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Aliens on the NZ internet

Back in the 1950s through 1970s, UFOs (unidentified flying objects) were big news.

From all corners of the world people reported seeing strange objects in the sky and attributed many of these sightings to alien spacecraft piloted by beings from other planets.

This UFO hysteria was probably kicked off by the Roswell Incident way back in the late 1940s but since then armies of UFO devotees have formed in almost every country, filled with legions of believers.

Unless your religion precludes such things, chances are that even if you're not a UFO-believer, you probably concede that we're unlikely to be alone in the universe, the math pretty much assures us of this.

But what if you've just seen a UFO?

Where do you go to report your sighting? Who do you tell about this (sometimes life-changing) event?

Well now you can drop into a new Kiwi website and share your observations and experiences.

UFOCUS NZ has it all for you alien-hunters and observers!

Well all except half-decent web design that is.

For some reason, this website looks more like the kind of site a 0900 Psychic Hotline might put up to promote its services.

The rather bland grey, washed-out yellow and purple/blue colours may have been the result of an alien abduction perhaps?

I must admit that presentation aside, I was quite disappointed with the UFOCUS NZ presence, they really didn't put much effort into this at all.

There's also not a whole lot of thought given to presenting the most interesting content right up front on the home-page.

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And where are the discussion forums?

Surely a site designed to bring together a community of users with a common thread (UFOs) *must* have an area where ideas, observations, opinions and other information can be freely exchanged.

No doubt the creators of UFOCUS NZ have plans to add this functionality later on but they seem to have forgotten that you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Given the media coverage this website has attracted today, I suspect they'll get a good few visitors over the next day or so. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those people will be as disappointed as I was and will quickly form the opinion that it's just not worth returning.

The lesson to be learned from this is that you should have all your ducks in a row *before* you encourage that first wave of visitors. If you fail to impress them they'll never return and it won't matter what you do to improve your site, they will never know about it.

Okay, so I'm probaby being a bit harsh. After all, this site is likely the work of a lone individual with funding that wouldn't cover your parking costs in central Auckland for more than an hour or so.

But surely, within the ranks of NZ's UFO-enthusiast community, there must be someone who could have used just a modicum of design-sense to create a more inviting and ergonomic presence for this group.

But now to the more interesting questions...

Do you believe that we are not alone in the universe?

Even if there are other life-forms, do you think they have the technology or the desire to visit Earth and observe us?

Surely if their technology were sufficiently advanced to allow interplanetary travel from outside our solar system, they'd also be advanced enough to avoid detection -- right?

Have you ever seen something in the sky that you honestly could not explain as a natural or man-made phenomenon?

Just what would you do if confronted with an alien presence? Run? hide? hold your hand up with the universal peace gesture? Exclaim those immortal words "Klaatu barada nikto"?

Have your say on this...

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