Getting to know you....

[Benway]

Hello everyone! I'm Ben, I was born and still live in Cambridgeshire in England, have experienced some very strange things in my life and was looking for a friendly place to chat about mysteries and the paranormal where I could exchange ideas and talk about theories, rather than just reading the 400th post and comment section on a non-forum. I'm an open minded skeptic with a life long interest in the unusual. If something has been shot down convincingly then I see no point in wasting further time on it and I actually like some of my mysteries to be solved. The truth is usually more important than the mystery and there's so much beyond those debunked cases left to explain!

I once spent an hour or so lounging around in a park at night with a load of tiny winged women, enjoying the stars and their shenanigans. They even stopped giggling at the big stupid wingless clod after a while... I have no idea what that means or if it was objectively real, but some things should just be treasured.

(I'll sort out an avatar at some point. I just lost my old PC and am getting set up again.)

 

[7Critter]

Hello everyone! I'm Ben, I was born and still live in Cambridgeshire in England, have experienced some very strange things in my life and was looking for a friendly place to chat about mysteries and the paranormal where I could exchange ideas and talk about theories, rather than just reading the 400th post and comment section on a non-forum. I'm an open minded skeptic with a life long interest in the unusual. If something has been shot down convincingly then I see no point in wasting further time on it and I actually like some of my mysteries to be solved. The truth is usually more important than the mystery and there's so much beyond those debunked cases left to explain!

I once spent an hour or so lounging around in a park at night with a load of tiny winged women, enjoying the stars and their shenanigans. They even stopped giggling at the big stupid wingless clod after a while... I have no idea what that means or if it was objectively real, but some things should just be treasured.

(I'll sort out an avatar at some point. I just lost my old PC and am getting set up again.)

Thanks for sharing a bit about youself, Benway. It's good to get to know you.

 

[WitchAndShaman]

Hello everyone! I'm Ben, I was born and still live in Cambridgeshire in England, have experienced some very strange things in my life and was looking for a friendly place to chat about mysteries and the paranormal where I could exchange ideas and talk about theories, rather than just reading the 400th post and comment section on a non-forum. I'm an open minded skeptic with a life long interest in the unusual. If something has been shot down convincingly then I see no point in wasting further time on it and I actually like some of my mysteries to be solved. The truth is usually more important than the mystery and there's so much beyond those debunked cases left to explain!

I once spent an hour or so lounging around in a park at night with a load of tiny winged women, enjoying the stars and their shenanigans. They even stopped giggling at the big stupid wingless clod after a while... I have no idea what that means or if it was objectively real, but some things should just be treasured.

(I'll sort out an avatar at some point. I just lost my old PC and am getting set up again.)

WELCOME BEN! Eventually I’ll stop keeping track of my tenure but for now I’m still new to this inclusive forum too - been here almost three weeks.

I’m always open to learning through others’ experiences so please do share some when you’re ready to do so.

Let me give you some special recognition for sharing your position that it can be more important to have resolution to a mystery than just perpetuating it. Sincerely love the idea. It can get a little old rehashing the same issues over and over needlessly.

However, let me also offer a rebuttal too. I’ll try to keep it short because this could get deep. I like to think that each of us might have only one/few piece of the puzzle; and through sharing (even discussing the supposedly resolved issues) the previously solved puzzle becomes a new and growing image to re-solve anew ... together.

Related to that point, I believe that we are an evolving race with each generation (seems you might be 15 years younger than me) contributing new puzzle pieces. (If you instead believe in chaos then we are de-evolving. In which case I hope to meet you again when I am in my final state of being as a sentient puddle of goo. )

My point then is that others might still be able to offer to me new inputs and ideas on old outdated solutions. And when shared, I hope to still be open enough to be able to listen and consider same. Please don’t fear sharing input with us here on topics you think might be closed.

 

[Debi]

WELCOME BEN! Eventually I’ll stop keeping track of my tenure but for now I’m still new to this inclusive forum too - been here almost three weeks.

I’m always open to learning through others’ experiences so please do share some when you’re ready to do so.

Let me give you some special recognition for sharing your position that it can be more important to have resolution to a mystery than just perpetuating it. Sincerely love the idea. It can get a little old rehashing the same issues over and over needlessly.

However, let me also offer a rebuttal too. I’ll try to keep it short because this could get deep. I like to think that each of us might have only one/few piece of the puzzle; and through sharing (even discussing the supposedly resolved issues) the previously solved puzzle becomes a new and growing image to re-solve anew ... together.

Related to that point, I believe that we are an evolving race with each generation (seems you might be 15 years younger than me) contributing new puzzle pieces. (If you instead believe in chaos then we are de-evolving. In which case I hope to meet you again when I am in my final state of being as a sentient puddle of goo. )

My point then is that others might still be able to offer to me new inputs and ideas on old outdated solutions. And when shared, I hope to still be open enough to be able to listen and consider same. Please don’t fear sharing input with us here on topics you think might be closed.

WandS, you are officially now on the welcoming committee! Well said!

