[**So Weird! Ten UFO Cases of Extreme High Strangeness**](https://youtu.be/u0hjYl7hkzI) by Preston Dennett https://preview.redd.it/hz489hvfkgog1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3b13055fb09c5a09bf370caa8011f3d47df0173 If there is one thing UFO encounters are well-known for, it is high strangeness. Sightings, landings, face-to-face encounters, onboard experiences – all of them often contain weird and bizarre aspects that seem to defy explanation or understanding. The question is, why? What does this high strangeness mean? Is this an intentional act on the part of the ETs to encourage us to seek new answers? These cases do show that our understanding of extraterrestrial contact remains incomplete, and that we still have much to learn. Here are ten weird UFO cases of extreme high strangeness that might help answer these questions. WEIRD EFFECTS FROM A UFO. In November 1953, Trygve Jansen and Gudrun Buflod drove along the Mossevei Road which lies along Gjresjoen Lake in Norway. Without warning a UFO dropped from the sky and swooped at their car several times before blocking their path on the road. After a short stand-off, the object flew away. But the high strangeness had only begun. The UFO affected the watch Trygve wore, the car he was driving, and caused strange physiological changes in both Trygve and Gudron. A UFO IN DISGUISE. On July 2, 1954, Mrs. R and 8 family members drove along Highway 97 near Crater Lake, OR. Running out of gas, they decided to stop at the next gas/food stop. Up ahead, they saw a brilliantly-lit café all by itself along the highway. Their car died and they rolled into the parking lot. The building was perfectly round and covered with lights. Inside, they were amazed to see curved mirror-like walls, translucent tables, and a waiter and waitress only four feet tall and dressed in silver uniforms. The high strangeness had just begun. A UFO DEPOSITS UNKNOWN MATERIAL. It was late at night on May 10, 1957, as Michel Fekete rode his bicycle on his way home in Beaucourt sur L’Ancre, France. A bright light on the road ahead dazzled his eyes and he saw four short figures approach him threateningly. He ran to the nearest house and pounded on the door. They let him in and they all watched for the next 20 minutes as the figures darted back and forth. The object darted away, but it left behind patches of a strange black, elastic material. THE ALIEN ROBOTS. On October 23, 1965, James Floyd Townsend was just a few miles from his home in Long Prairie, MN when a tall rocket-shaped UFO landed on the road in front of him, blocking his way. Moments later, several tiny tin-can-shaped robotic figures exited the craft and began to approach. James had the distinct feeling they were watching him. Little did he know, both before and after his encounter, numerous people in the area were also seeing UFOs. CHASED BY A UFO. At 8:00 a.m., on April 8, 1966, Gary Hunt and Mike Dorsey (both age 12) were walking to school in Norwalk, CT when a UFO swooped down right over their heads. It then made a U-turn in the sky and swooped down again. When it buzzed them a third time, the boys ran away in panic. The UFO followed, chasing them into the woods and forcing them to hide under a bridge. Other witnesses in the area watched their ordeal. Later, the boys were both questioned by a secret government agent. “I WAS SHOT BY AN ET RAY-GUN!” On the evening of September 3, 1976, Joao Romeu Klein was walking to his home in Santa Catarina, Brazil. He saw a strange flying disc approach and hover ahead of him on the path. A red beam of light shone down and deposited three short dwarf-like figures who blocked the path. Meanwhile, the UFO darted behind Joao, blocking his escape. Joao decided to throw his work-knife at the creatures. But they responded by pointing a ray-gun at him, striking him with a beam of light. UFO PREDICTS FATAL BUS ACCIDENT. On March 18, 1988, a bus carrying 22 members of a religious sect plummeted from a mountain highway, killing 4 passengers and seriously injuring 18 others. The driver (who had been drinking) was charged with murder. Meanwhile, the head of the sect, Peter Thomas, revealed that the entire group had seen a UFO, and that evening, he had dreamed about the UFO, which warned him that a tragic accident was about to occur. BURNED BY A UFO. On March 31, 1980, two circus employees (Paride Orfei and Phelipe Garcia) were standing behind the circus tent in Gioia del Colle, Italy when a bright light zoomed down and hovered overhead. It stayed only briefly, but caused the circus animals to react strangely. Moments later, the UFO darted away. That’s when both men realized that they had been burned by the object. THE UFO WITH TENTACLES. On the evening of October 27, 1981, three young girls (Pia Andersson, Carina Sjostrom and Anna-Karin Lindahl) decided to ride their horses near their homes in Kvilla, Sweden. The horses were acting oddly when a small glowing disc dropped from the sky and hovered overhead. It had weird tentacle-like appendages around the circumference. All the girls were paralyzed in fear. Finally the object left and the girls galloped home. THEY LOOKED LIKE BAGS. In the middle of the night on November 2, 1989, two truck drivers, Oleg Kirzhakov and Nikolai Baranchikov encountered a landed UFO on a remote highway near Arkhangelsk, Russia. The truck engine died, so Oleg went to investigate the craft. At first a weird forcefield prevented his progress. But then a door opened and weird bag-shaped figures emerged. The next thing Oleg knew, he was being taken onboard and had a long encounter where many very strange things happened to him. These encounters all contain unique and bizarre elements of high strangeness and show just how bizarre UFO contact can be. And yet, many also contain compelling physical evidence: landing traces, medical affects, electromagnetic effects, animal reactions and more. These very weird cases have something very important to teach us about UFOs and extraterrestrials. [**So Weird! Ten UFO Cases of Extreme High Strangeness**](https://youtu.be/u0hjYl7hkzI)

