The Misrepresentation of Examination.

Greetings. The scientific method is applied in the effort to examine a wide range of topics, problems, and unknowns. The collection of physical, tangible, falsifiable proof and evidence is an essential aspect of that endeavor, an absolutely essential aspect. When a topic or problem is examined despite a wanting of such evidence, any and all subsequent investigative efforts must be called into question, at the very least to keep the focus of the aforementioned examinations clear, honest, and transparent.

The investigation of the UFO problem is a unique exception, one that is often overlooked by many within the confines of the field, including archivists, researchers, and field investigators. While many people have maintained a credible and focused attack on the problem in question, they have been forced to conduct their undertakings without a substantial amount of non-anecdotal evidence or information. While field investigators like the late Ted Phillips did focus on physical trace cases, to his eternal credit, nothing definitively non-terrestrial and/or artificial has ever been recovered by anyone on the planet. Nevertheless, while the lack of evidence to support an extraterrestrial explanation for the UFO problem is troubling, such a shortcoming does not, and should not, influence the scientific method. Evidence of anomalous, out of the ordinary phenomena has been discovered, and as a result, the extraterrestrial explanation still holds a place on the investigative table of potentialities.

UFO investigators don't investigative UFOs, they investigate reports of UFOs. A distinction that is lost to the UFO subculture. 

Anecdotal claims are now commonly viewed as evidence by a good majority of the UFO subculture, a viewpoint which could not be more erroneous. The scientific method views anecdotes as the weakest form of information, not as evidence, or as anything else which could, or should, be seen as objective information. Since the investigative "goal posts" are constantly moved when it comes to the UFO problem, such a lack of evidence is not really a problem, as far as the UFO field is concerned. Unfortunately, when taken in combination with the field's lack of standardized methodologies, the pseudoscientific approach to UFOs becomes readily apparent, at least to those who are willing to see what is sitting in front of them, instead of what usually happens, the otherwise.

Stories are good enough for most in the UFO subculture, however they are just that. Stories and nothing else. Not good enough.

The UFO subculture has become, in my opinion, far more pseudoscientific in recent decades, with logical, skeptical, data and evidence-driven approaches to the issue having become less and less popular, and unfortunately, less credible in the eyes of many people who reside in the UFO realm. The investigative approaches of Ted Phillips, Coral Lorenzen, Dr. James E. McDonald, and the recently deceased Peter Sturrock would not be embraced with open arms by today's UFO "community," with the limelight squarely in the laps of the shiny objects of the UFO world; the Dolans, the Corbells, and the Knapps, among many others, with too many left to name in this particular writing. 

Without the scientific method there is no hope of solving the UFO problem. None whatsoever. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.