There have been some interesting complaints going around lately about TAPS ParaMag. This recently came to my attention from the SyFy forum. Several times in the past I had seen people post complaints about not getting all the issues they paid for. Well, I thought that had been resolved, but from what I’m reading, many are still getting shorted as noted in this review of the magazine.

In a discussion on a forum I was part of with the new editor, Scotty Roberts, there were some good things that came out of it, as well as some bad. Mr. Roberts, who’s been editor for two weeks, says that they’re working hard to correct the poor practices the magazine has made in the past. That is a good thing. But at this point it is only words. He also stated that he contacted a couple of people on that forum who had expressed their grievances about not receiving the magazine as promised, and was working to correct that problem. That too is a good thing, and hopefully he follows through. But then there’s the bad.

On the issue of people not getting their issues as promised, Mr. Roberts replied to a poster that they were working hard to get things back on track and that everyone would receive what they paid for, so what’s the problem. Well, the first part of what he said is good. But the “What’s the problem,” statement is highly unprofessional and is skirting the issue that TAPS ParaMag did not fulfill it’s obligations to it’s customers. From the subscription page of TAPS ParaMag (at the time of this article), “Join THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS and stay up on the latest developments by ordering here for one year of TAPS PARAMAG to get the mag delivered to your door every other month.” A professional and ethical manager would have never said “So what’s the problem.” They would know the problem was failure of TAPS ParaMag to deliver it’s end of the deal, and that the “So what’s the problem,” is poor customer relations. What they would have done is to state the first part, but then apologize for the past behavior of the business and publicly announce a way for customers to contact the magazine for immediate resolution. With what he said it gives the impression that the failure of the publication to make good on its commitment is irrelevant and that customers should be happy that they are getting all the issues they paid for. My business professors would say that’s total hogwash and highly unprofessional since the magazine failed to live up to its end of the deal. I wonder how Mr. Roberts would feel about a business that treated him in such a manner? I know in my case if I order something from a company and it’s suppose to be delivered on a routine basis; let’s say every other month just as this magazine, and then skip me over for six months at which time they suddenly dump all of what should have been delivered in that time frame, I am not going to be happy because that wasn’t the deal, and I will not do business with that company in the future. This is a typical reaction from a customer, which is why professional managers who are worth their weight in salt would not make statements such as that made by Mr. Roberts.

Another thing that concerned me was his statement about only being editor for two weeks and to give him time to correct things. Well, people don’t care how long you’ve been in charge. They’ve been screwed, they’re angry, and they want to hear what what’s going to be done to fix the problem. This is one thing Mr. Roberts never divulged. All he said was great things were going to happen with the magazine and that the problem was being remedied, but it will take time. That’s not a professional response and is again, poor customer relations. Customers don’t care if there are great things to come or not. What they do care about is what are you going to do to fix the problem. They want to here specifically what is being done, not just that the magazine is working hard to correct the problem. A professional manager would have announced what they were doing to fix the problem, as well as giving out information on how unsatisfied customers could contact the magazine in order to get that prompt resolution. Also, a professional manager would not be trying to pump up the image of the company in this forum. Angry customers don’t care about great things to come, and to announce how great things will be only grows that anger as they think things like, “yeah right, you’re just going to screw more people”, and, “who cares if you promise great things if we don’t get the product.” To me, Mr. Roberts seems to want a clean slate and that the past performance of the company shouldn’t reflect upon him. I guess what Mr. Roberts doesn’t understand is that’s not how business works. Professional managers who accept such a position know that they’re walking into a firestorm, and know that they now carry the burden of the failures of the prior manager. While it is true that his performance should not be based on the prior managers performance, it is also true that he has accepted the position and all burdens from the prior manager, therefore, stop making excuses and if you’re not ready to give detailed plans of how you intend to fix the problems you inherited then it is best to keep your mouth shut. Otherwise you do nothing more than make a negative impression as outlined, and you appear to be an excuse maker instead of a professional manager.

All in all, I’d recommend to those who have complaints and have not received what was promised to file for resolution through the Better Business Bureau. I’m sure Mr. Roberts would rather you contact the magazine than to do this, but considering that Mr. Roberts has no track record and has already exhibited unprofessional managerial behavior, along with the track record this business has already shown, I highly recommend going the route of the Better Business Bureau since they are a unbiased, third party arbitrator who looks out for both parties involved.

