Seeing your perspective, I can see how why a distinction is very important to you. As a gay man, perhaps a metaphor would be when there is a gay pride parade in a city like San Francisco. The parade is predominantly contingents of lawyers, doctors, police, etc who are gay. The intent is to show the world that we are everywhere and in very responsible caring careers. Yet, what does the TV show? If there is one man in drag, all the TV stations will ignore the thousands of gay people in the parade in street clothes and instead show the world the drag queen. This is the image of the gay pride parade that is presented to the general public. Meanwhile, very serious gay people are working diligently behind the scenes to attain equal marriage and other rights. But again, this is never shown.
I sense that this also happens with UFOs and this bothers you a lot since you want to establish the field of ufology as a valid scientific field of investigation. I agree with your intent and goal to do so. It is very admirable.
Now as to my perspective on this so-called "Field". I honestly have studied it for decades and must admit to you that I have reached a point of exasperation and frustration. The field is so full of nonsense and belief systems. The emergence (ufology's version of the Tea Party?) of the Exopolitics Movement and its immense popularity nailed the proverbial nails into the ufology coffin for me. While there may be groups like yours doing serious research, I do think that ufology has become just an entertainment vehicle for the public.
Now, I beg you, please do not write back and insist that you do not include any of this entertainment stuff in YOUR definition of "ufology".
Conferences dedicated to ufology are full of frauds, delusionals, hucksters of every type, and a huge lobby/store where "ufo" books, dolls, DVDs, CDs, key chains, lunch boxes, paintings, pictures, night lights, etc. are hawked for sale. Interspersed in such conferences are more respectable characters like Richard Dolan (although he seems to be smooching a bit too much with the Exopolitics gang for my taste). "UFO Researcher" is a term used by Steven Greer, Richard Boylan, Stan Romanek, Richard Hoagland, Jonathan Reed, Paola Harris, and others of dubious honesty.
You can try to personally change the definition of "UFO researcher" to only refer to serious investigations but you cannot. You honestly just do not have the political and social power to do so.
A few years ago an outsider named Daniel Brenton came into the ufology movement with The Clueless One and Jeff Ritzmann. One of the earlier Paracast shows has all 3 discussing a need for some sort of validation of UFO claims. They wanted a self-policing institution to be created in ufology that would analyze and establish an evaluation process. Daniel Brenton was viciously attacked by the usual cast of suspects in the UFO field. He was driven from ufology forever by those who felt that having such a "board of inquiry" was not egalitarian. Alfred Lehmberg, a writer for UFO MAGAZINE at the time, was particularly vicious to Daniel on a personal level. Daniel threw up his hands in despair and let ufology forever. Check out this Paracast episode if you have time.
I think that you have to accept that Ufology is a terrible disgrace from the vantage point of a serious investigator. I think you have to accept the chaos and carnival atmosphere of ufology. You can't define it out of existence. Just for fun (to perhaps make your blood boil) check out the link below.
Unarius, UFO Cult, Gets Profiled In 'Children Of The Stars' Documentary (VIDEO, PHOTOS)
This is the reality of ufology, and you cannot single handedly change that. You wish to transform ufology into a credible field of inquiry. My honest opinion is that you will FAIL at this. You cannot cast all the delusionals, hucksters and religious faithful "out of the temple" as Jesus did. Instead, you have to do your serious work, knowing that the field is about as glitzy and artificial as the Las Vegas strip at night.
If you wish to distance yourself from all this, I would advise you to stop using the word "UFO' or "Ufology". The word equates to aliens in the public mind and a science fiction host of images in the mind (including those little green men with antenna's that grace cartoons). Find a different term. Create your own. To me, ufology is HOPELESSLY corrupt. You cannot clean it up. Much easier to remove yourself from the umbrella of serious people and loons that fall under the term "ufology" and instead create your own untainted term for what you seek to do. Didn't Robert Haines use the term Aerial Unidentified Objects (AUO) instead of UFO?
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