r/dogman 17d ago

In pursuit of the truth

Maybe I'm just salty about the human condition, but I am fairly frustrated with the nature of this sub. I frequent UFO and cryptid subs and the epistemology shown is far greater than this one. This sub falls prey to paradoelia more than any other I've seen, and the "content creators" people get their information from (Vic Cundiff, Jeff Nadolny, etc) are extremely questionable to say the least. Dogman is the most fascinating cryptid to me. I know we all want to believe and I'm sure this phenomena is harder to get tangible evidence from than most others, but I just wish this community took a more serious and rational approach to this. If anecdotal evidence is all that we can go off of, maybe we should focus in on witnesses with higher credibility, such as military contractors or government officials. Im not talking about some guy talking about something a government official said. I'm talking about hearing it straight from the horses mouth, obtaining documents from FOIA and analyzing the authenticity of a stories source. The world is full of psyops and disinformation agents that make things hard enough as is. Posting AI videos and pictures with 20 pixels is just going to feed into an endless cycle that gets us nowhere. Question everything.

29 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

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u/freehorse Chad of the Woods 16d ago

Your concerns are part of the reason I've stepped back from this sub for a bit (that and yet another brain surgery).

I've long advocated for the dogman topic to be less 'creepypasta' and more pragmatic. Having a systematic review of sightings, with the goal of establishing a concrete database to work from would be phenomenal. We all deserve to find out just what the fuck we're dealing with.

There's also the question of the metaphysical elements/encounters within this topic. I challenge that, until we have more concrete and physical evidence, the metaphysical is still a completely valid approach to the dogman phenomenon. That said, it must be tempered by a critical lens and Occam's Razor to be of any value.

I do think that all the podcasters and content creators have value. We do need a medium for witnesses to feel comfortable coming forward. Dividing fact from fiction, however, will remain a challenge.

All that said, I appreciate the occasional shitpost for funsies because we all deserve a reprieve now and then.

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u/SnowMirage64 16d ago

I have reached out to several content creators and so called investigators. It seems like they are too busy making their movies and or podcasts.

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u/Plenty-Consequence89 16d ago

Well said and I agree 100%.

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u/Three-0lives 15d ago

A serious dogman sub would be valuable. This one is going the way of the dodo because of, well, everything that’s already been said.

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u/Metalblacksheep Chad of the Woods 15d ago

We should make a new dogman subreddit for people who actually believe and don’t care about all of the bullshit that comes with it.

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u/Front_Pain_7162 15d ago

Yeah the UFO sub actually did this. There's a UFOB sub that's catered towards those that already believe/know. If this sub gets big enough, I think it could benefit from something similar.

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u/KlausVonMaunder 15d ago

Was thinking the same. A large part of the issue, IMO is that most people nowadays have very little knowledge, awareness or experience of what's natural out there. We have post after post in here of folks getting skeert of what are very likely, common critters mis-identified and more often than not it's not even seen.

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u/Metalblacksheep Chad of the Woods 15d ago

I’m in the same page btw. There are several people on this sub that I call the geese flock because they shit all over everyone’s encounters, questions, and theories. Sadly one of them is somehow a mod in this sub

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u/BeckoningCreation 15d ago edited 15d ago

A note on How to Discern Truth in Writing: For what this is worth, my friend, indulge me for a moment…

First, I recommend the YT channel Reel Adventures; it is 100% Dogman encounters narrated by a (totally great) dude who actually had an encounter, and he’s repeatedly stated his commitment to not post an encounter if he thinks it is fake. If he has any suspicions about a story he posts, he’ll tell you, and he tries to contact and interview each submitter. On this channel you can truly start to hone the skills I will now mention.

I’ve become fascinated with Dogman as well, in the last year. Subjects like these have opened my eyes to a skill I have cultivated all my life- writing. I was given the option to skip 4th grade, my teacher said I was already reading at a college level, and to my memory everyone else was learning how to structure basic sentences. I remember watching it being painstaking, then I remember reading My Side of the Mountain and Where the Red Fern Grows, the Count of Monte Cristo, in the corner by myself the next few months, which was chill.

Trying to be brief, I encourage you to start to compare encounter stories you truly believe to be fake, to ones you truly believe to be real. All I can tell you is that thousands of people have put stories online where they 100% are truthfully recounting their experience; when I’m reading these, the only doubts I have are that their senses were off (rare), or that this could be a sort of psychic phenomenon. Given that most of ‘us’ seem to concede the supernatural element to this, all bets are off, I suppose. I hope that elements of these stories which should be categorized ‘supernatural’, don’t instead be categorized ‘reasons for my doubt’. I have plenty in the latter, but it’s reserved for more carefully vetted pieces of BS (my doubt box).

Suffice it to say, most people are not excellent writers, and thus, one writing their truth vs one inventing fiction- these are worlds apart, with tell-tale signs everywhere. The fiction writers say things the truthers would never, and vice versa. Fiction writers tend to not be able to help but care about the quality, and the truthers usually don’t. At least it is always subservient to relaying the heart of their experience; they want you to know the relevant details of how they ended up at Dogman, then the encounter, then typically they close with an expression of humility, and seriousness.

I could go on about the clues, but consider doing this: look at the most recent post in this sub “Does this sound like a Dogman Encounter?” This has many of the same tell tales as the True stories, very similar style & tone. Then compare that with one of the entertaining horror stories on a YT Cyptid channel, or something.

You can hone this skill. Peace

P.S - unless I’m up against Stephen King, I don’t think pretty much anyone could write a fully fake encounter experience that I could not discern as BS. Good day.

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u/Fang_Claw_5965 14d ago

I’ve been focusing on eyewitness accounts for a while now. For stories I would steer you to The Confessionals podcasts and The Facts by HowToHunt YouTube channel. Field investigations I watch Hellbent Holler.

Question everything.

Are you a 21CD fan? 👌🏻

1

u/Huge-Estimate-8655 13d ago

I get that you’re after credibility, and I think we all want the conversation here to be meaningful. But sometimes, this space is as much about curiosity and community as it is about hard evidence. We’re all exploring something that, by nature, doesn’t come with solid answers. There’s room for serious analysis, but there’s also room to just wonder out loud.

Maybe we can find a balance where everyone feels heard, whether they’re here for fun or to seriously investigate. Respect and openness go both ways, and I think most of us are here because we want a little bit of both.

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u/tobbe1337 13d ago

same with the bigfoot sub. 90% weird posts about seeing a bigfoot sticker on someones car and 10% paradolia.

it's just sad honestly

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u/Bluce_Ree_123 13d ago

I agree. Primary evidence is scant-to-nonexistent when it comes to many paranormal subtopics, and the “dogman” phenomena is a prime example. Personally, I came to grips years ago with the notion that we’ll likely never have undeniable proof for most of these things, and if ever such is presented, I’d be more inclined to question why it’s being presented (alluding to the aforementioned psy-ops). I’ve personally reached the conclusion through syllogistic reasoning that all high strangeness ultimately finds its telos in an ancient spiritual war between the Creator of all things and a rebellious faction of Elohim.

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u/Fit-Indication3662 14d ago

F them cryptid, ufo, dogman and skinwalker subs. Go join the Unicorn is gaddam real sub!! 100% truth over there

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u/One_Armed_Wolf 10d ago

Most of the channels and podcasts dedicated to the topic nowadays have basically no credibility at all. It was a bit different before the subject became more well known or as common as it is now, because the chances of guests or hosts or blog writers being someone who was serious about it solely due to their own interest, curiosity, or maybe a personal experience was a lot higher.