Tom Delonge talks about republishing Peter Levenda's book Sinister Forces. And explains his latest book Time Rider is based on the Sinister forces series. Much like how the Sekret Machines series has novels tied to them.

President Trump asked Rep. Burchett if he thinks UFOs are real “He said, ‘Do you think they’re real?’ I said, ‘Something’s going on Mr. President. We’re spending billions of dollars on something.’” Burchett says he asked Trump to release what he’s seen in classified briefings. “Myself and some other people that are close to him are gonna be talking to him about the right things to ask for.” [https://x.com/UAPJames/status/2030993123501875434](https://x.com/UAPJames/status/2030993123501875434)

Investigators contacted the Albuquerque homeowners to gather the home camera footage and information in an effort to track down William Neil McCasland, 68, who vanished without a trace from his home on Feb. 28, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. “Investigators have contacted more than 600 homeowners in the neighborhood near Mr. McCasland’s residence to request security camera footage or information,” a police spokesperson told The Post. The FBI is assisting local authorities in the search.

**Here are the launches scheduled for the next 24 hours:** --- **Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-48** - **Provider:** SpaceX - **Launch Time:** 2026-03-12 10:00 UTC / 2026-03-12 06:00 AM EDT - **Launch Pad:** Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA - **Pad Country:** USA --- **Visit [RocketLaunch.Live](https://www.rocketlaunch.live) to view the full schedule for future planned launches.** **For more information about how to identify space launches and their effects, check out our [Space Launches Wiki Page.](https://www.ufos.wiki/investigation/space-launches/)** [Launch Example Image 1](https://www.ufos.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mf5emwi.png) **-** [Launch Example Image 2](https://www.ufos.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Space-Launch.png)

