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Anyone Subscribe to UFO UPDATES?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ArizonaWill
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Free episodes:

A

ArizonaWill

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Once upon a time, there was a website where you could "lurk" and read the discussions among various notable people in the UFO field. It was called UFO UPDATES. It seemed that participation was by invitation only. There were some famous participants like Stanton Friedman. For some reason, I believe Alfred Lehmberg was also part of the mix, which kept it lively.

This website was free. Sometimes the dialogue was often very dull and flat, while at other times it was quite fascinating.

The last time I popped into the site, I found that it was now a pay service. So I could no longer scan the posts to see what the latest scandal or gossip was in the ufo field for free.

Since it just wasnt that high a priority to me, I did not pay. Did anyone else? Is it still going strong? Just curious.
 
I used to read UFO updates in my email. I stopped when Knapp made it a subscription service. By that time, I had become hooked on UFO related news. Then I discovered that there is such a thing as podcasts. The first one I found was The Paracast. Since then, I have tried a few others. Culture of Contact and The Paracast are the only two I regularly hear. Occasionally (but not often), I will listen to Banal of America.

So, The Paracast has replaced the UFO updates for me.

The UFO researchers get free subscriptions. It seems that Knapp is trying to make it a UFO researchers only type of community.
 
I joined the list without invitation. I left due to it's moderation which I didn't like. Errol charges money for it now, which I saw coming back when I was on the list.
 
I can sort of understand why he went w/ subscription. It was nice to have somebody format the posts to keep them relatively readable and such but I was pretty irritated that the archives went fee-based as well. Perhaps it would have been reasonable to start charging for access to stuff archived after the fee was introduced but I don't feel it was right to lock up the pre-subscription period archive. I have threads on there that I wanted to go back and reference and now can't. Server/bandwidth costs for a text list seem like a poor excuse as I would be astonished if he wasn't offered a few free mirrors. I would have even considered mirroring the archives. It would be trivial to offer a monthly digest as a torrent.

Pay to post is reasonable for his editing work and to keep the list serious. Pay to look at the archives is lame. On the other hand I suppose you could just pay for one month to fetch the entire archive and be done with it.

I too am somewhat curious to know how the list has faired after the subscription fee was enacted.
 
dorkbot said:
On the other hand I suppose you could just pay for one month to fetch the entire archive and be done with it.
Click to expand...

I also on a daily basis frequented a spiritual site. This site had many free articles on spiritual topics that pertained to me. Then the owners decided to create a "community" with a curriculum and articles that were only available via subscription. Meanwhile, this site has always maintained an on-line store that sells their books and MP3 files, workshops, etc.

I joined the community, but found that I would be paying a monthly fee when all the materials were readily available right now. So I spent a weekend downloading EVERYTHING from the community site, then cancelled my subscription. I wrote and told them that I just do not believe in establishing an on-line "spiritual community via credit card". At least a church lets you go to the service, and if you wish to give an offering, that is voluntary. Then you can go to the church bookstore and purchase more items to support the church's revenue. This online spiritual site in effect put in a turnstyle at their "church door" and said no one can come in without paying upfront.

I don't like that. What is this, on-line "country club Christianity?" So I left.
 
There's now a private email list where the researchers talk and hash things out. I wonder if it's in response to UFO Updates being a pay site?
 
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