Hypocrisy – The Tranny Fluid of Bigfootery

Something that is often amusing, and yet frustrating, is the hypocrisy of bigfootery.  Sometimes it is as basic as the old – enemy of my enemy is my friend stuff, but often times it is more complex.  We say hypocrisy is the transmission fluid of bigfootery because it keeps the field moving, sometimes in reverse, but moving none the less.  Ego is probably the gas, ambition the oil, but hypocrisy still plays a major role, like tranny fluid.   Walking the talk is a rare thing to find in some of the advanced level “bigfoot researchers”, convenience and gain mean more, and hypocrisy is a convenient lubricant.  We present four examples for your consideration:

1. Last year a group made a big issue of witness protection while continuing to have an official in the organization that had penned a blog doing the exact thing that the group said would result in being black listed from their good graces.  As if that was not hypocritical enough,  one of the frequent targets of that blog, a youtubin bigfooter, has now allowed himself to become chummed up with the self-appointed head honcho of the organization.  Does he know this connection?  How can the honcho smile at one of her director’s main blog victims, using him for whatever purposes she pleases?  How can this director still be directing given the bold, public stance of they would not “condone harm coming to witnesses” and “would not allow this type of behavior from one of our members”?  Simple answer to all of those questions – hypocrisy, actually double dog dare hypocrisy.
2. One of the promoters of an event that we prophetically predicted would be bigstinkery last year recently released a teaser video promoting the event and asking if people are tired of the same old events and the same speakers.  A few weeks later we learned of his involvement in another event that, get this, has the four same speakers as the event had last year.  There might be one new guest, but to us that sounds like the same old event and same speakers, in extremis.  Having it both ways, a hallmark of bigfootery hypocrisy.
3. Speaking of the event we rightly panned last year, they had a problem with a speaker that they did not have wrapped up before announcing and pimping this famous bigfooter.  When said bigfooter learned this was happening he made it clear he had not agreed and could not attend.  After holding that information back until it broke out in other venues, the disorganizers claimed the guy could not attend for health reasons.  And now what are they saying?  The infamous bigfooter backed out on them and they have learned their lesson by getting signed agreements.  Having it many ways with many, sometimes inconsistent,  excuses, all of which do not rest any blame with the disorganizers,  classic bigfootery.  So which one was it guys, was Bob sick like you said, did Bob shaft you by saying yes and then cancelling like you said, or are you poorly organized hypocrites, we think the latter.
4. Every once in a while someone who thinks they are established third level or higher “bigfoot researcher” will use the word “Noobs” to describe those who have recently come to bigfooting.  We find the term offensive on many levels, especially when a “Noob” is decrying the “Noobs”.  We find it hypocritical when one of these researchers talks about the damage of the “Noobs” to the “community” and then goes off to take the benefits of speaking to an audience of people they would prejudicially consider to be “Noobs”.   We like new people, it keeps it interesting, provides the churn that the fourth level  carnival barker “bigfoot researchers” need to reinvent themselves and buy their product(s) and the new people may well be the ones that get this done.  More bigfootery hypocrisy.

Our advice to the new and somewhat new bigfooters, avoid the hypocrites, they will use you, abuse you and discard you when you are of no more value in advancing their myriad of agendas.  And if you read or hear someone whining about this blog, deploy your hypocrite detector, it will probably go off.  Like tranny fluid, they may seem sweet, but the stuff will eventually make you sick.  Your mileage may vary, draw your own conclusions with hopefully an informed eye.

Read Full Post »

Random Thoughts on Ed Smith, Bigfoot and Catfish

This post will likely run long, but read it all and it may make sense.  One thing about Bigfootery, try to drop off the info highway for a dozen or so days and you usually miss some gold.

The latest bigfoot gold was Ed Smith’s claim of a captured Bigfoot.  Ed appeared on our radar a long time ago, our bigpuffery meter pegged out on him early on.  Well, he hung around for years and pulled a “We got a Body” hoax that was right up there with the best of them – they’ve all been pretty bad so far.  We applied extensive form game theory and a decision tree to the event, it made some sense but there were too many dotted lines which leads us to believe at least one player in the game entered without an end goal or it was actually a cooperative game that transformed at some point.  It would take us way to much time to explain it, and frankly the peer review resulted in a WTF.   Here are a few random thoughts of this particular bigdebacle with only a flavoring from the game theory stuff:

About Ed:  Bigpuffery is simply part of bigfootery.  Most “researchers” practice it to various degrees.  People make all sorts of inflated bigfoot claims, as well as personal claims.  Someone who digs up fuel tanks is suddenly an environmental scientist, a loss control employee at Wallyworld is a detective, bigfootery abounds with those folks.  Ed certainly demonstrated bigpuffery years ago, there were all sorts of red flags that people either missed or ignored.  He certainly spent some time fabricating his plan, we do not think it would have worked, but there was certainly some thought, and time, put into how to cage a bigfoot and what to do once you succeeded.  Would the plan have worked, we highly doubt it.  We do believe that Ed either did not have an end goal figured out, subsequent moves by other players were well beyond what was expected or one of the players flipped from cooperation to competition.    We also think he attempted to exit with the sale of the zeros to the quantras, but something drew him back.  For motivation, see the catfish section below.

About the Enablers:  There were enablers in this event, news blogs, primary and secondary forums, “researchers” who rushed in with the hope of gathering bigfootery street cred and bigfootery credits.  Ed would not have been able to foist this hoax without the enabling of the MABRC, some of their associated state coordinators, some news blogs and some “researchers”.  These folks provided credibility, a publicity vehicle and served as his mouthpieces.  In our book they share a good bit of the credit, or discredit, in minting some bigfootery gold.  Last night this author read one of the threads in a forum, we found the investigative “researcher” who was one of his mouthpieces particularly inept.  First, set ground rules for a face to face or at least phone interview in this type of situation, giving a person all the time they need to answer your inane questions by email is not going to reveal anything.  Ed cut it close with some of his responses, but he was hardly what we would consider a sharp person.  This part of the tree was pretty clear, Ed had a well developed idea of how those players would react and they did as expected.  His one uncertainty in that part of the game was the MABRC, we do not think he anticipated them selling out his personal info to the point that there were some threads to pick at.

About the “Final Statement”:  When you say the buck stops here and proceed to pass the buck every which way we call bigbullcrap.  Explain all the due diligence you want, but clearly Ed was full of bigpuffery early on and should have been ignored.  Time runs out on his promised, super earning video, simply claim he was under someone else’s release timeframe.  When that expires, claim that you sold those rights.  Going into his sexual orientation was really inappropriate in our opinion, that reeked.  Even the term “Final Statement”, which implies leave us alone we are not talking about it anymore.  Baaaah.

About Catfish:  There is a documentary and new series out about catfish.  It has a bearing upon this event, and it reveals some investigative techniques that have value in the brave new world of internet bigfooting, especially facebook bigfooting.   Here’s the quick version  of the cod and catfish story as this post is getting long and it is late.  At the turn of the century various ways of transporting cod were attempted.  Smoking and salting just did not do justice to the fish, and so they attempted live transport.  The fish arrived alive but soft and lacking flavor.  One enterprising person decided to put a few catfish in the tanks and had remarkable results, the fish were firm, lively and tasted fresh.  It seems the catfish stirred the cod up, kept them moving, kept them alert, nipped at em. 

What’s the point?  Ed was a bigfootery catfish.  He stirred things up, he certainly revealed the weak and the strong.  He put pressure on the cod and we got to watch, or read after the fact, how the different cods behaved.  He revealed a great deal about some of these cods, their motivations, their ability to truely swim, who headed for the edge of the tank, who schooled up, who turned and faced the catfish.  There are a few cod who are now belly up, they may not admit it, but that catfish got ya.  As to Ed’s motivation, we think like many on this TV show, it was to live a fabricated life that yielded him attention, recognition and support that evidently is lacking elsewhere, pretty simple.  Was he trying to establish a relationship with one of his enablers?  Perhaps.

And now a note about the documentary and show about Catfish on MTV.  We like it.  It is essentially about facebook, on-line love, deception and peeling back the layers to get to the truth.  It is instructional for bigfootery in the lengths that frauds will go, alter ego cell phones, constructing intricate false social networks and profiles and drama.  Bigfootery level drama.  It is also instructional to watch the onion peeler work;  how he analyzes networks, finds commonalities and connections, finds a thread to pick at and then starts to unravel things.  His ultimate strategy is boots on the ground and getting face to face for the truth.  It is also instructional to see the catfish and hear their explanation and motivations for their actions.  It really is good TV, and there are some things most of bigfootery can learn from it.  And here’s the rub, the catfishes can watch it and improve their game, much like the third and fourth level bigfooters like to study the playbooks we have revealed over the years here.