Time: 6-7pm, *September 2022 (dont remember exact date but it was between 1-21 sorry)* Location: Palmares, Costa Rica Edit: Just realized I wrote I turned left, and that the ship went to the upper-left. I meant to write right, my house is on the left and the lots and church on on the right side from the perspective I was in. Sorry! I've never shared this with anyone except my family because...well I just don't think anyone will believe me except them, but I figured I might as well put it out there. During September of 2022 I was at my mom's house in Costa Rica, it was later afternoon around 6-7pm, it was already dark but I was in the side corridor outside where we had setup a small workout area. Next to the corridor are two empty lots and then after that there's a small church (capilla) that you can see them from the corridor from my house because it's pretty much open with just a half wall dividing it and the roof overhead. I was doing floor exercises and got up to get my water bottle, and then as I move to my left turning towards the church and empty lots I notice a huge spaceship just hanging there above the lot closest to my house. It made absolutely no sound, it was at minimum bigger than a bus in length, circular, it had blue-purple-ish glow that felt like a plasma/energy and red blinking lights coming from specific openings underneath. The most impactful thing though was how close it was, it was hovering less than 15ft from me and about 20ft off the ground, and it felt like it was observing me as much as I was observing it. At first I obviously thought to get my phone or call my brother but I honestly couldn't see where I had put my phone, got scared I was going to completely freak out my brother (he's autistic and doesn't deal well with these things), and felt like it might disappear the moment I tried either of those options....so I just stood there and observed it with no intention other than to absorb what I was witnessing. As I leaned on the railing and just watched it I noticed that at the end of the empty lot there was a man standing there watching it from the sidewalk as well so I know I'm not the only one who saw it. However, I was never able to know who that person was because it was too dark to see who it was, but I know I'm not the only one who saw it. It just hovered there above the lot unmoving and no sound and just glowing for about 30 seconds and then in less than a second it propelled itself to the upper-left side of the sky and disappeared. The speed and lack of noise was astounding and I know it was not a plane, helicopter, etc. Nothing human could do what it did in that moment, and I just scanned the sky for any other signs but found nothing. So that's the story/experience, I know it sounds wild but really I have no reason to lie and if no one believes me that's okay too. Not interested in profiting from this and I might even delete it cause my family still lives at that house and I'm scared of them getting problems from people. I will say there is a lot of UFO activity around the mountain area in front of my house as well, my brother and I have often seen orbs of light pop up randomly in the middle of nowhere, travel through the mountain, etc. It's an isolated mountain and the way the lights travel make no sense. So it was not my first time seeing a UFO but it was the closest they've ever been near me, and I regret not trying to get video or photo of it. I didn't feel scared or see any alien on the spaceship, but it always stayed with me. I ended up finally using my tarot cards today to do a reading on what I had experienced that day even though I don't even do readings anymore and well I have my own theories on what it really is but I wanted the post to be more about the experience so here it is!

I know the image is so blurry but this is the best I can do since the sky was almost pitch black and this is what my phone can pickup. I was walking one night looking at the ground until something told me to look up, I looked up before even that voice finished its sentence in my head and this is what I saw. The sky was clear, not a single cloud on the horizon and it was pitch black. The Shape of the UFO was a like a pyramid, I couldn't see the debris with my bare eyes but my photo picked it up or it could be just pixels. The cropped image is enhanced (not upscaled). I was on a vacation in Morocco, Agadir, when I saw it. Time: May 15th, 2021.

I am wondering if most experiencers feel that they just happened to come across something that was going on with no connection to it, or do you feel that whatever it was showed itself directly to you for whatever reason. I’ve been sitting outside, oceanfront on the Atlantic skywatching often lately and wondering if a sighting requires constant scanning of the sky to perhaps catch sight of something up there carrying out its business — blink and you’ll miss it, or if it’s likely you can have an experience/sighting by just being, casually looking perhaps at just one area of the night sky and it will show itself if it chooses? Do you think the approach is more of a working and scanning the skies or taking a laid back approach and it will happen if it will?

This post is a response to the earlier post about states with the most UFO sightings that was essentially just a popular map. The first map is from [this Nature article](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-49527-x) The second map is is from [here](https://www.leonarddavid.com/ufo-sightings-an-interactive-data-rich-look/) and is the lowest quality of the maps presented. But still better than 5 entire states colored red. The final image is from [this](https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2475-1.html) 2023 analysis from the RAND Corporation. Both the first and last maps are constructed using sighting data from NUFORC.

