Welcome Thread - New Members Post Here

This thread is for any first time poster to (optionally) post an introductory "hi everyone" post, which will also get you "verified" (meaning you can post without anti-spam restrictions) once that post, and a few posts in another sub-forum, have been approved.

A few words on who you are and how you ended up here would be appreciated. Or just say hi!
upload_2013-11-7_15-17-0.png

It's highly recommended that you first read the Posting Guidelines:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/posting-guidelines.2064/
Dear Mick,

I am delighted to join your site. Thank you for your book- it has been one of the joys of my past month since I discovered that my ‘friend’ was deep in the rabbit hole. Your writing has kept me amused but also grounded.
Heartfelt thanks and keep up the good work.
Liz Savage
 
This thread is for any first time poster to (optionally) post an introductory "hi everyone" post, which will also get you "verified" (meaning you can post without anti-spam restrictions) once that post, and a few posts in another sub-forum, have been approved.

A few words on who you are and how you ended up here would be appreciated. Or just say hi!
upload_2013-11-7_15-17-0.png

It's highly recommended that you first read the Posting Guidelines:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/posting-guidelines.2064/

Hi all. Yes, this is a pseudonym. I hope I am posting this correctly.

I am joining because I had a friend who was into flat Earth and other truther ideas. Last year that person challenged me to prove to myself that the Earth is not flat "without citing any fake NASA stuff." I took the challenge seriously, and remembered that there is a ferry that crosses Lake Michigan several times a day. I looked into getting equipment to make a video of the ferry as it left Milwaukee, to show whether or not it would go behind the horizon as it crossed the lake. Eventually I succeeded in making the video of the ferry disappearing behind the horizon as it crossed the lake.

Now that that friendship is definitively ended (I thank Mick for warning that that might happen!), I have finally created a new Google account in order to upload the video to YouTube anonymously. I assumed that you didn't want us to upload large video files to this site directly, but rather link to the video.

Once I am approved I will try making a new thread to post a link to my video, unless there is a better way to post it.
 
Hi

Came here because I really respect Mick's methodical and respectful approach. I'm also really fascinated how so many smart people can vehemently disagree given the same sets of facts.

Looking forward to the fun discussions!
 
Hello Mick West & the Metabunk community,

I am the documentarian behind the film, Conspiracy Theorists Lie, that you can find on Amazon. I joined Metabunk in the hope of finding research help for future projects.

Thanks for creating this forum,
JKL
 
I just joined this site and I'm looking forward to debunking UFO's. I'm a big fan of Mick West and his explanations are always well thought out and fun to listen to. I've never seen Mick lose his cool and disrespect anyone during his debates and discussions. The same can't be said for the other side. I come from Reddit and r/UFO's hates Mick.
 
Hi everyone. I found this site from a reference in the San Diego Union-Tribune and it looks interesting. Thanks to Mick West for setting it up and running it.
 
Greetings everyone! I am from North Macedonia (South-east Europe), and I found you on Reddit UFO.
I hope I can contribute with something in the near future, as I am a truth seeker and I always rely on facts and evidence.
Nice to be here!
 
Hi everyone, I have been spending the last couple of years learning how to improve my critical thinking skills and how to communicate with people more effectively.
Eventually I thought that if I can communicate well with people that hold non-mainstream views then everyone else should be a lot easier, discovered Mick's book and ended up here.
Improving my communication skills has become a bit more urgent recently as it turns out my partner is a science denier, particularly when it comes to covid
 
if the person is genuinely interested in some topics perhaps you can try to tie things in to that interest somehow? for me microbiology is a very interesting topic in and of itself so trying to talk more about microbes of the various kinds and what they are like and how many they are, that only so few of the many are actually a problem to human life, etc.

we live in a very complicated world with a lot of various things going on, interactions, competitions, symbiosises, adaptations. it's really quite facinating all told. and we still don't know all that much.
 
Hello All,

I found my way here after reading Mick West's UFO article in Skeptic mag. I am so happy to see articles like this that speak to reason and why UFO's typically have simple explanations. I am constantly conversing with folks that want to know about alien visitation or chemtrail conspiracies... or the 9-11 attacks. It's definitely a "demon haunted world" we live in. I'm so disappointed that folks would give equal billing to some crazy theory(story) than one with actual evidence of a less exotic explanation.

I have been an airline pilot for a major passenger carrier for the last 22 years and before that I was Navy fighter pilot with 10 years of active duty (3 combat deployments) and 12 years in the Navy reserves while working at the airlines at the same time.

