research Center
• Emory National Primate Research Center
• Oregon National Primate Research Center
• Southwest National Primate Research Center
• Tulane National Primate Research Center
• Washington National Primate Research Center
• Wisconsin National Primate Research Center

[JKH]

Make the second heading under New Member Instructions a short search tutorial.

[Backdoc]

3 hours ago, idlehour30 said:

 

 

Backdoc - can you distill a best practice for how you find information? I think I'd really appreciate learning how to use this site better, and maybe this could be something featured on the homepage for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got on the BFF over 10 years ago at the recommendation of Bill Munns.  I don't know Bill personally.  I found Bill's Email and emailed him a Bigfoot Q after seeing him TV.  Bill was kind enough to answer my Q in detail.  He recommended I join the BFF as a source of info if I had other Q or interest.  I joined and was pleased I did.  

 

My interest in the Bigfoot then and now is mostly limited to two areas:

 

1)   The Patterson Gimlin Film is THE main interest.

 

2)  A minor interest in the life support issues needed to support Bigfoot if it's really out there.  (Food needs, breading population and so on). 

 

Thanks to the BFF I went from a very basic understanding of the PGF to a very strong understanding.   This was esp. true of the Munns report and specifically the play-by-play Bill presented as to "what are we seeing when we see the PGF"  

 

As a beginner I used to have a lot of ongoing dialogs/ postings on the BFF PGF.   These postings did a great job in educating me/ bringing me up to speed in all details PGF related.   After enough years of this, I have fewer Q on it, thus fewer postings.

 

 

Now onto how I use the BFF as more of a ENCYCLOPOEIA BIGFOOT:

 

1)   As a more seasoned poster now, I look up by subject the BFF threads.   I will sometimes re-read some of the past discussions to refresh my perspectives.   

 

2)  Where I can't find the answer or a new idea comes to mind, I will post my Q in the thread [  Patterson Gimlin Film T or F?  ] 

 

I see the PGF as an Encyclopedia of great knowledge on the BFF and generally on the subject of bigfoot.  

 

 

To sum it up,  I would compare the BFF as the phases a student might have to become a nurse:

 

-Interest in the nursing profession.

-Go to college after years of training to become a practicing nurse

-As a veteran practicing nurse going back to school for new training or refreshers classes from time to time.

 

The BFF might be very similar:

 

-Initial interests in Bigfoot

-"Training" to become very knowledgeable using years of posting and dialog on the BFF

-Having somewhat mastered the subject, occasional use of the BFF for some specifics or new information when it trickles in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trogluddite]

On 6/1/2025 at 12:38 AM, norseman said:

I have fallen out of the health tree and hit every branch on the way down. Fingers crossed I can park my AR this fall and go back to hairy chested high caliber rifles.🤞

     Could be worse, my wife claims I fell out of the ugly tree, climbed back up, and fell down through it again.

 

 

8 hours ago, idlehour30 said:

Firstly, I came here after getting jaded with Reddit .... The amount of expertise, experience and knowledge here is pretty overwhelming. (Emphasis Trogluddite; responses or thoughts underlined)  That is so right.  And in addition, there is no single researcher decreeing that "this shall be Bigfoot worthy" and "this shall not be Bigfoot worthy."  There is a measured free flow of information here like few other sites, let alone Bigfoot sites.   

 

Here are my questions as to your points.....  

 

1) Get people here - nothing to add here; you're right, a fixed webpage is treated like a book written in old English these days. 

 

2) Keep people here

 

Some of this might be limitations of the Forum tool itself, but since I joined I noticed there have been the same 4 or 5 images along the top of the homepage. I've never clicked on them, because they don't have labels and the rollover urls don't give me much reason to click.  Those change periodically and highlight important/new threads.  I can see where it would be helpful if each had some sort of label and they were swapped out after some period of time. 

 

Then there's the big list of content areas, but these are of a fixed order. It's not easy to see which areas are 'hot' - and the order means that more actively engaged topics come further down the list than topics that were last updated in 2021. There's so much here as well - I've literally only just become aware of how often the Media section is updated. I think there's a fair amount that can be achieved if what was here was better advertised and shouted about on the homepage.  There are two problems w/the websites "knowledge management," which are endemic to large established organizations.  The first is that people who have been with the organization know where everything important is, so they don't worry about making it easy for new members of the organization.  (I've called this the "e-mail from Lloyd" problem because when I started a new job the answer to every question about some arcane point of law was, "That was in an e-mail from Lloyd."  Never mind that Lloyd sent the $@$#!!! e-mail five years before I joined the organization; no one bothered to consolidate knowledge to make it accessible to new employees.) 

 

The second problem is that new people arrive with questions asked out of ignorance of what came before them (I plead guilty to that) and the thread they start to re-ask a question that was well answered pushes the robust thread w/fulsome answers further down the memory hole - people have to look through 10, 15, 20, or more pages of irrelevant threads to find the good one.

 

If this could get a usability redesign, with more dynamic content - I think it would really help to get people in the door.  Does the Forums have the tech support team that can handle that?

 

3) Keep people coming back

 

As mentioned - for a newbie, the amount of expertise, experience and knowledge here is overwhelming - and that can be both a blessing and a curse. 

 

I don't think there's a more comprehensive collection of information and high quality opinion on, say the PGF anywhere else on the web, and by extension - the planet - but like Trogluddite has eluded to, if I want to find all the information we have about the development of the film, for example - the search results give me sometimes hundreds of pages of discussion which can be daunting and difficult to navigate through. There are many times I've thought "I must look up X on BFF", but then I subconsciously add the time i think it will take to get the info I'm looking for and even well-meaning, I'll put it off till I have more time - and then I never have more time. :( 

If the path to the incredible insight contained in this forum could be streamlined in some way, I think the better usability would help keep people coming back. Not being technical, I don't have any super helpful insight into how to accomplish this, however. 