Read Full Post »

Pulling an Immelmann

We have a Volunteer stringer.  She has brought us some stuff that on the surface makes us contemplate an Immelmann in terms of a certain DNA study.  It seems that one of the samples was harvested from a Volunteer who was in failing health.  Said Vulpes evidently communicated in a coy fashion that he was willing to take part as a last act of friendship.  The entire sequence of the DNA donation process was filmed, a proper chain of custody established – in short a sample with impeccable provenance.  And so we are getting ready to pull an Immelmann, it may only be a sample, but it is a block buster.

Read Full Post »

Wow Dude, Flashback

Scenario:  People get paranormal TV show, it gets panned by their peers.

Excuse:  Not our fault, it is the production company and their editing.

Common Element: Ping Pong Productions

Read More Here

Commentary:  Bigfooting and the paranormal are very circular, most of the fourth and fifth levels use the same strategies and excuses.  Also note the one comment by one of the stars, the public likes to see people tramping around at night while they sit on their couches, or something along those lines.

Read Full Post »

What Justin Said….No, Not That Justin…

Melba, maybe.  But we guaaranteee there will be a scholarly article published this year.  But this one will cover something that absolutely exists, the bigfoot researcher and his/her group behaviors.  Project I2I&S is just about complete, and we will even get a few mentions for our advice and support.  It was ready for submission and then the facebook sasquatch group explosion happened and it was just too fruitful to neglect.  It’s a right-handed effort, watch the video and you can figure that comment out.

Justin tells a story

Read Full Post »

A Gathering of Creature Weekend Reports All in One Convenient Post

Links to our stories over time, prophetic.

First - we claim bigstinkery and shadyness because the organizers are staying anonymous and thus have no track record.

Second - bigstinkery is realized as the headliner says – no, never committed to them, won’t be attending – and that info is withheld for an indeterminate period

Third - we let the organizers know that the lie that the cancellation was due to “health” is known and they have now achieved Big, Big Bigstinkery.

Read Full Post »

Sometimes There are Regrets

In mobilizing the troops this evening a lament erupted.  The lament is that our posts sometimes help the bigfoot carnival barkers strengthen their playbook.  We see them mastering the art of pulling the victim card.  We see them employing the intellectually dishonest approach of presenting bigfoot “evidence” on their bigfoot website or blog but sayin they are not sayin it is bigfoot and we will let the masses decide.  The masses have drank the juice, we and they know how that little swerve works.  We see them use the hype machine marketing approach when conference time rolls around, start with something to energize the base early to get that sector committed, then tease out some more, and then drop another hype bomb about two weeks before the big event.  We’ve seen it, we’ve reported it, bigfoot carnival barkers have copied it.  And sometimes, like today, we see all three get wrapped up in a neat little bigfootery package.

After a few weeks of hyping the event, a picture was published today.  Those drunk on the bigfoot punch just sucked it up.  We did some studying and think it is hooooo-eeey.  And it is not the it’s too good line you sometimes hear.  Our issue is it is just not right, it doesn’t pass the smell test.

Why?  For starters the field of depth just does not look right for a trail camera, which was the reported device.  It literally looks like a bigfoot wedged into a space about as wide as it is.  The drama queen also purports to have multiple pictures, so this thing stumbled by a conventional flash trail cam multiple times.  As we have said before, bigfoot are like the Amish, no pictures please.  We have used them to run em off during OOPS with some success, actually it seems it PO’d em as they trashed the thing.  We are calling multiple uses of the carnival barker bigfooter strategems on this one.

A little digging ensued during the meeting, people were dispatched to gather up more info on trail cams and depth of field.  What we found:

• Most manufacturers will admit that the effective close range of a trail cam is 5′
• Most will also admit that inside 10′ one gets a fairly dramatic flash white out.  There are new ones that are better, but this picture supposedly is four years old and thus a few evolutions of trail cam technology ago.  FWIW a color trail cam was pretty darn expensive back then.
• Most trail cams have a fixed focal length of 42 mm.  With digital sensors, this means the lense/sensor technology roughly matches that of a conventional 35 mm.  This fixed focal length thing is important.
• When we put the numbers for the size of the object and the distance to the object, the focal length calculation is well outside the capability of a fixed 42 mm focal length camera.

