Have a Question for Us? Find the Answers Here!

This page is devoted to questions about this site - Experientialist.com. If you can't find the answer to your question here, then please feel free to contact us here: contact@experientialist.com.

Before we go into the questions, we'd like to state our mission up front:

Experientialist.com exists to:

• Entertain and Inspire by letting our visitors read the experiences and ideas of other people from around the world.

• Inform and Enlighten by conducting and publishing robust analyses - statistical and others - in the form of reports that will help us all better understand the world we live in, the things that happen to each and everyone of us (but are often dismissed or ignored or laughed at), how often they happen, where, when, to who and under what circumstances they are most likely to happen, and the implications for science, society and the world.

1. What does "experientialist" mean?

Here is the definition of experientialist, according to Dictionary.com:
"any doctrine or theory that maintains that personal experience is the only or the principal basis of knowledge."

2. Is this site called "Experientialist.com" because you agree with that definition?

Not necessarily, although the experientialist doctrine is useful and contains much truth. Rather, we believe in a hybrid doctrine that basically says you can learn and gain much understanding from personal experience, but when your experiences are combined, amalgamated and analyzed along with those of many many others, your understanding and learning becomes magnified and multiplied many fold.

3. So why is this site called Experientialist.com?

Because we believe so strongly in the idea that we can learn a lot about the world - the universe really - by putting all of our ideas and experiences together with those of many others. When you put all people's experiences and ideas together, you get a true Experientialist that can say a lot and provide deep insights about the world we live in. So in a sense, we are experientialists, you are experientialists, and together we are experientialists.

4. Do you believe that only physical experiences are valid?

No, absolutely not. All experiences are valid and useful, whether physical, mental, emotional, psychic or whatever else.

5. How can I use this site?

In many ways:

• You can submit your ideas and experiences to this site for the betterment of others, and through that, the betterment of yourself.
• You can read about other people's ideas and experiences, and profit tremendously from that (and that profit comes from entertainment, insight, inspiration, sharing, etc.)
• You can track trends in ideas and experiences over time through our reports.
• You can track & getter better insights into when, to who, how and why experiences occur to certain people or groups through our reports.

6. Can I submit and idea that I have in mind? It's really out there and people think I'm nuts!

Yes! Absolutely!

7. What types of experiences may I submit?

Virtually any type, but we would like it if you submitted ideas and experiences that matched our categories. If you'd like, you can suggest a category by contacting us at the email address above.

8. Is there any charge associated with using this website?

No, none at all. You may freely submit ideas and experiences, read other's submissions and read and download our statistical and trend reports free of charge. This site is intended to inform, entertain and enlighten only. There are no fees at Experientialist.com.

9. When I go to submit an idea or experience, you ask for information like my gender, age, income, etc. Why and how is that information used?

We ask those questions - called "demographic" questions among statistical experts and social researchers - because we want to be able to conduct valid statistical analyses and spot trends that may be functionally dependent or influenced by factors such as age, gender, income, race, country of origin, etc.

For example, we may learn that UFO abductions tend to occur mostly to Asian males between the ages of 18-24 with annual incomes of $30,000. These types of findings would be significant and provide deeper insight into the nature of such phenomenon.

All information - no matter the type - will be collected and analyzed in aggregate form only. Reports will be issued on a regular basis providing our analyses in aggregate form only. No individual information will be reported. And, in fact, we have no way of identifying our users and who submits what information. At all times, your use of this site is on an anonymous basis only.

10. What will your reports contain?

Much useful information for people who want to gain insights into the world's strange and unusual events and experiences. Some of the things our reports will contain, include:

• Experience/occurrence trend analyses by geography and demographic groups
• Ideas and insights by groups
• Frequency and incidence of occurrence statistics
• Random checks
• Other statistical information - stay tuned!

11. Can you let me know when your first report becomes available?

Yes. Just send us an email and we'll let you know when it is published. But before we begin publishing our reports, we need to collect enough data. For starters, we'd like to collect 500 data points - which translates into 500 experiences and submissions - to have statistically reliable information to report. So please tell your friends and family about us!

12. What can I do to help the Experientialist.com mission?

For now, please let everyone you know about us that we exist and ask them to make a submission. Tell them to come to our site and submit their ideas and experiences to the appropriate categories. This will go a long way in fulfilling our mission!