What is there to GAIN from creating a hoax?

Aside from wanting to trick a few people, what is there to actually gain from creating a good hoax? Fame? If you went public with your name and face, you'll almost certainly be the subject of ridicule. So the smart thing to do would be not to reveal your identity, but if you didn't, then you would get no fame. What about fortune? Who in this day and age, thanks to the advancement of digital manipulation, will buy footage or photos?

reply to post by Shino

Some do it just to show off their skills--even if they're the only ones who'll ever know it was a hoax. Some do it to discredit the entire UFO culture. IDK. Fill in your own. For the same reasons people write viruses, I suppose....

reply to post by Shino


Many people who scream hoax about the topics on this forum haven't asked themselves this question...Good thread, and will hopefully help people understand stuff. Most people accused of being hoaxers might actually believe what they are saying, and aren't just intentionally pulling stuff out of thin air to get a rise out of others.

Don't you think that people who advocated stuff like the earth orbiting the sun or not being flat were hoaxers to everyone else at the time?

A lot of people don't care about being ridiculed, they just want to be the top subject of interest. Most hoaxes are young kids that are taking or have taken computer courses (ie: CGI Training) and just want to exercise something they just learned.

So, in my opinion, it's all about fame!
In young kids eyes, it doesn't matter if people talk trash about them, the fact that people are talking about them (either in a good way or bad) is the attention they are after!

reply to post by Shino


It's a form of gambling. You make the hoax, and gamble that people won't figure it out.

You also have people that do it for the "lulz". They do it to see if they can fool people, and then are pretty much roaring with laughter later, whether or not the hoax is found out is not important to them.

And yes, some people do it for money. You are right that with how digital media is today, it's very easy to make a hoax video or pics. But that's just it: YouTube will pay you for your video views now. Go to YouTube and check it out.
That's why I'm highly suspicious of videos on YouTube. Especially if I see it's someone getting paid for their video hits.
They don't care if people figure out a video is hoaxed. They know there are plenty of other people out there that will still click on their links.

reply to post by Shino


Perhaps some people have a need to "debunk" the things they are afraid might actually be true. Hoaxing may be a sort of validation of their cozy world view, because (they may suppose) if they can pull off a hoax, then that "proves" that the whole subject is a hoax.

On a less psychological level, there are some who do actually gain a certain amount of prestige in the more hidebound and narrow minded cliques of academia and science, so it may be a way to further a career somehow, or at least to meet important people.

But whatever their reasons, the jokes aren't real funny, as they only serve to ridicule and marginalize subjects worthy of serious inquiry and humiliate one of the most important and endearing human qualities- curiousity.

they might showoff their skills to a futur employer

Sometimes a hoax isn't meant to be a hoax.

Somebody may find a student film or a video of some guy messing around with a special effects program and mislabel it.

How fun is it though to just mess with people sometimes.

I wrote a story / thread in a forum once about how some creepy guys got into my home and looked at my computer files then I used the trick link at the end the link that shows your own user profile. It was just funny how many people fell for it.

I don't know. Is that a hoax or a joke or a....?

Those who who know what the pic means have the answer given to them.

reply to post by Shino
lets say you have a crashed UFO and you reverse engineer it. Now you have technological superiority over everyone! If you keep people thinking aliens dont exist and dont bother looking for them. Then you keep (for now) your tech superiority.

Although one must hold back an entire species to properly do this..... Something that can never be forgiven. Yet America does it anyway :/

Edit: Humans have gotten smarter so basic lying doesn't work anymore. They have turned to active disinformation. Stifles the field a bit longer to keep that tech superiority.

Originally posted by Mandrakerealmz
reply to post by Shino

 

lets say you have a crashed UFO and you reverse engineer it. Now you have technological superiority over everyone! If you keep people thinking aliens dont exist and dont bother looking for them. Then you keep (for now) your tech superiority.

Although one must hold back an entire species to properly do this..... Something that can never be forgiven. Yet America does it anyway :/

You need to understand that there is exists technology today that we will see in 20 years. This is a fact. The technology we use today is recycled spy and secret tech. An old army bud told me how you can buy toy helicopters with cameras for under 100 bux at toys r us when 29 years ago it was secret multi million dollar spy tech.