We started this post days ago and just did not have the time to get back to it.  Since that time a possible contender for the suit du jour has appeared, and some back pedaling on it being a trail camera has been issued.  It’s now a 35 mm camera with a zoom lens.  That story is almost as ridiculous as then you have someone outside, perched higher than the subject in the picture, at night, in relative proximity to a beast using a flash attachment.  And there is a claim of multiple pictures.

We are calling bigfootery bull crap on this one.  Best explanation is the craving to be adored by this particular DDQ (dysfunctional drama queen) and pre-conference season hype that is right out of our bigfoot carnival barker handbook.  Now we have opened the table for the victim card, perhaps a mistake but someone needs to call BS when it is BS.  And here’s the best part, they really do not care if it is real or legit because it is about what we mentioned earlier in the paragraph; hype, being a “brave and beloved bigfoot researcher”, gathering some notoriety and putting butts in seats, and telling those butts which seats are where they need to be.

Our predictions:  Weeks of new developments, new experts, revealing interviews if she can keep people interested in it and not get blown out by issues with the picture.  Perhaps with a guest appearance by the photographer at a paying event.

Either completely ignoring those that are saying BS, or a long, heart-felt essay on how tough it is being a real researcher.

Drama and bigfootery will continue to ensue.  And we will lament that we give those too dense to figure it out with a bigfoot carnival barker playbook and tips.

This is what we have been saying for many years.  Some get it, some go on the attack.

Read Full Post »

Bigstinkery in Ohio – Creature Weekend

We cannot claim to have coined the term bigfootery, although we feel we have raised awareness of the phenomena.

We can claim that we coined the term bigpuffery, a term that we use to represent  the propensity of some “bigfoot researchers” to make large and generally unsubstantiated claims that are in the most part self-serving.

Today we coin yet another term, bigstinkery.  We are not referring to Big Stinky him or herself, but rather something that just does not seem to pass the smell test.  In this case we are talking about an event being promoted in Ohio, we are not going to give it much play in terms of naming it or sending people off to see it  because the last thing we want to do is have a commenter come back here and say, “Hey, you guys reported on this event,  and I went and got ripped off.  Thanks, you owe me time, money and some soap to wash away my embarrassment.”  With that proviso, we started to get some tips and did some digging.

Like a buzzard that has swooped down on a still warm carcass, someone jumped on an opening to run an event in Ohio once the Bulldog announced he was not going to do his annual event.  Some say there are really two events in the Ohio, Pa. NY area trading off his decision and trying to copy a profitable model.

We think the one event does not come close to passing the smell test, and is thus Bigstinkery, for the following reasons:

1. It is being run anonymously by Art Vendelay.  If the name does not sound familiar look it up, it is the name of a character in Seinfeld.  Actually it is a fake name that a character in Seinfeld used , along with a few other obtuse references to the name in other episodes.  That seems shady to us, and others.  One has no idea of the character or capabilities of the person.  Can they deliver?  Will they deliver?  What have they done in the past?
2. We did a who-is search on the website URL and it comes back blocked by godaddy.  Again, someone covering their tracks.  But for what reason?  See questions above about integrity and accountability.
3. We remember the layout and organization of the conference that the Bulldog ran for the last year or two when he popped up on our radar and ol’Art, the guy behind the curtain, cut n pasted Keating’s business plan for the conference.  We really dislike intellectually dishonest people who pilfer content, ideas and business plans, it has happened here and in life and we think it is skanky, low and reflective of a less than honest person.  We have been hard on the Bulldog in the past, and deservedly so in our opinion, but someone else using his proprietary approaches without permission does not pass the smell test.  Does the Bulldog have some rights to correct this wrong?  Lesser litigations have been launched for lesser things, but our contacts are telling us he is done with bigfootery, he went, he saw, he got the t-shirt.  If you have to copy the business plan, is there any chance you are smart enough to pull it off?  Doubtful.
4. In looking at the site, there seems to be a priority on selling, whether that be reservations or ugly t’s.  Another bigstinkery factor.

We know what you are thinking right about now.  “Hey BFE, you run this site anonymously, whats the difference?”  Three things come to mind.

1. We do not ask for people’s money upfront before anything is delivered.  We don’t ask for money, period.
2. We do not make promises we cannot deliver.  We might be late sometimes, but we don’t post a schedule of events that we steal from someone else.
3. We do not ask people to commit time and resources to attend things on the faith that it will happen.
4. Bonus item – we have demonstrated our bigfootery street cred., our knowledge and insider information, cannot judge anything about this event without a name, or names.  The site is pretty much crap as well.

