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Last modified: Friday 03-Aug-2012 20:58:50 EEST
List of UFO Forums and mailing-lists
Summary: In a Web 2.0+ world, many people believe that all the action is in blogs, podcasts, RSS, etc. It's true that a lot of good discussion happens on blogs, but there are also gems to be found from reading forums.
Typically the most informed and on-topic discussions take place in semi-private mailing-lists run by and for UFO researchers. Next are pre-moderated lists. The "signal-to-noise ratio" at UFO forums used by the general public can vary widely, but even in the high-traffic forums one can still find insightful posts. You may still want to check the UFO blogs and UFO podcasts pages.
Web-forums A quick glance at the list of recent topics discussed gives one a good idea of what people are excited about. What happens quite often, is that people who have had a UFO sighting will do a Google search and end up posting a UFO report on-line, often to one of these forums. I have seen interesting UFO reports from countries as diverse as Denmark, Lithuania and Uganda. In a 2008 interview, British pop-star Robbie Williams said he spent much time at AboveTopSecret.com, looking for answers to his own UFO sightings. My advice is to avoid spending too much time at UFO forums, unless you're already well-versed into the UFO subject and can separate the wheat from the chaff.
AboteTopSecret.com (ATS) UFO-Alien sub-forum, at one of busiest forums site in the Internet. The overarching theme of ATS is alleged conspiracies. All UFO/alien posts fall into a single subforum. [Tip: Regular posters who typically contribute interesting material include: ArMaP, Chadwickus, easynow, Gazrok, internos, IsaacKoi, jkrog08, Kandinsky, karl12, Xtraeme]
www.theparacast.com/forum/ of The Paracast podcast show, with Gene Steinberg and co-hosts (posters to check include ArchieBedford, plumbbob12, Tom From Hong Kong)
Whitley Strieber's unknowncountry.com(note: regardless of what one thinks about Strieber's own stories, due to the popularity of his 1988 book "Communion: A True Story", which became a NY Times best-seller, his web-forum tends to attract people who think they may have had similar "alien abduction" experiences)
MUFON Central Forum (note: MUFON @ Proboards was shut down without warning in July 2010, replaced with this one)
People often discuss UFOs in on-line communities they're already members of e.g. I have noticed incoming traffic to my UFO pages from UFO discussions in forums as diverse as democraticunderground.com (US left-wingers), freerepublic.com (US right-wingers), ninjashoe (martial arts), glocktalk (gun fans), Stormfront (white supremacists), 3D graphics professionals, professional pilots etc ... The approach towards UFOs of these different subcultures has been a fascinating reading for me.
Various Facebook pages (quality and relevance varies): UFO, UFO2
Mailing-lists (note: most of these lists are designed to serve the UFO researchers and seriously interested individuals. These lists are worth reading if you have the time, but if you think that all the answers are available on such private lists then you will be disappointed)
www.ufoupdateslist.com (old URL: virtuallystrange.net UFO Updates) - the archive of mailing list UFOupdates, moderated by retired radio-host Errol Bruce-Knapp from Toronto Ontario Canada. The list has been in operation since 1996 and several Ufologists are members. Participation has declined in recent years, but the archived discussions of the earlier years are quite interesting. [Tip: Regular posters who typically contribute interesting material include: Don Ledger, David Rudiak, Jerome Clark, and search the archive for late-1990s posts by Mark Cashman of MUFON CT]
Ufomind Mailing List archived messages from the Ufomind Mailling list, which served a supporting role for the ufomind.com website of Glenn Campbell (the man who brought national spotlight on Area 51 in the 1990s). This mailing list was active between 1997-1999.
Current Encounters - currentencounters.com/.net (Jean Waskiewicz)
magonia_exchange is a private information and data-sharing list for serious researchers of Fortean phenomena, with strong emphasis on accumulation of pre-1947 accounts of anomalous aerial phenomena - accounts found in old newspapers from many different nations and years, in old journals, scientific publications, books, and so on.
EuroUfoNet is intended to connect UFO researchers and students throughout Europe. By invitation only.
Ufologyinuk Community Forum & Email List in UK (registration required), moderated by Joe McGonagle. With a skeptical lean.
pyles.tv weekly TV show "Οι Πύλες του Ανεξήγητου" ("Pyles tou Anexigitou", translation "Gates of the Unexplained") with Kostas Hardavellas et al, on ALTER TV station. The show was cancelled after the 2009/2010 season, but website forums are still active. This weekly TV show did occasionally (2-3 times per year) cover UFOs, in addition to other offbeat stuff (hollow Earth theory, 2012, Illuminati, Lost continent of Atlantis, "Epsilonism" -see relevant entry below-, psychic phenomena, Indigo children, prophecies, secret societies etc). Check the list of PYLES shows @ livemovies.gr.
