Your post had very little to do with that reasoning, because you used it to catch attention and then flame any eyewitness as a "believer" who could no longer tell reality from fantasy.

Quote:"we know the believers so desperately need the phenomenon that they can no longer critically examine the data and make an honest attempt to find alternate explanations for anomalous phenomena."

I imagine there are gullible newbies out there, but a lot of seasoned researchers DO look at all the evidence (contrary to YOUR belief), and examine it carefully. Your sarcastic flame does NOT encompass those who take the study seriously, but are just those whom you find distasteful in any field or genre so the "believers" are ceremoniously all lumped in together with no distinction of their merits. You sound like Tom attacking anyone left of center as a communist, marxist or socialist. Or just reducing all who take the study seriously as some type of goth teenager with tatoos and body piercings.

>"As for the biology of alien species... won't look like us bipedal humanoids who are similar enough to us that they can communicate with us telepathically."

LOL Are you SURE of that?
We have devices that transfer the spoken word into print.
We have devices that transfer the spoken word into commands.
And all of a sudden an alien species (if there is such a thing) couldn't possibly connect with us brain-to-brain, bi-pedal or not?
C'mon ER! That sounds foolish.

However, I DO agree with you about the "parasitic industry" that sells books and National Enquirers with those gullible enough who have yet to learn what is real and what is fantasy.
I'd be curious to know who you worked for. Because I know a lot of them, and have for decades. I know the ones who stretch their stories, and the ones who lie. To them it IS money or ego, or both. It's a very tough business just to get started in and maintain any credibility, because the dogs are rabid and always at the door. Which is one reason why I don't publish anymore, and only work with a handful of top researchers I can trust.
The stories go past high strangeness into an emerging construct of actual communication, if one has the patience to look at all the information.

While many here dismiss the topic, they have no idea how fascinating the study has become, once you get out of the ufo "circus" (the one you probably have the most trouble and contempt for) and get down to the business of piecing it all together.