Naturally, I am interested in STEM and Skeptic culture but also crazy about history.

Happy to be here,
Jerry
 
Hey everyone, I just signed up recently after listening to many hours of various podcasts, some including Mick West interviews. There's a lot of wonky stuff going on out there and I'm looking forward to any discussions that move things forward.

-Marcus
 
Hi all,

Hope this place will be as clean and helpful as intended.
I got here after reading arguments about a misquote (actually a fake one).
 
Hello,
I'm Klaus Messner, a software devolper from Germany.
My favorite subject is debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories.
I already posted some videos on YouTube debunking Eric Hufschmied and a german author
named Gerhard Wisnewski.
I came to metbunk.org via your YouTube-Clips of debunking Steve Jones claims
that thermite was used to bring down the towers.
Greetings from Germany
 
Hello everyone. I joined this group because I started reading "Escaping the Rabbit Hole" while I was visiting my eldest son and family in FL last week. I'm not finished by any means, but I've been interested in cognitive biases, cognitive dissonance, bias affirmations and how folks get wrapped up in conspiracy theories ever since I found so many family members and friends were falling into "the rabbit hole" during the trump administration and last election. I am looking forward to learning more. I also saw an interview today on PBS's Amanpor & Co. with Lee McIntyre who has a book called, "How to Talk to a Science Denier:..." which is along a similar vein. Social media has been both a positive thing as well as a negative for misinformation spreading. Anyway, I'm looking forward to finishing the book, reading other books, and diving in here on the website to see what all I learn.
 
Hey everyone!

Another game industry person and cognitive scientist here, reporting in.

I love this community as well as everything it stands for and am constantly checking in. As a long time lurker, I’ve begun feeling increasingly weird about not actually contributing anything of value to the superb work going on in these threads. Compassionate and patient debunking is important and has become a motivator.
 
Hello everyone. Excited to join the community. I was turned on to Mick and his work after listening to the Something in the Skies podcast. I'm a engineering and keenly interested in the idea of utilizing my skillset to debunk much like Mick does.

Sidenote, for those who listened to Mick's episode of the podcast where he discusses a few books, does anyone recall the names? One was on the UFOs (UFO handbook?) and the other was on problem solving.
 
Hi! As the name suggests, I am a lawyer. After being somewhat frustrated by Mick West’s tweets that debunked UFO/UAP sightings, I have come to realize that Mick is truly an objective practitioner of Occam’s Razor. To the highest degree. I have, therefore, come to respect him, and wish to work with him as we together debate, dialogue, and debunk the mysteries and conspiracies that we encounter.

I hope to add a standard for Mick to consider that is based on two legal principles that finders of fact (judges and juries) use to reach verdicts:

1. In civil cases, the standard of proof is “by a preponderance of the evidence.”
2. In criminal cases, the standard of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

I believe by adding these two standards to Mick’s already robust and razor-like analysis, we can take the most cryptic, unverifiable and unidentifiable sightings and videos to at least categorize them in a new and perhaps more descriptive way. This could assist in filtering out the 99% BS we see and enable us to cut even further into the “whatever remains, must be the truth” philosophy.
 
Hey! My name is John, I am new field investigator with MUFON. I joined this site because I’m always looking for tools and people that have experience with analyzing photos and videos. Look forward to chatting with you.
 
Hello everyone! I'm WaffleBoi and I probably MIGHT be the youngest here, since I still go to school (but don't think that I'm a child or whatever hehe)
 
Hi all, thought I would join in the fun, have had an on and off interest in UFOs most of my life, became interested again because of the infamous '3 UAP videos', which I found incredibly underwhelming, also a bit disturbed at how dumbed down ufology has become in recent years which I think is due to a combination of new versions of the type of government disinfo campaigns covered in the Mirage Men book and documentary as well as the rise of online ufo 'influencers' (ie, grifters!). I still find the subject fascinating however I am highly sceptical regarding a lot of the so-called 'evidence', especially in the current era.
 
Evening everyone,

Just signed up as I’m reading the book “Escaping the Rabbit Hole”. It piqued my interest as a friend of my, now ex partner, unveiled herself as a conspiracy theories at at the start of lockdown (resulting in a rather interesting Twitter account being stumbled upon).

Safe to say, a lot of time was spent googling topics that came up in an attempt to counter some of the theories put across (Covid, 5g, Bill Gates, Trump elections, vaccines, NWO, etc…)

Looking forward to reading more.