Additional 1/3/09

Since this article was first published there was more discussion about this on the thread with Mr. Roberts. In that thread I noted the unprofessional behavior that Mr. Roberts was exhibiting according to my business professors and that he was digging a deeper hole. His response was to justify his engagement in the thread, which further proves his unprofessional skills as a manager. This only further solidifies my doubt that contacting Mr. Roberts will be able to do much with the magazine, and that if you want resolution then seek that through the Better Business Bureau. Remember, NOBODY is policing the paranormal community so these things need to be brought to light using resource such as the BBB. One statement that cracked me up and further demonstrated Mr. Roberts unprofessional behavior was how he referred to people as “haters”, this after he chastised people for remarks they had made saying that they didn’t have all the information. Pot meet kettle in this case Mr. Roberts. In case you haven’t noticed, people don’t necessarily hate the players, they hate the lies that the players are dishing out.

I’ve been reading some pretty disturbing articles and blogs about unethical behavior in the paranormal community. These range from conventions selling tickets to events that never happen, to groups preying on other groups. I think it’s time for people in the paranormal community to wake up, take action, and start making it harder for the unethical behavior to continue.

Unethical behavior homeowners need to be aware of

One of the worst examples of unethical behavior is when groups take advantage of homeowners whether it’s eliciting funds, or even worse when groups use an investigation as a guise to take inventory of a homeowners belongings for later theft, or even committing theft there and then. Groups who behave in such a manner need to be reported immediately. Those that commit theft should also be prosecuted when enough evidence exists to warrant legal action. In any case, if there is documented evidence of such things then the victims need to make sure they get the word out about what happened. Hopefully, doing so will help prevent that group from taking advantage of anymore homeowners.

Unethical behavior groups need to be aware of

Another form of unethical behavior that I’ve been reading about is group on group attacks. These range in nature and severity from smear campaigns to theft of equipment and identity. For those groups that are out there claiming superiority over another group I ask that they back up their claims by showing what they have done to make any progress in establishing proof of the paranormal. So far, I haven’t seen one group that can produce a piece of evidence that can stand the test for the rules of evidence. So as far as I can see, every group that is out there is in no better standing than any other group out there. I’ve seen some claim superiority by the awards they’ve won from various organizations, but considering those organizations are in the same boat as far as paranormal research and expertise as any group or investigator out there, those awards mean nothing. They may make people feel good and special, but they’re pointless when it comes to establishing claims of superiority. The same goes with how long someone has been investigating. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been investigating for one year or one hundred. All that can be claimed by how long someone has been investigating is just that. It gives them no more superiority than any other group.

Not that this type of mentality with groups isn’t bad enough but it actually gets worse. Some groups that engage in this type of behavior also resort to smear campaigns, which is one of the most cowardly and loathsome acts that a group can do to another. To resort to smearing another group with false pretenses noted above, groups that do so to make themselves appear superior are truly pathetic, and when doing so to try and steal participants at another groups event is not only unethical, but truly speaks volumes about the despicable character of the group launching the campaign.

One other form of unethical behavior amongst groups is theft of other groups property. While I haven’t seen a significant increase in reports of this, it still should be addressed. This behavior is pretty sad. How low is someone will to go if they are sink so low as to steal property from a group who is working with them to try and achieve the same goals. Groups who are caught doing this should definitely be reported to the authorities, and facts about the theft made know amongst the community.

The last form of unethical behavior by groups is identity theft. This is something that seems to be on the rise and is yet another show of how low some groups can stoop. Identity theft can take many forms from impersonating members of a group on a message board to impersonating a group to gain access to a site. Neither is good and both are unethical. Most of what I’ve seen when it comes to impersonating group members on forums comes in the form of smearing the character of the person and/or group. This is often done by assuming the identity and then making inflammatory statements and remarks in order to paint the assumed identity in a negative light. This often goes along with a group participating in behavior already mentioned, but can also be simple jealous rivalry.

