Hello ATSers,

every now and than a hoaxer enters here and tries to play his game. I think, the most of you have more expierence with such guys, than I have.

They don’t serve anything, but either have their fun or follow their own goals. Threads, which begin as think tank, end up derailed and flooded by nonsense.
On the other hand it is more and more difficult to recognize fake photos from real ones.

I would like to ask you all, with your experience, to try to make some profile.

How can we recognize a hoaxer?

Greetings Sidd

One observation of hoaxers I have noticed is they are usually good story tellers. They also seem to like to make alot of posts while saying very little.

At times the content seems to contain a lot of sensationalism, like outrageous claims which make for good story, but not necessarily believeable.

Attention seems to be a motive. They tend to have many details of "abductions" and details of what happened to them on space ships.

Hoaxers like attention and they like to see how we respond.

They like to keep you hanging.

I recall not too long ago a guy who came here with a story of traveling to the future. He picked and choosed what questions to answer, and when he did answer a question, it was vague and uninformative.

So that's my first sign of a hoaxer - vague and uninformative.

When you attempt to ask a question that on the outset to most is essential, like when did this happen, is it possible it could be (insert answer here)?, is the person you are relaying this account available to speak to us, they either completely ignore you or become immediatley agitated and combative.

Just a few quick thoughts, the majority would be:

* white male, between the ages of 14 and 30.
* have a history being rewarded or obtaining their intended goal by being less than truthful.
* probably has low self esteem.
* likely to be dissatisfied with their current conditions which feeds the self esteem issue.
* Likely between 5' 6" and 5' 10"
* Overweight
* Not too geeky
* Feels misjudged, poorly regarded, and likely an outcast

They would:

* Enjoy being the center of attention.
* Enjoy the charge they get out of being in control.
* Be good at dodging, changing direction, and tossing curves.
* Enjoy a mental joust.
* Most often will hold something back as a control mechanism.
* Control mechanism will be used as necessary punishment if called out.
* Some may exhibit sado-masochistic tendencies with a need to be called liars.

I would guess that they are cruel of intent and do not believe in off worlders.
Also they leave you hanging in between posts, sometimes for days...

I've yet to start a thread here. I've answered quite a few threads with my stories of abductions etc. and yet people seem to treat me as a hoaxer or nutjob and ignore me. Seriously, If I ever do have something worthy of posting as sensational, I doubt it will be here just by these reactions I get from members and mods now. ATSholes?!

Originally posted by aleon1018
I've yet to start a thread here. I've answered quite a few threads with my stories of abductions etc. and yet people seem to treat me as a hoaxer or nutjob and ignore me. Seriously, If I ever do have something worthy of posting as sensational, I doubt it will be here just by these reactions I get from members and mods now. ATSholes?!

Point out rule #1 to them: No good hoaxer would post their best material in another person's thread.

That would be sacrilege considering rule #2 is: Every good hoax deserves its own thread.

When you are engaged in a thread with a suspected hoaxster and find a flaw
in THEIR story, they will most likely try to Ignore you and if you persist
and others start to persist on that flaw they will often turn on you and become personal about it

Hoaxsters thrive on control and the HaHA gotcha attitude
Their goal is to suck you in (always listen for the sucking wind sound)

You will see things like "Oh you don't want to hear the truth"
or they will belittle you "your just a so and so,get lost"
And as the tide turns on the hoaxster they will continue to try to forward
their story by trying to klik up... asking question like "Who's on my side"
they will make reference to people that believe them

Cold hard facts, and flaws in their stories ,are fatal to a hoax





[edit on 3-7-2008 by The Utopian Penguin]

To me it's all about the Profile. If an avatar is of quality and blends well into the backround color I'm much more likely to pay attention.

Girls with eyes on their hands, underwear models, and Shagrath all tell me I'm listening to someone who's put a little effort into their profile and aren't here to screw around. As I also hope that my stupid face next to Kevin Smith tells you all I'm not screwing around, nor am I hiding. You can be damn sure if I post pics or a video and say I took it, I'm not hoaxing. Of course, I could be a moron taking a picture of a helicopter and not knowing it, but that's different.

If I get abducted I'll contact a mod or Jeff Ritzman or David Biedny; I'm not sure if I'd ever bring that to a thread.

Other elements of the profile could be clues as well. Use some good judgement.

Thanks for the input to everyone!

How about the interactions between different hoaxers? Will they rather pretend to be of different opinion or will they support each other?

I know, there are some sites, which sound like "Handbook for hoaxers", but I am asking for the real life observations here or elsewhere.

sidd. we may continue to the point of profiling all contributors. the hoaxers, the (people behind the) mis-identifications, and the one that is truthful.

You mean, it is useless?

If that is the conclusion, I can accept it. But doesn't it leave us helpless somehow?

hehehe I agree with all the inputs above.


Hoaxers always claim who they are or were, for example they were in military service, high time pilot or has been work in here and there, they want to be famous.
When you ask them for proof, they will tell you they can't tell you or else they are risking their lives.
Who on earth will come here telling all supposed to be secrets but exposing their previous occupations/jobs/ranks and then tell you they must keep their identities secret?
If they are so worry about risking their lives in the first place, they don't come here and talk in public place.

And of course, they ( hoaxers ) will answer all stupid questions asked by members of this forums. If they stop answering, the game is OVER, and of course if YOU stop questioning, the GAME is OVER sooner.
And the dumb part is there is always people asking stupid questions, those are people who just want to hear what they want to hear.

Originally posted by Siddharta
I know, there are some sites, which sound like "Handbook for hoaxers", but I am asking for the real life observations here or elsewhere.

Yes we really need more hoaxers.
Something to add to the profile: the lack of technical skills. Even worse than a hoaxer is a hoaxer with undebunkable photographic evidence. It's a good thing they don't know:
- how to add a fake UFO to JPEG image seamlessly, while preserving EXIF information,
- how to create fake raw images (yes it can be done with Canon's CR2 or other formats that have been reverse engineered).
So let's NOT post a "hoaxer's starter kit".