 

Backdoc - can you distill a best practice for how you find information? I think I'd really appreciate learning how to use this site better, and maybe this could be something featured on the homepage for everyone.

 

3 hours ago, JKH said:

Make the second heading under New Member Instructions a short search tutorial.

Or, as GeorgeM alluded two, maybe some of the old retired guys could start paring through stuff to find the golden nuggets to highlight and to pack off some of the other stuff into a second Archive.  Is it time to create BFF v3.0?

[Patterson-Gimlin]

5 hours ago, MIB said:

 

One of the things about many noobs that frustrates me is they don't do their research before posting, they throw stuff up that has been rehashed countless times as if it has to be new and startling to others merely because it is new and startling to them.   There's a significant component of narcissism and entitlement there.   I'm old, tired, and short-fused when it comes to that level of disrespect .. and it may be that a lot of long established members are in the same boat choosing to disengage rather than react to it.    

I could not agree more. As I said I understand why. Therefore the end result is why this thread was created. 

 

 

[Redbone]

I just looked back at all of the posts I made this year. There are nearly zero posts in any actual bigfoot discussion. I do read most of the threads, but rarely react. It may seem as though I've lost interest, but I haven't. I just don't participate in the discussions. 

 

About 90% of my posts are about BFRO or John Green incidents. 9% are stupid memes in the tar pit, and maybe 1 % are a reply to any actual discussion. My thing here is the SSR. I have a bunch of BFRO reports to classify, but I have very little time in Spring and Summer, so they remain unclassified. It's a Winter project for me...

 

I did just share some new audio though. I recorded some interesting sounds in Oklahoma.

 

As far as Noobs go... I find that it's best to wait it out when a new member comes along that really tries to engage in discussion. Too often they showed up just to be a disruptor.

[Huntster]

I just don't have anything to contribute. My opinion of Sasquatches has evolved from catch one to leave them alone, but that's just me. Others can chase them to their hearts content, because I'm pretty confident that the Sasquatches will make the monkey out of the chaser.

 

I have a lot of interest in the SSR as a curiosity resource (like the BFRO), and I have great interest in the promise of DNA research. The recent posts about the Expedition Bigfoot blood DNA has piqued my interest, but I don't watch the shows themselves. I wait for somebody to get excited about something, then look into it. 

 

I was an early participant of BFF 1.0. The characteristics of forum posters hasn't changed much since the 1990's with the exception of real scientists lurking and even participating at low levels. This is huge, and I'm encouraged because of it. The rest is the same; lots of new participants are hecklers, some just have a passing interest, and few have the patience to learn anything new. That's just life. I don't expect much more.

 

It's hard for me to believe that these creatures aren't in danger of impending extinction with the huge increase in human population in their critical range and the shrinking amount of good trace evidence popping up. More good evidence will increase forum participation. Less good evidence will cause less forum interest, even among folks who know that these creatures are out there.

[norseman]

18 hours ago, Patterson-Gimlin said:

I could not agree more. As I said I understand why. Therefore the end result is why this thread was created. 

 

 

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. 

[TNor24]

On 5/29/2025 at 9:05 PM, MIB said:

Interest in many things comes in waves, ebbs and flows.   Is it possible your time of joining the forum coincided with one of the peaks?     I know this to be true of my own.    Thinking of a parallel .. no athlete runs 4 minute miles 7 days a week.   It is true of our interest here.    I think the period we are in now with less interest, less bright shiny things to draw our attention, is more representative of bigfootery over the long haul.  

 

There is also a change of medium when it comes to information exchange.   There are TONS of small bigfoot groups on facebook.   Lot of people trying to monetize their interest which I think distracts from the larger communities like this one.

 

There is not much to do but get out there and do your own thing in the woods.    

Totally agree about monetization; "I want my 15 minutes, at least." It's people's right to do, but in general, I am not convinced it's really helping the cause. 

[CryptidTalk]

I think with a lot of forums, a big issues is new people coming in and rehashing the same topics over and over again. And I get it, this is an extremely slow moving field. We’re not getting breaking new information every day. But every now and again someone sees something or hears something that’s new to them and they want to talk about it. Unfortunately, it’s something that was a major thing years ago and everyone is tired of it. 
 

I’ve mostly been a Reddit person, but it’s the same there. Just repeats of look at my Bigfoot hat, did Bigfoot pile these rocks together, random troll post, etc. 

 

Another issue is everyone has a different area of interest surrounding the topic. And everyone has their own theories. 90% of people I’ve come across are absolutely unwilling to hear thoughts that are outside of their belief on the phenomenon. Flesh and blood biology believers scoff at the woo woo therorists. Woo woo theorists reply that the uneducated bio creature person will eventually learn. So, for many, these clashes create an environment where many aren’t comfortable discussing the topic, even with those here who ultimately have the same agenda. 
 

I think I’ve gone off on too many tangents, but it seems this forum goes through the same swings and pains that others do. It’s nothing strange or new. 

[georgerm]

On 6/2/2025 at 9:35 AM, JKH said:

Make the second heading under New Member Instructions a short search tutorial.

We need more information.

[socialBigfoot]

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.

 

 

[Foxhill]

First things first initiate a TDS (Troll Derangement Syndrome) program available to all members, for some it would be a requirement.

 Then move on from there, carry on!

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Foxhill