I see many accounts I've never seen before. Some of this may be new information. There are two PDFs - the historical catalogue of events and the analysis by Claude. [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15lTZG-B494uKpDHb6MkWTd25QybaUpJC?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15lTZG-B494uKpDHb6MkWTd25QybaUpJC?usp=sharing) Did you know a giant orb landed in the middle of a battle and stopped the fighting? I found many fascinating cases and provide a brief analysis of each case based on the sources. The full 16-page analysis is decisive. The hypothesis favored is that not all cases can be explained prosaically; some are likely due to the presence of an advanced, non-human or future human intelligence. The strongest evidence is found in the Venezuela event in 1886, published in Scientific American as a letter to the editor. This case is uniquely credible due to a point-by-point description of severe radiation poisoning, nine years before we discovered radiation. There is no known natural phenomenon that can come close to this level of radiation, by orders of magnitude. The only other cases in history (of any kind, not just UFO events) that are remotely similar, are the Cash-Landrum UFO (radiation) case, and in stories from ancient Hindu texts describing flying crafts and mystical beings; and powerful weapons that also produced the symptoms of severe radiation exposure, including genetic defects in children born later.

So I just saw this short on youtube and it's very interesting. They claim they're chinese, satelites and stealth-focused. "Olive" shaped, they say. Let's dig into those chinese papers from 2019 and 2022.

Date/Time: March 8, 2026 | 9:00 PM Location: Lawton/Fort Sill, OK My fiancé and I were on our back deck watching satellites (there were dozens visible) when something truly unexplainable happened. At about 9:00 PM, a craft literally "blipped" into existence right above us. The Details: • Altitude: Extremely low, only about 40-50 feet off the ground. • Appearance: It was a flat, "hollow" rectangular structure. Think of a rectangular frame made of 4 main rods, with more rods/poles lining the interior. It had two small rectangular wings on the sides. • Appearance/Disappearance: It appeared out of nowhere near a streetlight by our privacy fence. It moved quickly from right to left and vanished into the tree line. • The "Impossible" Part: The trees are currently bare, yet I never saw it exit the other side. It was just gone. • Sound/Light: Absolutely zero. No humming, no buzzing, and no navigation lights whatsoever. It didn't look like a drone or any aircraft I’ve ever seen. It looked like a flying industrial frame.

I asked him if he ever got to see any UAPs on the radar while he was working there and this is the reply he gave me. He used Siri to transcribe the message, but it’s very plain as to what he observed. He’s also come forward to some people that have interviewed me on past podcasts. It’s not the Vetted podcast either that attempted to humiliate my story in public. Here’s what he said: Oh yes, I saw and asked tor technical operation room with a very large cipher lock and thick metal door on the same floor that I did mission control with the displays at c6 displayed and recorded sent to NSA! plenty of blips unidentified aircraft going thousands of miles an hour faster than the spy plane and going up down almost like an orb and this was out in Vegas near area 51 which no one knew about except for the government , saw on the screens when I used to go into the tactical operation rooms talk know some if the radar operators easu ri look at, and asked. Told me plenty back in 70’s. Air force used info then after 76? NSA and these were old school TV tube small and of course I was a Repair man then I went into Mission support running three work centers so I was called acting Commander at night. I thought they were joking because I had the red phone and I had to call up Cheyenne Mountain Norad and generals whenever our system or radar went down for cleaning, Pmi’s. and just from major storms, thunderstorm thunderstorms. Here’s the Vetted podcast and the attempt to stifle what I had to say at the 24:47 minute mark in the interview https://youtu.be/\_xZS6NqgdNY?si=dOqYH7\_IuuB6l3M1 . Rob was not in Winger by the way.

[https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-with-the-most-ufo-sightings-11615222](https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-with-the-most-ufo-sightings-11615222) California tops the list by a long shot, with over 30,000 sightings – roughly twice as many as Florida's 16,000 and Texas's 14,000. New York comes in fourth with 11,000 sightings. But since these states have the largest populations, the high report numbers really aren’t that surprising. What I found interesting is that Washington ranks fifth in sightings, matching New York’s numbers even though it has less than half the population. Oregon, meanwhile, at 27th in population, is in the top 15 for sightings, which is quite remarkable. Also, Alaska reports more sightings than Rhode Island, Delaware, and both Dakotas. So, the real question is – what’s going on in the Pacific Northwest? The data comes from [Enigma Labs](https://enigmalabs.io/). You can check out the full list [here](https://enigmalabs.io/explore/united_states).

