Gags have been going on since Day One.

You and I, we had a chat about ufo's years ago. Let me tell you a story. I will recount this because I'm probably the ONLY poster here who's seen one up right up close and personal.
I was with three of my neighbours at the time. It was a 25' disc rotating counterclockwise and it was so close I could count the lights on it. The two neighbours who lived across the street from me, after seeing this, WANTED to paint a big "For Sale" sign on the side of their house (it was out in the country). Instead, they just put their house up for sale and moved back to the city within a month. My OTHER next door neighbour fared even worse. He was a paramedic, it so freaked him out, that the next morning he took his Magnum 44 and went into his barn and shot some kittens and piglets, then came into our yard and shot our neighbours St. Bernard dog out front.

Now you can deduce what you want from this. This was NOT a hoax. It happened back in 1975. It COULD have been a military experiment. However, nobody was laughing, especially the townfolk. If it had been a hundred years earlier, we would have tarred and feathered the paramedic. As it is he left town rather quickly and I hope he's in an institution somewhere.

>"My question is this: What do people here think of someone setting up a UFO hoax solely for the purpose of sitting back and watching reaction?"

I'm sure the government has done this more than a few times. I've done a lot of research on the subject (more than anyone here), and I can tell you, the intelligence operatives move within the research circle. Their psychology is varied, and it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth the deeper you go.

>"do you guys think that hoaxes are a bad idea,"

No

>" do you think that it helps open up discussion about UFOs?"

Yes.

>" do you think that, revealed as a hoax or not, that it takes any credibility from actual UFO sightings, or...?

Yes, people don't like to be fooled, because then you end up with the boy who cried wolf.
Here in the US and England, they hold on to their "ufo" material very tightly, while in other countries the military openly share their cases with civilian researchers. There really are no answers right now, it's all a big mix. One thing the research HAS proven, is that we have no control over the phenomena........it's more intelligent than us......and possibly more powerful.
Food for thought.