What about MUFON???

[TClaeys]

There are lots of groups tangled up in the UFO mess. And each has their own take on the scene with various goals, agendas, publications, etc. But with each of these comes baggage. I can't say that I'm any type of an expert on these various groups, but it sure would be nice if one of them took the lead and provided an objective and unnassuming protocol when examining this topic. So,.....

Is anyone a card carrying member of this organization??
What are the merits and downfalls of this group?
Is it really scientific research into UFO's??
Does Ufology need a serious, dependable, objective, and non-woo-woo group to begin to change the perspective and giggle factor of the masses?? (I think so, but how?? no idea)

It seems that a lot of times the weakest link in any particular group is it's own worst enemy. So when a group like MUFON has some hard core believer at the helm of it's investigations, perhaps at a state level, then that stands to weaken the whole. And how do you backtrack if a history of "want to believe" is injected into such a group??

Anyway I'm just throwing this out to see if I can get a grasp of what MUFON is about from a Paracast perspective. I'm sure some of you have had experiences with the group and I'm just curious what you think about it. Feel free to add your own questions or whatever you think might further the discussion. Any takers?? Your comments are appreciated.

 

[Schuyler]

You gotta hand it to MUFON--at least they try.

But I'm reminded of a cartoon I saw a long time ago in either Road & Track or Car & Driver. In the background are several bespectacled lab technicians with clipboards watching intently as cars are driven off a cliff. In the foreground are two guys. One says to the other, "Oh, that's Consumer Reports testing cars again."

IMO that's MUFON in a nutshell. Their idea is to blanket the country with regional, state, and local directors who will 'take charge' of any siting. Their Field Investigator's Manual and course go into infinite detail on how to determine angle of approach, preserve depressions from landing gears, and so forth. This is the original structure put into place by its founder and long-time director, Walter Andrus. During his tenure you couldn't just 'join' MUFON. You had to apply for membership and be accepted preferably with a field of expertise useful to the organization. I was designated a 'Research Associate' during my tenure. Alas, I am a lapsed member.

Although ostensibly tightly organized, the fact is that state and local chapters vary widely in their membership. Some have a 'scientific' bent. Some think Billy Meiers is really cool. That's to be expected, I suppose, in any far flung organization. I liked my local chapter because there were some really cute women who attended.

MUFON has done some excellent work in the past. Some of their conferences were top notch. I think they suffer a bit from a 'boots stuck in the mud' reputation. And, unfortunately, the Exo-politics crowd has stolen much of their thunder.

There may be people here who have more recent experience with MUFON than I do.

 

[Ron Collins]

There are some positives to MUFON. The network is there, the criteria for report collection and methodology is there. The conferences are well run and do offer interesting and worthwhile speakers for a reasonable price. The problem with the organization in my opinion is that they are nothing more than a warehouse of reports collected. There are training material and an emphasis on how to collect the data but no information on what happens to the data after that.

In actuality, nothing really happens to it. I have suggested that they allow access to the database in order to run correlative queries and statistical analysis on the data. You could then identify which reports need to be followed up, identify trends, utilize the professions of the members to help shore up missing data points and all of the things you might assume an organization could do with that data. in short I was told that I could use the already constructed (and woefully inept) database search engine already available to members but MUFON wanted to separate themselves from issues like privacy infringement or acting as resource material for outrageous claimants.

I have argued many times for the benefits to our understanding of the subject if professionals were allowed to apply current data mining techniques to the data cross referencing with other non UFO related databases. Like, for instance a historical weather condition database or a historical astronomical event database. But apparently MUFON is not interested in the analysis of the data but only its collection.

I think that MUFON is poised (and sadly has been for some time) to become that one go to organization that could really contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon. But they need a philosophical overhaul and probably a serious management cleansing.

 

[Unky]

MUFON is very active in my part of the country. I was invited to join by the state director after a brief conversation not long ago. I've had offers to join a number of organizations relating to this subject over the years and have never taken the initiative.

The only thing that really interests me about MUFON at this time is the inception and deployment of the new rapid reponse teams that have been the subject of considerable funding. I don't believe anyone beyond MUFON's executive board members, knows details about this program because Robert Bigelow's involvement always denotes extreme secrecy.

The next time we see the early stages of a flap begin to develop, I hope that whatever fruits are reaped by this program are passed on for quick dissemination to the public.

 

[anomaly]

I give em props for lasting this long. It's been heart-breaking to see the membership totals dive over the years.

Yes, they've been a black hole for the data they've collected over the years.

But at least they agreed to put the old journal issues online for free:

Category:MUFON Journals - The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project

And they have put on some very good annual symposiums every year.

I became active with Austin Mufon in 1990 or 91. Straight outta high school I found the local group and attended every meeting, helping out getting UFO footage from TV stations outside of Austin, helping with the A/V at our mini-conferences and our hosting of the annual conference in 1994.

Eventually I was asked by the founder of our local UFO Experiencers Support Group to lead that group. After leading that group for nearly ten years I was asked by our State Mufon rep to become the State Section Director for two local counties covering Austin. I did this very briefly and those reigns have been passed at least once more since I handed them off. I serve on the board of my own anomaly oriented non-profit library with the current leader of our local Mufon group which is still around.

But I've never really felt that good about the organization as a successful entity unto itself. I always identified more with CUFOS but they've never had the popular following that MUFON has had - but they seemed more scientifically successful and respectable to my sensibilities.

While I've always had a pretty good time with my Mufon friends at Mufon events ... ... I never felt quite so "at home" as I felt when I attended the early 2001 annual conference of the SSE (Society for Scientific Exploration). Unfortunately, a certain reality-shifting event happened a few months later and temporarily distracted me from pursuing a membership.

I'm really not sure about the continued viability of Mufon.

More later.

- SMiles