[https://xcancel.com/The\_King\_Of\_UFO/status/2031333957556408411](https://xcancel.com/The_King_Of_UFO/status/2031333957556408411) the short of it is he believes he's been misinformed and used by said source into spreading false information and he will now try to distance himself from the UFO community.

The idea that the world would collapse if secrets were disclosed always sounds hyperbolic to me. I don't buy that organized religion being invalidated would cause mass chaos especially considering the drop in Christianity and people that identify as monotheistic over the years. There are existing examples of developed atheistic countries and we can disagree with whether or not we'd want to live under those governments but that doesn't mean its mass chaos without religion. This makes me wonder if the truth is something that completely conflicts with our understanding of reality. Here are my theories (none of which I believe per say they are just thought experiments) 1. We're in a simulation and UFOs are part of that simulation the way they are included in Sim City. Paranormal things are glitches in the software. 2. There's an established advanced civilization co-existing in secret on earth with us and has always been there. That's all I got. It's just hard to imagine the government being so terrified of coming out and saying "there's some weird things out there that visit us. We don't know exactly what they are all the time but here's what we do know" Would love to hear other theories

The event happened early on Monday, March 9 KTAL reached out to a Barksdale AFB representative to gain clarity on the reports and received the following statement: “Earlier this morning, Barksdale Air Force Base received a report of an unmanned aerial system operating over the installation. The incident remains under investigation in coordination with local authorities to include the FAA. Under state and federal law, any unauthorized drone activity over a military installation is a criminal offense that can result in significant fines and imprisonment. We retain the right to protect our installation and will continue monitoring our airspace to address any threats to our mission or personnel"

What do you realistically think would happen next? 1. Would people even care after the first few weeks? 2. Would it change science, religion, or geopolitics? 3. Would it shift how we see ourselves as a species? 4. Or would it just become another news cycle that fades away? I'm curious whether you think disclosure would truly transform society or if most of humanity would simply go back to normal/mostly superficial life?

Harold “Sonny” White PhD, forme NASA scientist submitted a paper today that may have just changed the world forever. Direct experimental evidence that not only does the vacuum have structure but that we can extract energy from it. He left NASA to start his own company [Casimir.](https://www.casimirspace.com/) He was on JRE describing their initial implementation in 2024, but it appears they have had more success recently and have finally published their work and proof of the effect. They have demonstrated extraction of power from the quantum vacuum using a nano-fabricated chip: 25uA at 1.5 Volts EDIT: I understand the research paper does not explicitly show the experimental results from their Microsparc chips. I misstated that out of pure excitement. Andrew Côté breaks it down here better than I ever possibly could: [https://x.com/Andercot/status/2031165988486722027](https://x.com/Andercot/status/2031165988486722027) EDIT 2: This is a direct description from their [website](https://www.casimirspace.com/tech) on how the actual tech works: ***"The Casimir approach*** fixes the plates to a silicon substrate so they cannot move and connects them electrically. In the center gap, we add a line of electrically connected nano-pillars that are isolated from the plates allowing us to harvest energy. Imagine a Pacific atoll. The ocean outside is full of chaotic wave energy, while the lagoon inside is calm. In the same way, the outer plates feel the full “wave energy” of the quantum vacuum. Every so often, an electron tunnels from the plates to the central pillars. Inside the gap, the calm lagoon fluctuations are weaker, so the electron is unlikely to return. When the plates and pillars are connected through a circuit, electrons flow back to the plates, and the cycle repeats without stopping. By combining many of these cavities, Casimir can produce steady power at the levels needed for everyday electronics and far beyond."