The one that really gets me with identity theft is assuming a groups identity to gain access to a site. To me, this is truly pathetic behavior as it not only show unethical behavior, but also shows a degree of laziness since they are stealing all the effort an legwork the true group put in to gain access to the location. For groups that do this I have one thing to say, “Get off you butt and do your own work to get access. If the owners won’t give you access but they will another group then you need to address that issue within your own group!”.

Unethical behavior of homeowners

This is a rare one, but it does occur, and it seems it may be on the rise. Most often this is when the homeowner contacts a group about investigating their home and arranges for the group to come out. Once there the group is in for a surprise after they finish unloading equipment and the homeowner then demands that the group leave immediately, without their equipment. In some instances the homeowners demands are made as they brandish weapons. One really tragic thing here is that if the group cannot establish they took equipment into the house then the police may not be able to do anything to help recover it.

Unethical behavior of Conventions

This is one area I disagree with when it comes what constitutes a scam. Many people label all paranormal conventions as a scam because of their view of the speakers and Para-Celebs that these conventions revolve around. While I don’t hold any of these Para-Celebs in any high regard because they have done nothing to advance the field of paranormal research, I do not regard the conventions that often revolve around them as being a scam even though they offer nothing to the field. Conventions are entertainment. If someone wants to spend their money to attend a convention then that’s up to the individual. If they were entertained then they got what they paid for. If they believe anything these Para-Celebs say is fact then I would highly recommend doing some research as to what constitutes a verifiable claim and what constitutes an opinion.

What I see as unethical behavior in conventions can best be exemplified with the events that Brent Fair had a hand in. For those of you unfamiliar with Brent Fair, he is someone who promoted two conventions which collected monies for those events and then failed to produce those events. While some people did receive their money back, many did not. For more information on Brent Fair and TAPSCon 2, Paranormal Underground has an excellent page on it.

But Brent Fair isn’t the only one out there. Currently Darkrealm Labs is keeping an eye on Extreme Paranormal Conference (Extreme Para-Con). This was a convention that was suppose to take place on October 13th of this year, but was pushed back to December 11th. This is exactly what happened with TAPSCon 2, which was then all together canceled without notice to ticket holders. While the exact reason for this rescheduling is unknown it does draw need for concern, especially after reading Loyd Auerbach’s MySpace blog about his experience with them, from the perspective of a speaker scheduled to appear at the event.

One thing that disturbs me with many of the conventions is the “No money back guarantee.” This is what you will find when reading many of the refund policies of these conventions. Just about all the refund policies I’ve seen state that regardless of whether or not the convention occurs you are not entitled to a refund. To me, this is not only poor business practices, it is also opens the door to temptation for unethical behavior. With the industry as a whole, these types of refund policies are detrimental since they make it easy for con men to scam the innocent with phony conventions. I would think that community would want to do it’s best to prevent that so people are not discouraged from attending these events.

Don’t be a victim

There are several steps to help keep from being a victim of unethical behavior for those who choose to engage in such practices.

For the Groups

Groups should be careful when investigating private residences. Though rare, there have been a significant number of reports from groups who have had their equipment stolen by people posing as clients in order to draw them into their home, and then order them out, keeping the equipment. Here’s some steps that can help protect you with this issue, as well as being a good general idea:

Conduct a detailed phone interview with the client. Gather as much information about the activity so you can draft a good agreement to present the client with, which will detail start time and end time of the investigation as well as who will be present, and what equipment will be brought onto the site.

Make your first face to face meeting in a public area and bring your draft agreement so you can iron out the details with the client. By doing this, you are on neutral ground, and if it’s a public area it is less likely for a client who has bad intentions to try anything. One thing I would make sure of is to get the agreement notarized. This takes the burden of establishing the clients identity off of your shoulders, as well as strengthening the documentation trail.

When it comes to other groups trying to claim superiority then I would call them on it and ask, “What have you done to advance the field?” I’d be willing to bet they can’t answer that question with anything but a bunch of bull. As I mentioned earlier, if any group has done anything to advance the field then they would have documentation to prove this, and they wouldn’t have to resort to, “the theory is…..”

