Top Ten Reasons for Hoaxes

[Doc]

Loren Coleman has a post at Cryptomundo giving his "top ten major reasons that exist for hoaxing in cryptozoology". He goes into some valuable detail and it is worth a read.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo...easons-hoaxes/

His Top Three are:

1) Fiscal Gain

2) Fifteen minutes of fame

3) Pranks

I have often wondered about UFOlogy hoaxes; who perpetrates them and why? I have read a lot about internet hoaxes and the reasons seem to be not quite the same. In my time on forums I have been told more than once that I and others "promoted a hoax" for page hits. That isn't true but it is an intriguing thought. What do you suppose are the Top Ten Reasons for UFology Hoaxes? I can go along with Loren Coleman's Top Three but I would have to put Disinformation very near the top of the list too. What would you add to complete the Top Ten?

[atmjjc]

Reasons are complex… Let’s view what Pamela Meyer has to say about deception.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6vD...feature=relmfu

[Marvin]

Great post atmjjc!

[Marvin]

My thoughts…

1. The spot light: they do it for the attention they get.

2. The show off: they do it just because they can and for the feeling of superiority.

3. The fleeting moments of glory: the “short” attention with one hoax is not enough, so new hoaxes are made.

4. The thrill seeking power trip: they created so much attention, fool so many people or are acclaimed so highly for their work, that it becomes a head rush for being able to manipulate people for a desired result.

5. You are now a “lab rat”: A social experiment designed to gather data on the reactions of people.

6. The dark side: gray propaganda or a pre-planned and deliberate release of misinformation to meet the intelligence or counter-intelligence needs of any given government.


M

[CasperParks]

Man made Crop Circles, use to be a lot of those hoaxes going around.

[Doc]

I think #1 and #2 account for most of the ones on the internet. I have spent a lot of time studying them, especially John Titor, and that seems to be pretty conclusive, though with no proof, I hasten to add.

If Serpo is indeed a hoax, #6 is the reason. The key to all of the hoaxes is motive and Serpo in particular is unclear as to motive as far as I can tell. Most likely it is to get the Core Story out there and to track how information is processed by the online community. Gary Bekkum put up a new/update of the Aquarium-Ron-Dan-Kit Saga and it seems clear to me that key figures on the receiving end were being played and most of them know it. They have not figured out exactly how yet.

http://www.starpod.us/2012/03/21/car.../#.T9s8QMXVWM9

[Marvin]

I think #1 and #2 account for most of the ones on the internet. I have spent a lot of time studying them, especially John Titor, and that seems to be pretty conclusive, though with no proof, I hasten to add.

If Serpo is indeed a hoax, #6 is the reason. The key to all of the hoaxes is motive and Serpo in particular is unclear as to motive as far as I can tell. Most likely it is to get the Core Story out there and to track how information is processed by the online community. Gary Bekkum put up a new/update of the Aquarium-Ron-Dan Kit Saga and it seems clear to me that key figures on the receiving end were being played and most of them know it. They have not figured out exactly how yet.

http://www.starpod.us/2012/03/21/car.../#.T9s8QMXVWM9

Don't forget the Majic-12 SOM1-01 Field manual… and then a few years ago, a second version of the same document was released (which was an obvious fabrication). Was that done to try to shed some doubt on the first copy?