A Ufological Trend?
As pretty much everyone in Ufology knows, groups come and go. And now another one has gone: this one in the UK. I well recall how, 10 or 15 years ago, there were countless UFO research associations dotted around the British Isles, each holding monthly meetings (sometimes with very impressively-sized audiences) and busily publishing their newsletters, journals and magazines.
Things have changed, however. Indeed, over the last few years, the number of UFO groups in Britain seems to be dwindling. A lack of interest? Personally, I don’t think so. Rather, I suspect that the way in which the Internet has radically changed - for the better, in my view - our ability to access instant information at the press of a button has more to do with it.
If we’re in the UFO subject for the right reasons - namely to find answers and share those answers with like-minded souls - it shouldn’t matter if the “scene” has drastically changed from what it was a decade ago.
I’ve heard people say that Ufology isn’t what it was, that the “good old days” have gone, and that the social angle of Ufology is on a down-curve. So what if that’s all true? As with every aspect of life, Ufology changes too. No big deal.
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Jan 08 2008 
January 8th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hey Nick!
How do the UFO conferences perform? Do they still pull big crowds or have they taken a dive too?
I haven’t been to one since about 1998.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:02 am
It tends to vary wildly. I’ve been at (I think) 4 conferences this year, 3 of which I spoke at.
All of them had well-known speakers; yet attendance varied from about 80 people to about 500.
So it’s definitely difficult to judge how attendance might be.
Certainly, the Laughlin, Nevada UFO Congress, and Ryan Wood’s UFO Crash Retrieval Conference get steady attendance well into the several hundreds at least.
But, as with local groups, I think a lot of people realize they can get the info on line etc without having to pay for airfares or hotels to attend conferences - to an extent, at least.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Internet makes the flow of information easier and instant. Although it has the disadvantage of turning the social exchanges too impersonal and sometimes even plain rude. But maybe the technology could evolve to mend this, when teleconferences become cheaper and bandwiths bigger.
How about using something like “Second Life” to develop a virtual UFO conference?
January 8th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Ahhh the mythical “good ol’ days” — that’s always the problem or reason…
I agree, things change and modes of obtaining the info changes. Interest is not going to go away until the question of alien’s and ufos are answered beyond the shadow of doubt for the entire world. And even then, I think there would still be considerable interest for some time to come.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Well it’s kinda the same reason Pascal quit math — the eternal emptiness of space drove him to religion. Let’s stay strong people. haha.