Ok but, assuming everything you say is true, it's not researched, it's anecdotal. A fighter pilot also claims to have seen UFO, and that may be absolutely true, but its useless knowledge if there's no way to prove it.

Do you think we can just go to court and say 'this military guy I spoke to said they make clouds with dildos. Do your own research, judge'.

What use is that?

The problem with anecdotes is not simply that it can be a lie by either party, but that a lot of deep meaning and context can and always is missing. Even something simple as somebody was just messing around, winding you up, to other things like misinterpreted words, simple lies, mentally twisted, or just plain wrong.

This is just a few. There are so many variable ways an anecdote can be flawed, it doesn't stand up to the test of science and reality. There's no systematic review, no skeptical analysis or scrutiny.

All I have to go on is your word. And if I go and ask around in my vast amounts of free time, then everyone else only has my word too. It's meaningless.

Nobody wants to admit, and nobody will admit, the possibility that they are wrong, this grinds against our brains functionaility - cognitive dissonance. We will always search and force ourselves to be surrounded by the things that match what we feel like is right, not what is actually true.

This is why science is so vital, it's the best tool we have to get around human biases. Anecdotes are the opposite to that system and shouldn't be trusted, whether its what you claim to me, or what I go and find out and claim to others.

I think you'll find if you apply the scientific method to all of your findings, you'll come a cross a plethora of issues in your reasoning. I will check this Phelps out and come back with some examples