A couple of pictures

[Dingo667]

I have been dismayed at the certainty displayed by those insistant that the object is a plane and cannot but wonder how they would view a genuinely anomalous picture when they can't tell a 'plane from a flood light!

Then don't post something that looks indistinguishable from a plane in a UFO forum for the sole purpose of lording it over people who say it looks like a plane.

Bit of a tip Rushfan, conducting 'social experiments' on people is a really good way of thoroughly pissing them off.

I don't think he was pissing anyone off at all. I even fell for it, being absolutely sure that it was a plane at night.
This experiment highlighted a problem [encountered on this forum many times] better than just writing it down hypothetically.
It can be very frustrating when you have a story that truly is strange to you [because you were there], when there are the odd people who do not discuss anything but outright state what they think it is and anyone disagreeing is a moron because to them it is so obvious. Sometimes things do indeed seem obvious, but are they?
The worst is sometimes the really annoying condescending way people write their 'obvious' explanation. Often not even reading the original post properly and often missing a vital detail. The 'cats behaving strange when an old man walked past' thread comes to mind. Hundred of explanations of cat behaviour but ignorance as to the strange feelings of the original poster.
This experiment is brilliant as we can now use it as an argument for hasty 'explanations' by some.

 

[petrosio]

I never thought it looked particularly like a 'plane, in fact, it never crossed my mind.

Are you seriously saying you don't think those picture resemble the lights of a plane,? if so why post them in the first place, what did you think they looked like other than floodlights?

 

[David Plankton]

I have been dismayed at the certainty displayed by those insistant that the object is a plane and cannot but wonder how they would view a genuinely anomalous picture when they can't tell a 'plane from a flood light! http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww99/rushfan62/dalekspaceship.jpg

It's not just a photo of a flood light. It's a doctored photo of a flood light, made to look like a flying thing with lights on it. If you post pics like that with no comment on a UFO forum, what exactly are you expecting people to say?

You produce a fake UFO photo, and you are 'dismayed' when I tell you its a 'plane? My apologies for being so assured in my answer. Next time I see any lights in the sky I will look carefully for any evidence of a post attaching them to the ground.

You know what Herve Villechaize would have said....

 

[OneWingedBird]

I hardly think this falls into the category of "Social experiment" it was more like testing a theory about the open mindedness of some contributers to these esteemed threads and as far as I am concerned, job done.

I guess if you don;t want to be 'dismayed' at the result you get, the answer would be to not go looking for it.

If this turns out to involve Argos, I have to say, it's still doing a damn good job of looking like a plane. Laughing

2nd guess I was alluding to was ceiling lights reflected in the window. which was quite close.

 

[ginoide]

Are you seriously saying you don't think those picture resemble the lights of a plane,? if so why post them in the first place, what did you think they looked like other than floodlights?

...cause they looked like the average image of a ufo maybe?
(whenever we encounter those lights while driving i tell my son "look, those are ufos nesting up there until the time of the invasion comes", war of the worlds-like, you know)
anyway i don't find rushfan's thing irritiating at all- of course the best thing would have been if he had managed to hide the pole behind some buildings or sthg as opposed to paint-ing it out, bur it's ok anyway[/quote]

 

[McAvennie]

It's a slippery slope.

I had a feeling there was something up by the "I won't comment (for now)" line. Implied there was more to the image than met the eye and that the poster knew it was not a UFO.

It is the whole thing of faking stuff to see what the reaction is. Sadly, that seems to be the vast majority of mainstream Forteana these days. The things that get the most response are things that are clearly faked - the alien at the window, Mellowbirds videos, that iPhone App ghost boy in Hull.

Granted even Nessie and Bigfoot's best shots have been faked, it goes back further to spirit photography, the Cottingley Fairies...

Just makes things a lot harder when you have people putting stuff out there that has been 'faked' - in that it makes people less likely to believe the real stuff if and when it ever comes along.

I much prefer the stories and pictures that at first look paranormal but after a good debate the genuine poster gets some ideas of what it could be and a group collective comes up with some plausible theories than threads where people are 'Look at this evidence! It has to be 100% proof' and basically shout down any debate until finally leaving with their tails between their legs when outed as a faker.*

* Not that I'm saying this is what the OP did, because, of course it isn't. Different degrees of the same problem though in some respect.

 

[disgruntledgoth]

you should have experimented with something that at least looked like a UFO

And what does a UFO look like?

 

[Pete Younger]

you should have experimented with something that at least looked like a UFO

And what does a UFO look like?

A Chinese lantern apparently.

 

[titch]

No no no no!! the original photo was REALLY an alien space ship! Rushfan is actually an Mi5 agent conducting ,a government mind control program !!