Editorial: Self-Promoters: Do they help or hurt?

There are a lot of individuals in the hunt for the Sasquatch who are hard-working and sincere about their craft. Then, there are some self-promoters who seem to be more about putting themselves out there than any serious Sasquatch research. Now, these individuals (who will remain nameless to protect feelings) are sometimes a tremendous detriment to the more humble researchers who are plying their craft trying to find that one piece of evidence that will prove there really is a hairy biped inhabiting forested areas all over the world. On the other hand, there are some self-promoters who seem to be helpful in other areas of research despite the fact that they have a massive ego or seem to be self-serving. Sometimes, even these self-promoters are a necessary evil, unfortunately, because sometimes they have a tidbit of information to share which helps out some of the more humble researchers, despite the source. Sometimes it is just helpful to overlook the egotistical nature of some of these folks when they give out an important piece of information, and put your problems with these individuals aside. So, it is a bit of a mixed bag as to whether or not these individuals help or hurt our field, so it can be a slippery slope, no doubt. I think it is a matter of personal preference with the more humble individuals out there.