 

[Debi]

Hello everyone! I'm Ben, I was born and still live in Cambridgeshire in England, have experienced some very strange things in my life and was looking for a friendly place to chat about mysteries and the paranormal where I could exchange ideas and talk about theories, rather than just reading the 400th post and comment section on a non-forum. I'm an open minded skeptic with a life long interest in the unusual. If something has been shot down convincingly then I see no point in wasting further time on it and I actually like some of my mysteries to be solved. The truth is usually more important than the mystery and there's so much beyond those debunked cases left to explain!

I once spent an hour or so lounging around in a park at night with a load of tiny winged women, enjoying the stars and their shenanigans. They even stopped giggling at the big stupid wingless clod after a while... I have no idea what that means or if it was objectively real, but some things should just be treasured.

(I'll sort out an avatar at some point. I just lost my old PC and am getting set up again.)

Benway, good to meet you. So glad to have you on board with us! Open minded skeptics are welcome, as I feel that one must look at things from all sides. WandS said it well and truly hit the nail on the head with our goals here on the forum. Jump in anywhere with comments and if you need assist with anything just let me or the staff/mods know.

 

[Paintman]

Hi Ben, greetings. We have lots of science types here, and lots of the inexplicable.!
Sometimes I'm just content to be satisfied that someone has a name for a strange event in my life - and someone has heard of it - and leave it at that.

 

[Benway]

Thankyou all of you for the warm welcome! All the welcomes (and not just a few words) were a really nice surprise. In answer to a point raised, if I've written something off but then discover some new information then I'll change my mind. It's really getting set into the one side or the other belief or non-belief mindset where people just ignore whatever doesn't fit their preconceived notions that I avoid. I may be skeptical but many of my opinions are far from scientific, as science demands testable proof and where there is no proof I like to armchair theorise as much as anyone. I just discount things I've seen evidence against until new evidence arrives. I think that's a sensible level of scientificness (ouch.. that sounds wrong) to bring to a discussion of the unexplained, otherwise I would simply be folding my arms and saying "Prove it!" at every single thing!

Thanks again for the welcome and hopefully I'll post some of my odd experiences here and hopefully get some feedback and talk about them too as well as joining in the other topics. There may be a slight lull as I'm going away for a few days and I'm terrible at typing on my phone, so unless I can borrow a tablet I may appear to have given up, but I will just be having fun off-line!

Good to meet you all.

 

[Debi]

Thankyou all of you for the warm welcome! All the welcomes (and not just a few words) were a really nice surprise. In answer to a point raised, if I've written something off but then discover some new information then I'll change my mind. It's really getting set into the one side or the other belief or non-belief mindset where people just ignore whatever doesn't fit their preconceived notions that I avoid. I may be skeptical but many of my opinions are far from scientific, as science demands testable proof and where there is no proof I like to armchair theorise as much as anyone. I just discount things I've seen evidence against until new evidence arrives. I think that's a sensible level of scientificness (ouch.. that sounds wrong) to bring to a discussion of the unexplained, otherwise I would simply be folding my arms and saying "Prove it!" at every single thing!

Thanks again for the welcome and hopefully I'll post some of my odd experiences here and hopefully get some feedback and talk about them too as well as joining in the other topics. There may be a slight lull as I'm going away for a few days and I'm terrible at typing on my phone, so unless I can borrow a tablet I may appear to have given up, but I will just be having fun off-line!

Good to meet you all.

Have a fun time off-line and we'll look forward to hearing more from you!

 

[Seahunter]

Welcome Benway ! Great introduction, thank you! I look forward to your input here. We are a relatively small group, but what we lack in quantity, we more than make up in quality! We don't allow trolling, so it's basically stress-free in that regard. Also, unless a mod/staff miss it, there are no personal attacks, so we're definitely different in that arena compared to some other forums. So, jump right in, and as Debi said, any questions feel free to ask.

P.S. Have fun on your days off!

 

[7Critter]

Thankyou all of you for the warm welcome! All the welcomes (and not just a few words) were a really nice surprise. In answer to a point raised, if I've written something off but then discover some new information then I'll change my mind. It's really getting set into the one side or the other belief or non-belief mindset where people just ignore whatever doesn't fit their preconceived notions that I avoid. I may be skeptical but many of my opinions are far from scientific, as science demands testable proof and where there is no proof I like to armchair theorise as much as anyone. I just discount things I've seen evidence against until new evidence arrives. I think that's a sensible level of scientificness (ouch.. that sounds wrong) to bring to a discussion of the unexplained, otherwise I would simply be folding my arms and saying "Prove it!" at every single thing!

Thanks again for the welcome and hopefully I'll post some of my odd experiences here and hopefully get some feedback and talk about them too as well as joining in the other topics. There may be a slight lull as I'm going away for a few days and I'm terrible at typing on my phone, so unless I can borrow a tablet I may appear to have given up, but I will just be having fun off-line!

Good to meet you all.

Your reasoning is logical and sensible. I like the way you think, Benway.