The media says a confused retiree wandered into the mountains. We audited the FEMA database and proved authorities never actually issued a mobile Silver Alert for him. A standard missing persons op pings every phone in the geofence to get local eyes on the ground. Bypassing the mobile alert means they wanted the optics of a search, but specifically wanted the physical grid kept clear of civilians or, it could mean they already knew he wasn't in that grid. His worried neighbor on the news is actually his active defense consulting partner (DARPA) and his astrophysicist wife who we also tied to the Podesta emails, is running the PR campaign (Raytheon, Boeing). [We just dropped all the database receipts on The Sentinel Network.](https://thesentinelnetwork.substack.com/p/the-ghost-general-every-news-outlet?r=71h4we)

Submission Statement: Time: 8:12 PM on May 24th, 2021 Locations: Culver City, CA The OP of the video states that they filmed this UFO on May 24th, 2021 at 8:12 PM in Culver City, CA, in an apartment balcony that was facing West, filmed on a Nikon P1000 camera which is basically a mini telescope, with the camera’s scope facing South-West. I’ve never seen a UFO like this, what do ya’ll think? They claim that it resembles a UFO depicted in a 1350 AD Mural at the Visor Decani Monastery in Yugoslavia, and after watching the footage, I see the resemblance. The camera was at an approximate 75 degree upward angle at the time of filming the object according to the videos OP

Hey everyone, we're looking for new moderators for r/UFOs. [Lack of moderators is still one of the biggest issues facing the subreddit.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxlIcsWHZHI) No previous moderation experience is necessary. Patience and an ability to communicate are the most important skills to have. We're accepting applications now. You can apply and see the details via the links below. If you want an even more granular overview of what moderation entails, you can look through our [Moderation Guide](https://ufos.wiki/moderationguide/). If you'd like to see an example of what working through the modqueue looks like, you can [watch this walkthrough video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHkzORqmeHw)   #[Apply Now](https://www.ufos.wiki/apply/)  

