necrop,
I did read all of the previous responses, but I'm going to pass over replying to them and address your question directly, since I disagree with so many.
I understand your frustrations and there was a time when the forum was less of a playground and more of a place to actually discuss a topic, rather than provide short responses to the original topic in the hopes of increasing that post count.
Unfortunately, as the site and the membership changed, the interest in the serious study of the theoretical existence of vampires, and the researches associated with that, have taken a back seat to the fantastical.
This is not necessarily a negative thing, just different to what it could have been. There are many other sites which look at vampirism as a valid state of being and strictly base their forum content upon that premise, but on VR, the majority are young people with little or no experience of the occult, as you are probably noticing.
The blend on VR then gets a bit mushy when someone begins a thread from either stance, real or fictional, and the respondents often take it upon themselves to drive their own agenda, regardless of the initial intentions of the thread.
It then polarises the camps into those who believe and those who don't. Each has valid arguments, but neither seems able to 'live and let live'.
If a thread creator wishes to see a specific topic discussed as a serious study, then they need to indicate that, otherwise it will likely be filled with opinionated responses.
The trouble I find now, is that the majority of threads are so poorly presented in terms of the information that they contain and the questions they seek answers to, that those with the ability and knowledge to contribute on an almost academic level, rarely find the inclination to do so.
Further, the fact that children make up a large proportion of the membership, does create some ethical questions on content. Generally acceptable topics on other sites may not be appropriate to discuss here.
Probably the only real supported discussions will come from the threads on history of the legend, medical disorders, psychology, sociology, the books and other media, etc, as there is obtainable evidence to bring to the table on these.
The hypothetical existence of people living with vampire traits is pure conjecture, which may be founded in logical assumption, but is more in the realm of philosophy, rather than science, in my own opinion.
This makes it increasingly difficult to fulfil the needs for hard fact and documentation.
I am glad that there are still some people who are willing to take it as a possibility, and not close their minds off to theories which can make sense, but I feel that those are in the minority on VR.
Thank you for raising the question and I am regretful that you have found a need to ask it.