For those groups that are being attacked with smear campaigns, again I would confront the other group and ask them to back up what they are saying with documented facts. Don’t get into a pissing contest or shouting match. That only drags you down as far as credibility and image goes. Simply ask them for the facts and when they state something that is not documented fact then point that out. Also make sure to document the incidents. Personally, I would post them as well for informative purposes so other groups are aware of your experience with them. As long as you’re civil about the whole situation and don’t use it as a counter attack, you will keep your reputation intact and help get the word out about the unethical behavior of other groups.

For the Homeowners

For the homeowners I recommend they first do some research about potential groups they may ask for help. Check the length of time the group has been around, but better yet, check the message boards. There are many out there, and often they have information on groups, especially those who behave poorly. One thing the homeowner must be mindful when doing this is that as mentioned, there are some groups or fans of groups who will try to smear other groups. Make sure to check more than one source when gathering information, and make sure to read between the lines when it comes to information gained from message boards.

Once a group is chosen then make sure to discuss an agreement with that group. They should provide a written copy of the agreement for both parties to sign, but make sure they are going to do this. If they do not want to take on the burden then take it upon yourself to do so. Also, make sure the agreement states who is going to take part in this investigation and what their purpose is. Most importantly, get the document notarized so their identification is properly checked.

Lock away any valuables. Leaving valuables out in place sight when strangers come into your home is not a wise idea, and to do so with strangers who are wondering around your home investigating is downright stupid.

Document the plate number(s) of the vehicle the investigators arrive in. This is just another precaution in case things go wrong and the authorities need to be called in.

For those attending conventions

One of the first thing I do when attending any type of convention is to check out its history. This can be done in several ways. First would be to check the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed, and if so, what the resolution was. With start up conventions this won’t help much since there’s no track record. With those types of conventions I NEVER pay in advance and wait to buy my tickets at the door. Usually first run conventions don’t sell out and the few dollars extra that it costs are well worth the expense when considering the alternative of losing all the money you spend on admission. Message boards are also a good place to find out about conventions. Not only can you find out about any shady practices, but you can also get information that can help make your convention experience even better.

If you are going to attend a convention and you are going to buy tickets in advance then make sure the method of payment you use has some sort of fraud protection. Many credit cards offer this as part of their regular service. If you’re unsure then make sure to find out before you make your ticket purchase. PayPal offers this service as well, but has a narrow window of coverage. Many credit cards have time windows in which to file claims as well. In any case make sure that you do not purchase your tickets so early that this protection does not expire until after the convention is held. Far too often conventions that fold are not discovered until the day of the convention. If your protection runs out before then you’re out of luck.

Check the refund policies. Some of these basically state your out of luck if they cancel, leaving you with nothing. Others will state that they are allowed to change dates and that unless they outright cancel the convention then you’re at their mercy for scheduling. My personal opinion on this type of business behavior is that it’s a load of crap. Conventions that run with such policies do not get my advance ticket purchase, and they get a letter from me that states that because of their refund policy there is no way I will ever purchase tickets in advance. Many of these conventions I do not attend because of those policies. If more people call them on these poor business methods then they will be forced to change those policies.

If for some reason you do find yourself getting scammed make sure to report it to the authorities, and the community. Go on message boards and tell people about your experience. Don’t be slanderous or bitter in your statements. That’s self defeating most of the time. Instead, report the facts and report as much information you can, such as who the people are who were running the convention, the reasons (if any) as to why it was canceled, and if they are involved in any other conventions. Just make sure you are civil throughout as more people are going to listen to someone who can intelligently and calmly state their case.

Well, that’s about it. As you can see there is a lot of unethical behavior in the paranormal community. I hope that at least some of this information is useful to you, and I hope that it can help clean up the poor behavior of some that are in the community. There’s no good reason for it, and with the surge of new interest in the subject there has also been a surge of unethical behavior. So keep your eyes open. Remember, there is no one policing this field except those in the field. It is up to us to clean it up and keep it clean.

This is what Patrick Doyle asks investigators to think about when reviewing paranormal evidence, and I must say it is one of the best pieces of advice to paranormal investigators that I’ve heard.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with his work or website, Haunted Hoax, I highly recommend you check it and his videos out. He’s done an excellent job in producing informative videos on how things can be hoaxed.  Here’s his YouTube Channel: Haunted Hoax Channel

And one of his videos: