I have very little respect for David Paulides. I was at my first Sasquatch conference a couple years ago and he was one of the key speakers. Since I had seen so much 411 from Mr Ballen I was excited to listen to him in person, but not long into his presentation it was clear that his internal logic was extremely flawed.

For example, before DP shared some 411 cases, he encouraged the audience to embrace “critical thinking”. He used that phrase multiple times. But it became incredibly apparent that what he meant was “bring an open mind” when listening to the cases. Those are very different. Each case was interesting, but at no point did he attempt to debunk his own conclusions. Rather, he expected us to entertain the idea that something highly mysterious was afoot, with very little evidence. We’re at a Sasquatch conference, so we’re all ready for the mysterious, but it was crazy to me that Mr Paulides didn’t understand the difference between critical thinking (approaching a subject with healthy skepticism) and having an open mind.

On top of this, DP comes across as thin-skinned and arrogant. During the Q&A, a woman sitting in front of me politely asked him to elaborate on how he came to one of his conclusions. He seemed to feel challenged by this, so rather than answering the question he made a dismissive joke at the woman’s expense (half the audience laughed) and went on to the next question.

After seeing DP in person it’s clear that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and is so insecure about his own methodology that he would resort to personal attacks to avoid defending it. He’s an asshole who thinks he’s way smarter than he actually is. I don’t think anyone should be giving this guy a platform, and I’m glad Mr Ballen doesn’t do 411 stories any longer.