With the current state of "BF research" somewhat resembling Chicago in the 1920's with a gold rush thrown in for good measure, a friend and I are in process of putting together a video series designed to explore the BF phenomena via a common sense practical approach.
We've kicked around several ideas but IMHO the first order of business probably should be an analysis of those already holding themselves out as "experts" in this field. To that end, we'd first engage in an examination of several of the BF related websites already in existence. Among the items to be benchmarked include what has a particular website actually done to further the cause of research in this area? This may be somewhat daunting as there is little if any tangible evidence available that appears to be able to pass forensic scrutiny.
Other areas will be the degree of commercialization these sites are engaging in such as retail sales, etc. or in other words, are they apparently "mining the miners" first and focusing on actual research second. This may or may not become a focal point depending upon where the evidence takes us. With some website operators offering "tours/expeditions, etc." on a fee basis the correlation between tangible research results and commercial focus may well prove interesting.
Once the wheat has been separated from the chaf all of the remaining entities (if any) will be accorded appropriate kudos and recommended as the go to resource(s) for lay people interested in getting valid information on this field. As it is expected there will be a large amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth by those that do not make the cut our benchmarking due diligence will be of a rigor and process that will leave no room for prejudice by those collecting the data. Again, the focus on actual tangible evidence will be the guiding principle along with a filtration process used to facilitate a library of data on credible encounters/sightings (that would be admissible in court based upon present jurisprudence) so as to give the viewer a resource to base their own experience(s) upon, both past and present.
Also, several centuries on NA legends cannot be ignored and will be included as another component in the viewer assimilating an opinion based upon a preponderance of the evidence.
The end game of this effort is to give the viewer something plausible to contemplate and a basic blueprint for how to intelligently pursue this endeavour should they be so inclined. Our results may prove to be both rather interesting and controversial (within the BF establishment) but will be as honest and straightforward as humanly possible and quite possibly a breath of fresh air for this arena.
