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Q. Why do they look like us?

A. "convergent evolution". Why do sharks and dolphins look alike (when one is a mammal while the other is a fish and as stated they aren't even slightly related)? Properties of oceans made them the way they are. The laws of physics and geology are not supposed to be different on other planets in our universe. So one would imagine that another planet with an ocean and a "correct" mass would yield similar shaped organisms.

Q. Why would aliens from across the galaxy come here?

A. Who said they would come from far away? They could be from around the corner (within only a couple of light years). Also, the Fermi Paradox points out that "they" should have already been here. See Journal of the British Interplanetary Society article http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf . Yet professionals refuse to look at the highest quality UFO sightings and encounters from an aviation safety perspective let alone a scientific study one. Good recent examples: O'hare UFO incident, Guernsey Sighting http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/guernsey/6591365 .stm

Q. Why would it crash?

A. there was an electrical storm and as others have stated, no technology is perfect

Q. Wasn't the affidavit from someone who started the Roswell Museum?

A. Let's assume that what he said was true. Now, being a witness to such an important historical event, wouldn't YOU want to make sure that the historical details were accurate and that the world would need to know about the truth as much as possible? Why did he not say it while alive? As a serving officer, he is sworn to secrecy specifically about his involvement or the reality of the event. He could have been imprisoned.

Here's an analysis makes the same suggestion as you have: http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf

The alternate solution is published in the British Journal of Interplanetary Science and states that the galaxy sure may be teeming with life and that "they" may already be in the neighbourhood. Check it out here: http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf

"And I say that with zero emotional attachment. Not believing that we went to the moon doesn't give me a membership in a tinfoil-hat brigade."

Maybe not a tinfoil hat wearer (signifying paranoia, really) but you're a card-carrying member of the club of crazies like Erich Von Daniken, scientologists, Richard Hoagland, and creationists.

This "club of crazies" thinking is so typical and so wrong. These people are so vastly different from each other that literally their only unifying characteristic is that they're not mainstream.

Now that would be a moot point if the generalization you display (and seems typical on /.) didn't lead to us misestimating those guys. Many times before, some of those fringe groups have turned out to be right (those promoting hypnosis, for example) and people who flatly counted those among the "club of crazies" or whatever have suffered from their premature judgement. (In this case, by denying themselves and others access to a useful form of therapy.)

Of course a solid prejudice against "club of crazies" types makes everything easier and dramatically reduces need of attention. But that doesn't make it right, so it can also hardly justify the usual insultive behaviour that "club of crazies members" experience. Your inability to explain why some people think what they think (and "willful stupidity" isn't an explanation, but an assumption) should tell your something about the presuppositions you are making your judgement from.

Now I don't think the moon landing was faked, but I do so because I've seen the proof against that idea. I guess you have, too. However, to give summary judgement on fringe ideas does you a disservice because it distorts your model of the world. For example, there now is very solid empirical evidence for both UFO sightings and telepathy. The common "it's all bogus" meme leads people to dismiss this data without even looking at it. This very plainly limits everyone's understanding of our world.

Well, I thank you for taking the honor this time around. By that I mean, every time a story about aliens comes up, someone makes a post like this. Unfortunately the history of ufology is an obscure one, long since rejected by science and subjected to incessant ridicule, very few people are willing to take the statements of people like this at face value, because they believe they are being made in a vacuum.

The problem is compounded when you still have a few kooks mixed in with the credible people. Anytime one of them is exposed the baby is once again thrown out with the bathwater. Only those who invest significant hours in doing reading/research by themselves can get at a reasonable picture of what is currently known. Without any serious motivation to do so or the promise that anything is there to make it worth it, few people choose to do so.

I would say there is progress being made though. For those who want a respectable quick assessment, check out INFLATION-THEORY IMPLICATIONS FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL VISITATION by DEARDORFF/HAISCH/MACCABEE/PUTHOFF (JBIS, Vol. 58, pp. 43-50) A very compelling argument about why close minded rejection of this phenomenon needs to end (and the first paper on this topic to be published in a mainstream refereed journal in a very long time).

Outside the realm of science, I don't think the general public will catch onto this in any greater magnitude until someone makes it a serious national political issue.

Ok, but the "crafts" designation comes more from the observation that they were in motion and sometimes performed maneuvers similar to aircraft. Many were observed on radar at speeds above Mach 5. I don't know of anything else in the atmosphere except some kind of flying craft that can achieve that. An interesting modern example is the famous STS-48 video, in which an object is seen exiting the atmosphere at a ridiculous velocity.

And I agree that the discussion is mostly over. I can't really explain it any better without going into specific details on a large number of cases which has been done elsewhere by others and is available for people that want to look at it.

What I really see is just the fact that too many top level officials, commercial pilots, military officers, presidents, congressmen, et al have said there is something serious about this matter for it to all be nonsense. This is easily confirmed by the written record which has become available to researchers over the last few decades under FOIA. Additionally, several scientists who worked on the classified projects at Skunkworks and other contractors in the 60s and 70s have made statements to the effect that they had the best talent and resources of military and private flight available to them, and they did not and could not have develop anything like what was witnessed, classified or not.

I'm hopeful that serious investigation of this topic will return to mainstream science soon. Efforts like the Sturrock panel are gaining some support in that direction. And as Haisch points out, the majority of individuals who spend serious time looking at the serious evidence become more interested in it. You would think the opposite would be true if it were all nonsense.

What I am saying is that beliefs in aliens visiting earth is a belief that fills some extreme form of escapism that the more.. uh... loony people have.

you are an ignoramus, in the literal sence of the word. read this page written by a professional astronomer. You DO know how to read dont you? If you have read this and STILL think that people who think some UFOs are alien space craft, then it is YOU who are a loony escapist, filling the empty void that is your brain with ostrich posturing nonsense.

There really are some NUTS on Slashdot!

Because we already have everything we need out in the open:

NUFORC has many reports of high strangeness and high quality.

UFOSkeptic a must read for all "science types", written by Dr. Bernard Haisch.

Science Logic and the UFO debate. Once you read this, you will have no doubts left.

And finally, all the arguments of the skeptics were completely demolised single handedly by a man called Brian Zeiler on USENET circa 1996. Essential reading, if you have the patience.

Essentially, the arguments about this subject are over. The interesting discussion is centered around what is to be done about this problem... if anything.

One proposed resolution is the Zookeeper Hypothesis, ie, they could have contacted us but are just waiting and watching for us to evolve, a la 2001.

If so, then wouldn't they want to put a probe near the Earth, which swoops down every few centuries or so for a close look, to see if any thing interesting has happened?