To sum it up, we are saying there is bigstinkery afoot up north.  Fake names, blocking URL registrations (does that cost more, and if so geez what is being hidden that it is worth extra money to do it?) and swiping people’s ideas are not the qualities of someone we would consider sending money or investing our time and other resources.  “Bigfoot Researcher” beware is our advice.  There is an article on here we did about the shady paranormal business that we will dig up and copy into this post, one might want to read it before parting with money or making a hotel registration.  This thing just has a bigstinkery feel to it.

One last thought.  Wouldn’t it be funny if Keating had adopted this approach and was the person hiding behind the curtain?   Now that would be bigfootery gold and show such brilliance that we might have to tip our hat and purge some posts.  And a bonus promise, if it turns out to be Erik Beckjord we will take the whole darn blog up the hill, into the woods, and plug it like the father did to the daughter’s laptop.  Another thought, does the mysterious organizer even know who Erik is?  Sorry, rant and ramble.

Oh hell, we might as well start this rumor as the lack evidence leads in that direction as well as any other.  Tom Biscardi is coming to Ohio to hold a conference, the first 100 attendees get a complimentary bicycle horn.

And heres the post we mentioned earlier about the risky paranormal pop business, just click.

Read Full Post »

Finding Bigpuffery dba Finding Bigfoot Runnin on Fumes

The tank is just about empty with the Finding Bigpuffery folks.  Little to nothing found and shills, worker bees and some allege full-out frauds as “witnesses”.

Does it matter?  Not to Frisch’s Big Boy, he’s earning a wage and filling up the franchised camping trips thanks to the hour-long disinfomercials.  Does it matter to  Animal Planet?  Not much.  Viewership dipped after the 2nd season premier, rebounded, then dipped, but the ad dollars are still coming in and profits made.  Does it matter to the long in tooth BFRO members who predate the pay to play camping trips?  Yes, their free work continues to line someone else’s pocket, in fact rumblings behind the scenes are like when the camping franchise/pay to play was launched.  But fear and loyal political officers continue to prowl looking for discord, and it is dealt with severely.  The post exile rants from das über cheese continue to be classics of smear.

Tomorrow’s Ohio episode should be very telling on the downward spiral of quality.  On deck are a questionable, wanna be attention getter and a snowy video that is clearly a hoax.  A well documented debunk was done matching pant colors of the videohoaxer’s son and the creature of question and filming only human boot prints in the area.   When confronted the videohoaxer even confessed, actually it was more of an excuse “I released the video and said it was the real deal as a test of the research skills of my viewers”.  Naturally that video is now missing and the snowy video is in lower definition, and ironically the wannabe to be featured did the debunk video that is no longer up on his youtube channel.  Having it both ways is bigfootery gold.

Now that the show is set for air it will be hard to change the content beyond the post briefings and other spins.  If any one of the four stars conclude ”squatchy” it will be yet another dark mark upon the hard-working volunteers, especially those that earned their way in instead of sending a check and going to camp snipe hunt.  It will also prove either a total lack of research upon the producers and stars, the destitute poverty of content for the show or the povery of ethics that prevail there.  Either way Finding Bigpuffery is runnin on fumes.  It depends upon how you measure if one can conclude it is successful.

Show post script:  We must admit three of us did watch this episode in real time, while inventing a new virtual drinking game at the same time.  The concensus is that not only have “expedition shills” been enlisted to pimp the camping trips but a new type of shill, the debunking target - aka Todd Standing and the youtube Squatchmaster - have been brought in unknowingly to build some skeptical street cred.  Such manipulation, such bigfootery gold.  Has there been time to edit the commentary related to the Sobe bomb video?  Not on twitter, but perhaps for the show.

Read Full Post »

A Few “Predictions” for Finding Bigpuffery (dba. Finding Bigfoot)

A little less “everything is bigfoot”, slightly more debunking (any debunking will equal slightly more).

A little more slipped in references to the camping trips during the infomercial, with Wally taking away the allowance gotta generate cash somewhere else.

About the same amount of dishonest editing;  inserting sounds, strategic cuts, allusion and illusion for joe public.

A great deal more of huckstering to generate an audience.

Based on less than stellar numbers for the P&G extravaganza a few months ago, fewer, yet(i) enough, viewers.

First levels will love it, higher levels are either burnt out or have to praise it to keep the access and per diems flowing.

Read Full Post »