The point I am trying to make is that the craft, lights and other odd behaviour are man made craft and worldly objects.

Notoriety, even if just a few moments of it. Many hoaxers were neglected in childhood or even in their adult lives and feel the need to repair that by doing and/or claiming something significant, no matter what it is, even if it's completely false.

They might also get an adrenalin rush from duping people.

The guy who created the Loch Ness Monster hoax kept people busy for years, the people who created the crop circle hoaxes still have people questioning. I think self satisfaction, and maybe a little fame is the answer.

hoaxes are fun, but then they turn sad when you see people actually believing and defending the hoax.

Originally posted by Shino
Aside from wanting to trick a few people, what is there to actually gain from creating a good hoax? Fame? If you went public with your name and face, you'll almost certainly be the subject of ridicule. So the smart thing to do would be not to reveal your identity, but if you didn't, then you would get no fame. What about fortune? Who in this day and age, thanks to the advancement of digital manipulation, will buy footage or photos?

edit on 21-5-2012 by Shino because: clarification

There's a certain level of pride in seeing your work be believed I'm sure.. if someone put enough effort into it then they would no doubt love the idea they successfully fooled people..

Other than that, some of those people genuinely believe in what they are hoaxing so they create evidence to convince others.. they may just think that good enough evidence isn't there yet so they'll invent it..

There are probably numerous reasons.. but I think someone who's creative enough to pull off a convincing hoax is probably more interested in the pride that comes with successfully convincing people that what they created is real..

Originally posted by VeritasAequitas
reply to post by Shino

 

Many people who scream hoax about the topics on this forum haven't asked themselves this question...

And many have.

Moot issue there.

Good thread, and will hopefully help people understand stuff. Most people accused of being hoaxers might actually believe what they are saying, and aren't just intentionally pulling stuff out of thin air to get a rise out of others.

Don't you think that people who advocated stuff like the earth orbiting the sun or not being flat were hoaxers to everyone else at the time?

edit on 21-5-2012 by VeritasAequitas because: (no reason given)

No. Because they didn't do it for S&G's. They did it because they had evidence. It was the ignorance and arrogance of the powers of the time that did them in. Not some guy sitting in his castle going "Hahaha TROLLOLOLOL I got them, hahaha they lose!!"

Originally posted by cavalryscout
Sometimes a hoax isn't meant to be a hoax.

Somebody may find a student film or a video of some guy messing around with a special effects program and mislabel it.

How fun is it though to just mess with people sometimes.

I wrote a story / thread in a forum once about how some creepy guys got into my home and looked at my computer files then I used the trick link at the end the link that shows your own user profile. It was just funny how many people fell for it.

I don't know. Is that a hoax or a joke or a....?

I remember that.. good show! .. and that's precisely right.. people were buying it until they clicked the link, you probably could have trolled that thread for hours.. some do just that without giving up the fact it's all an invention of their imagination for the Lulz! .. and many people just eat it up..

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Have absolutely no idea what you mean.

By the way, have you seen my new invention?

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Yes, but by the same token, a LOT of the tech we have today just makes common sense. We're not always using secret super spy tech, sometimes, our imaginations take hold and someone goes and sticks a camera to a remote controlled helicopter. The smaller the camera, the more feasible it is.

We've had remote controlled choppers/planes for decades. Tiny cameras might have been the focus of spy tech back in the day, but even as a kid I imagined having a small enough camera to glue to the back of a dragon fly.

Doesn't mean I stole the idea from spies, nor does it mean I reversed engineered tech from the future, or mars.

Just means it's a good funky idea, and we live on a planet with over a 7 billion brains all thinking about things.

Gotta give us some credit, despite the fact we're a self destructive atrocity and a blight on the earth..

reply to post by Shino


A good place to start answering this question would be to see where the Alien/UFO "insiders" are getting their income. (Book deals, speaking, websites, here's looking at you, Lear! )