re: #112 Shiplord Kirel, live from behind wingnut lines

It was a media fad with no real scientific backing, at a time when it was difficult to call out media for bullshit stories. The internet changed that. One thing that put rags like Omni out of business was the ability of the internet to instantly eviscerate their more outrageous stories.
I have always thought that the perpetrators of the 2004 Bush-Guard memo hoax were media savvy people who had just fallen behind a little and did not realize the significance of the internet. They probably figured the hoax would eventually be exposed or at least widely questioned, but only well after the election. Instead it was a matter of minutes.

Ah, good old Omni; I remember that magazine. We have something similar here - it’s called Epoch and it’s about 5% actual fact, 45% conspiracy theories and the remaining 50% is woowoo so laughable that even Erich von Däniken would find it hard to believe.