Greek investigators and groups(Note: I'm still trying to sort these out, most people drawn into the subject seem to also be interested in a wide range of "paranormal" or "metaphysical" phenomena, "alternative history", ancient astronaut theories etc) Back in 4Q-2007, after having devoted about a year into studying the UFO phenomenon on my own, I attempted to locate any active UFO researchers or UFO groups here in Greece and get in touch with them, particularly with anyone interested in doing "boots on the ground" personal investigations. I didn't have much luck, as those few persons who I did locate informed me that they had "retired" from the UFO subject. I haven't had personal contact with the people and groups listed below and, with the exception of any material they've published on their Websites, I'm not familiar with their work.
Retired / deceased
ΟΜΑΔΑ ΦΑΕΘΟΝ - Faethon group (active back in the 1970s?)
Αναστάσιος Δ. Πάνος - Anastasios D. Panos from Athens, MUFON Representative for Greece in 1980 (src: article in MUFON Journal 1981)
Κωνσταντίνος Μόσχοβος - Konstantinos B. Moschovos M.D. from Patra, founder of local UFO group EMEFA-E. Ιδρυτής "Εταιρείας Μελέτης Εξωγήινων Φαινομένων Αχαΐας - Ελλάδος (ΕΜΕΦΑ-Ε)". Γιατρός και διευθυντής της χειρουργικής κλινικής του «Αγίου Ανδρέα» (deceased 10-Dec-2008)
Παρά το γεγονός ότι έχω πάρει σύνταξη, συνεχίζω να ασχολούμαι ενεργά με το θέμα των εξωγήινων. Έχω πάει σε πολλά συνέδρια, στην Ιταλία, το Περού, τις ΗΠΑ κ.α., γυρίζω όλο τον κόσμο, γιατί μου αρέσει το θέμα και μαζί με πολλούς νέους γιατρούς, όπως ο Χρήστος Αναγνωστόπουλος και ο Λευτέρης Δημητράκης, αλλά και μεγαλύτερους σε ηλικία ανθρώπους, έχουμε φτιάξει αυτή την εταιρεία. Σκοπός μας είναι να μελετάμε τα θέματα πολύ πιο σοβαρά, γιατί πολλές φορές κάποιοι δημοσιογράφοι μάς έπιασαν στο "ψιλό". [...] Αν κάποιος πολίτης δει κάτι, μπορεί να μας πάρει στα τηλέφωνά μας (2610-221101), μέρα και νύκτα.
src: Εφημερίδα ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ 22 Ιούν 2007
Sokratis Ekaterinidis - ΣΩΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΙΔΗΣ: Ασχολήθηκε με τη μελέτη των ΑΤΙΑ από το 1969, ενώ την περίοδο 1981–1982 ήταν εκδότης του περιοδικού "UFO – Αστρική Επαφή" (deceased 24-Dec-2006)
John Fourakis - Γιάννης Φουράκης - Probably best known for his books on the "Epsilon Team" conspiracy theory and his appearances on the TV show "Οι Πύλες του Ανεξήγητου" of Kostas Hardavellas. Also author of several virulently anti-semitic books (deceased 1-Dec-2010)
Note: "Epsilonism" / Epsilon Team: A conspiracy theory, in which UFOs play a small part (however that it really is the "fringe of the fringe" within Greece and virtually unknown outside Greece). The Epsilon Team ("Omada Epsilon" in Greek) is a conspiracy theory about an alleged secret society, consisting of an elite team of Greek scientists, academics, wealthy businessmen and politicians, who among other accomplishments, are supposed to have built UFOs. It has been promoted through books and magazines since the 1980s. Further reading wikipedia
Active local ufology has its own ancient-astronaut twist - several authors have tried to link UFOs with the Olympian gods of greek mythology, or the "Epsilonism" conspiracy theory.
www.iranon.gr the anonymous webmaster seems well-informed about the people who investigated and wrote about "unexplained phenomena" in Greece since the 1970s
www.locus7.gr George Balanos - Γιώργος Μπαλάνος book author
www.vembos.gr Thanassis Vembos - Θανάσης Βέμπος book author
www.liako.gr Dimosthenis Liakopoulos, Greece's best known conspiracy theorist and commercially successful publisher of fringe subject books. Liakopoulos owns a small publishing house and sells books via his own late-night TV show, buying air-time on several small local TV stations.