POD
 
hello everyone

Thank you Mick for all your work. I might not agree with all of your opinions but your work on chemtrails has really helped me a lot. Unfortunately some friend of mine is very deep into it and so I keep coming back to this forum to find arguments against all the "proof" that I am getting confronted with. Also just bought the book ;)
 
Hi. I'm interested in 9/11 conspiracy theories. I find researching the events that took place fascinating, especially since the event was one of the last before the ubiquitity of smartphones and high quality CCTV footage would be able to capture all details in real time, with new, previously unreleased images and audio of that day still occasionally popping up and yielding more insight from on the ground as to how events transpired.
 
Hi everyone. Greetings from Australia.

I've joined these forums because I've have in the past learned 1 or 2 things from skeptics that I hadn't heard elsewhere. I'm joining now mainly to test the various conspiracy theory claims regarding COVID-19 and the vaccines made for it. Of particular interest are some claims I've seen floating around that some vials of COVID-19 vaccines are "99% graphene oxide" and that others contain nanobots, parasites or "synthetic lifeforms", and that the vaccines sometimes change people's blood morphology and might cause tiny blood clots in the capillaries. I would like to make posts about these claims eventually, especially about the "nanobots and synthetic lifeforms", but I will have to actually get to know the claims and who is making them, firstly.
 
Hi everyone. Greetings from Australia.

I've joined these forums because I've have in the past learned 1 or 2 things from skeptics that I hadn't heard elsewhere. I'm joining now mainly to test the various conspiracy theory claims regarding COVID-19 and the vaccines made for it. Of particular interest are some claims I've seen floating around that some vials of COVID-19 vaccines are "99% graphene oxide" and that others contain nanobots, parasites or "synthetic lifeforms", and that the vaccines sometimes change people's blood morphology and might cause tiny blood clots in the capillaries. I would like to make posts about these claims eventually, especially about the "nanobots and synthetic lifeforms", but I will have to actually get to know the claims and who is making them, firstly.
Welcome aboard! You'll fnd existing threads on many of those topics already, which will save you some time!
 
Just came across this site in a Phil Plait post. I'm a high school physics teacher always looking for resources that I can point my students to if they have questions.

Cheers,

Kelvin
 
Hey! I'm from Chicago. I travel a lot and love to learn new things. I also work a lot on worktime software. I spend my free time with my family. I read a lot.

We will be useful to each other.
 
Hi, everyone. LONG-time lurker, first-time user. I've also lurked on the JREF (sorry, just cannot call it ISS) forums for a long time and recognize some of my favorite posters from there. Some of the 9/11-oriented folks might recognize me from several channels on YouTube. I live in metro Chicago, work in front of my computer and love reading and writing. I can't remember how I first learned about Mick or this site, but I've been a fan of his work for several years.
 
Hello,
As a kid I loved aliens, ghosts, and the paranormal. I've kept that interst as I grew up, though my skepticism also grew. In the wake of COVID I've returned to this interest with the inclusion of conspiracy theories. I have been shocked to learn how destructive something like Ancient Aliens can be. I'm now a dedicated listener to the podcasts "Knowledge Fight" and "QAnnonannonymous," I've also read Down the Rabbit Hole.
In my professional life I am a Progressive Protestant Christian Pastor and I am earning an MA in counseling. I think I would like to make countering extremism and conspiracies a large part of my ministry and counseling. So I joined the site. Any other pastors on here?

blindvoyager
 
Hi all.

I am a long time fan of this website and everything associated.

A (slightly) interesting fact about me is that I've worked consecutively in two industries which debunk chemtrails. Firstly aviation and seeing the slim margins of profit (if any) they work with, and now I work in a chemical testing company which specialises in the testing of contaminants and residues on crops.

Anyway, I'm fascinated/worried by the whole conspiracy movement which I actually view as a mental illness.
 
I'd be interested in reading a background post on this.
As with most debunking stuff there's a really simple explanation. The UK has certain limits on any chemicals that can be on food - both for human consumption or on animal feed. The company I work for basically does testing on pretty much any food which is grown outside for any residues of fertilisers, or any unexpected contaminants. The level of testing is pretty damn accurate, usually down to ppm.

This basically means that chemtrailers would have to have to explain that the chemicals that are being sprayed somehow don't get sprayed on any crops that are nearby. Bearing in mind the huge dispersion of contrails done by the high altitude winds, this would be completely impossible.
 
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