Hey r/UFOs, It's been a wild few weeks. Between the latest Epstein files, political drama, and everything else going on in the world right now, we've seen a large uptick in low effort, derailing, off-topic political commentary across the sub. The mod team wanted to address this directly and ask for your help. Clearly UFOs intersect with politics. The issue is, we're being flooded with low-effort, political hyper-partisan comments, "this is all a distraction" posts/comments, hot takes about politicians, and general political venting that has nothing to do with UFOs. This stuff derails threads, starts flame wars, and buries the actual substantive discussion that makes this community worth visiting. It's also been consuming a massive amount of moderator time and energy. We are tasked to be non-partisan in our moderator duties, and thus will continue to remove low effort comments regardless of which side of the political aisle they originate from. We know everyone is reacting to what's happening in the world right now. We're all human. However, this subreddit's mission is clear: *a community for discussion related to Unidentified Flying Objects. Share your sightings, experiences, news, and investigations. We aim to elevate good research while maintaining healthy skepticism.* That's what 5 million of us signed up for, and that's what we need to protect. Our intent here is not to suppress differing opinions or create an echo chamber. Skeptical approaches and critical thinking are welcome and necessary for this topic to thrive. We're specifically targeting the low-effort, irrelevant political noise that adds nothing to the conversation. Remember, r/UFOs is an international community with members from all over the world. Not everyone here is American, and not everyone wants to get pulled into US political arguments. We come here to discuss UFOs. When US-centric political discourse dominates threads, it crowds out participation from users who are here for the topic itself. Please be mindful of that. For a lot of people, r/UFOs is one of the few places online where they can focus on a shared mystery without inheriting the full weight of contemporary political conflict. That should mean something. There are countless places online for political debate. There are very few places online with 5 million people focused on UFOs. We want to be clear about the nuance here because we're not looking to ban any topic outright. What we're asking is that discussion stays on-topic to UFOs, UAP, and the phenomenon. We will not allow low-effort political commentary, partisan soap boxing, QAnon-adjacent conspiracies, or comments that use UFO threads as a platform for unrelated political grievances. We're trying to protect good, deep conversation and avoid the kind of knee-jerk inflammatory stuff that turns whole threads into a mess. **Examples of what is NOT allowed:** * "None of this disclosure stuff matters, it's all a distraction from the Epstein files" * "Of course they're releasing UFO stuff now, they don't want you looking at what Trump/Biden/\[politician\] is doing" * "\[Trump/Clinton/<politician of choice>\] is a pedo and everyone knows it" * "Wake up, the elites are all in on it -- pizzagate is real" * Unsourced TikToks or social media screenshots claiming satanic rituals, cannibalism, or other conspiracy content unrelated to UFOs * Slurs or insults targeting any racial, religious, or political group * General "red vs blue" political arguments that have nothing to do with the phenomenon **Examples of what IS allowed:** * "The Epstein files mention \[specific name/program\] which has a documented connection to UFO research -- here's the filing from the DoJ site" * "Epstein was funding research into consciousness/metamaterials/zero-point energy/remote viewing -- here's the source material" * "This new executive order/bill/amendment directly impacts UAP disclosure because \[specific reason\]" * "Congressional hearing on UAP is scheduled for \[date\], here's what we know about who's testifying and what topics are expected" * Sourced "follow the money" research showing connections between public figures and UFO-related programs, contractors, or funding * Anything that is genuinely on-topic to UFOs, UAP, and the phenomenon as long as it doesn't break existing rules The simple test: if your comment would work just as well in a politics subreddit without changing a word, it probably doesn't belong here. To be clear: disallowing insults and low-effort hot takes does not prevent criticism of power. Saying "this person has an extensive documented history of dishonesty that undermines their credibility on UAP transparency" is fair critique. It's substantive and it's actually useful to readers trying to evaluate information. What we're removing is content that doesn't do any of that. Many of the comments we end up removing aren't advancing the discussion in a meaningful way - they're emotional release. We get it. We regularly hear "my bad, I was having a rough week" in modmail, and we've all been there. But when that kind of venting becomes the default mode of engagement, it drowns out the more thoughtful contributions and drives away people who actually want to discuss UFOs in a political context - ongoing disclosure efforts, congressional statements, legislation, policy. We don't want to lose those conversations to noise. These aren't new rules. **Rule 2 (Stay on-topic)** already covers this: "Posts and comments of off-topic politics may be removed at moderator discretion. There are many political aspects which are relevant to ufology, but we aim to keep the subreddit free of forum-sliding partisan politics." **Rule 3 (Be Substantive)** also applies. And plenty of the political comments we're seeing also violate **Rule 1 (Be Civil)** \-- partisan attacks, insults, and hostility directed at other users or public figures. We're just going to be more strict about enforcement given the current climate. As a reminder, our [existing enforcement policy](https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1fsv01j/important_notice_in_response_to_overwhelming/) on disruptive behavior still applies: any removal for Rule 1, trolling, ridicule, etc. will result in an immediate one-week temporary ban. A second violation will be met with a permanent ban. Egregious violations may result in an immediate permanent ban. This applies equally to off-topic political flame wars and personal attacks. If you've been banned and feel it was unfair, you can always appeal by sending us a modmail. We're more interested in seeing improvement than doling out punishment. We use a short 7-day ban as an initial “hey, that was out of line” warning. Most of the time people reach out, explain what happened or apologize, and if it’s clear they get it, we’ll often lift the ban. Our bans aren’t meant to be punitive, they’re just there to reset the tone and keep things on track. **How you can help:** Report content that violates this using **"Be Civil"** (Rule 1), **"Stay on-topic"** (Rule 2), or **"Be Substantive"** (Rule 3) as your report reason. We can't be everywhere at once on a sub this size, and community reports make a real difference. And please, don't engage with off-topic bait. Responding to a rule violation with another rule violation is never okay. Downvote it, report it and move on. We're asking for your help and your feedback on this. This is everyone's community, not just the moderators'. Keep doing what you do best - the research, the analysis, the sighting reports, the deep dives. That's what makes this place what it is. Help us protect it. **Useful links:** * Our enforcement policy on disruptive behavior: [Important Notice](https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1fsv01j/important_notice_in_response_to_overwhelming/) * Full subreddit rules: [r/UFOs Rules](https://sh.reddit.com/r/UFOs/wiki/rules/) * Questions or discussion about moderation? Post in our sister subreddit [r/ufosmeta](https://old.reddit.com/r/ufosmeta/) * Want to message the mods directly? [Send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/UFOs) \-- The r/UFOs Mod Team