Individual researchers without a website:
Μάκης Ποδότας
Γιώργος Καρποδίνης
Γεράσιμος Καλογεράκης
Πουρναρόπουλος
Παναγιώτης Παππάς (appeared on various TV shows in the 1990s, discussing the Roswell and Corso stories and the Atalanti Greece alleged UFO landing incident)
Παντελής Γιαννουλάκης, publisher of STRANGE magazine
Ελευθέριος Σαραγάς
Γιώργος Κασσιμάτης
Γιώργος Πάλμος - θεωρία ταυτίσεως αρχαίων θεών με Α.Τ.Ι.Α.
Ιων Πανίδης
Skeptics mirroring the UFO situation in many other countries, it is a strange amalgam of deeply religious folks and some mainstream academics -mostly astronomers- who seem to be grossly uninformed about the weight of the UFO evidence.
Ιερομόναχος Σεραφείμ Ρόουζ (1931-1982) - τα UFO κατά τη γνώμη του ερευνητή π. Σεραφείμ Ρόουζ στο βιβλίο του: «Η Ορθοδοξία και η θρησκεία του μέλλοντος» πρέπει να είναι δαιμονολογικά φαινόμενα
Μάνος Δανέζης & Στράτος Θεοδοσίου
Παύλος Λασκαρίδης, Καθηγητής Αστρονομίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, author "Στα Ίχνη των UFO" (2002)
Διονύσιος Σιμόπουλος, αστροφυσικός, διευθυντής του Ευγενιδείου Πλανηταρίου Αθηνών
UFO beliefs in modern greek society can be best summarized with the phrase "out of sight, out of mind". Most of the greek population doesn't know anything about UFOs, other than the U.F.O. acronym itself (in greek "A.T.I.A."), which is synonymous with alien spaceships and is thought to belong strictly in the realm of science fiction (by the way this is what I thought of UFOs myself, until late 2006). In the modern greek language the term "UFO" is widely used as a pejorative, to characterize a person of limited intelligence (usage: "he is a UFO"). Initially used as slang (ufo @ slang.gr) the alternate meaning of the term UFO has since the 1990s been included in modern greek lexicons and even Google translates "ούφο" to "moron" (ούφο @ translate.google.com). Quoting from the premier greek lexicon LKN:
ούφο το [úfo] O (άκλ.) : (προφ.) 1. ο ιπτάμενος δίσκος. 2. μειωτικός χαρακτηρισμός για άνθρωπο με μειωμένη νοημοσύνη. [λόγ. < αγγλ. UFO αρκτικόλ. U(nidentified) F(lying) O(bject) 'ανεξακρίβωτο ιπτάμενο αντικείμενο']
src
Public interest in the UFO subject in Greece is low, an attitude which I attribute mostly to the lack of any substantive coverage by the mass media, in conjunction with the hostile attitude by the scientific community.
The greek newspapers very rarely (perhaps once per year) print a story about UFOs and even when they do, it is just a couple of paragraphs, quoting some other source like AP (Associated Press), the BBC or AFP (Agence France-Presse). There is practically no original reporting of local sightings; the only exception that comes to mind was a UFO incident involving Olympic Airlines flight OA266 from London to Athens in Nov-2007, when the airplane was reportedly "buzzed" by a UFO which was also observed from the ground, assistance was requested by the military and eventually two Hellenic Air Force F-16 military jets flew up to investigate (and found nothing, as it had already been a couple of hours since the event).
Anyone who has followed the history of UFOs knows that the "elite" media in most western nations have been aggressively hostile against the UFO phenomenon and those who supported non-prosaic explanations for it. However, while doing archival research in greek newspaper on-line archives, I have not encountered the polemics and the subtle (or not-so-subtle) disinformation which has plagued UFO coverage by mainstream media in the USA and Europe for so long, e.g. the "hit-pieces" which have appeared in previous decades in USA's NY Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek, or in Britain's BBC and "The Guardian" and in Germany's "Die Zeit" and "Der Spiegel".
Instead, generally speaking, the greek media have treated UFOs with mild amusement as a silly but mostly harmless "weird idea" a few eccentric people might be tempted to believe in.
Fringe beliefs: Epsilonism, greek racial supremacy, right-wing politics, anti-semitism, religious fanatics. UFOs lumped together with various mysteries (e.g. pyramids) or conspiracies e.g. NWO, Project Blue-beam.
Greek groups to ask about UFO sightings: There are several groups which I would like to query about possible UFO sightings: seamen (Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, and although some of it is flying a flag of convenience, they still employ mostly Greek naval officers), airline pilots, policemen, retired military personell and air defense radar controllers, amateur astronomers, mountaineers and fishermen.
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