It saddens me to learn that apparently yet another skeptical group is engaging Anita Ikonen, aka VisionFromFeeling, in still yet another "test" of her silly beliefs. It seems that even those familiar with her have forgotten just how poorly and even vindictively she has treated people. I guess it's time for a recap before somebody else gets burned.
The Professor Who Ruined Her 4.0 GPA
We got our first inkling of Miss Ikonen's vindictive nature shortly after she boasted about having a 4.0 GPA at UNC-Charlotte. When a few members of the JREF Forums pointed out that Miss Ikonen's name was no longer on the Chancellor's List and thus she had no 4.0, Miss Ikonen proceeded to tell us that she was verbally and physically assaulted by a professor and dropped the class because of it. Therefore, her failing grade should not be counted in her GPA. On a side note, she has allegedly retaken the class several times and has yet to restore her 4.0 GPA.
Anyway, the story I learned from classmates is that no physical or verbal abuse took place. The professor was allegedly short with her, but it was not abusive. Miss Ikonen, however, circulated a petition among her fellow students in an attempt to get that professor fired or at least disciplined. Nothing ever came of it, but it shows her vindictive nature.
Another UNCC Staff Member Threatened
A staff member at UNCC witnessed the debacle that was Miss Ikonen's IIG test and made some personal comments on her own time about it. Miss Ikonen did not take very kindly to that. She publicly stated that she was contacting the university to get this person fired or at least disciplined. Fortunately, nothing ever came of it.
Harassing Migraine Sufferers
Miss Ikonen thinks she can heal migraines. Well, the way she says it, somebody else thinks she can heal migraines, so she wants to test it. There is a local Migraine Sufferers Meetup Group near where Miss Ikonen resides. They had an explicit policly stated prominently on their Meetup Group page that said only sufferers were allowed to attend. Practitioners were specifically told not to contact them. This did not stop Miss Ikonen from contacting them in an attempt to alter the "voltages" in their brains by "transmitting light" to the "dark areas" in their head in order to cure the. The founder of the Meetup group visited this site, thanked me for the background, and subsequently took the group private so that people like Miss Ikonen would not harass them.
Various JREF Forum Members
Several members including LightInDarkness and Jeff Corey had to publicly request that Miss Ikonen stop sending them private messages on the board. Apparently friendly Anita, who is just trying to conduct a "public" investigation, has contacted a number of people privately. When she doesn't get what she wants from them, she keeps bothering them so much that some feel the need to publicly request that she stop harassing them.
Personal Attacks Against Desertgal
One of the founding members of this website, Desertgal, has tried to help Anita Ikonen because she, like many of us, believes that the root of Miss Ikonen's claims are part of a serious mental illness. Desertgal publicly shared the story of how many years ago she suffered from a delusion, was treated for it, and recovered. While Desertgal's interactions with Miss Ikonen have been contentious at times, she was trying to help by sharing this story.
What did Miss Ikonen do with this information? She used it repeatedly to insult and otherwise personally attack Desertgal in various discussions. After being reprimanded by the JREF Moderators for this, Miss Ikonen changed her signature to be a personal attack on Desertgal. When the Mods made her remove it, she changed her signature to have what looks like a link to this website, but when you clicked it, it brought you to a completely different site where an insult on Desertgal's bout with a delusion resided. She was quickly suspended (again) by the Moderators for this vindictive behavior and lost the privilege to have a signature.
Harassing the JREF Moderators and Being Banned
While she was on the above suspension, she apparently harassed the Moderators by repeatedly sending private messages. This behavior warranted her suspension to be extended, a rare move on the JREF Forums. Within days of her return to the JREF Forums, she was again suspended for making personal attacks. This time she was suspended for three weeks. When she returned from this suspension, she was on probation. But, again, within a few days she was back to making personal attacks, this time implying that a JREF Member was somehow involved in a rape. This was the last straw, and she was banned permanently from the JREF Forums.
My Personal Dealings
I could write thousands of words about the harassment I've encountered, but I'll try to keep it brief. After my first couple of private chats with Anita Ikonen around January 2009, I sensed that I was being manipulated and the sexual flirtation sent up red flags. I publicly posted on the JREF Forums about this and began keeping copies of all private chats and e-mails. I even took the extraordinary step of sharing them with at least on other person as they happened should I need evidence to defend myself from false accusations. It was a good thing I did.
The most annoying thing Miss Ikonen has done is accuse me of sexual harassment. Understand that there was some flirting going on, but there was no harassment. Miss Ikonen has repeatedly lied stating that she was in innocent victim of my advances even though I have documented evidence of her overt sexual flirtation, including her making comments about being naked while chatting and offering (but never following through) to send me topless pictures.
Understand that I do not judge her or myself for the flirting - men and women do that. I never publicly discussed any of this until Miss Ikonen, mad at me about one thing or another, began making accusations such as, "Oh, so adultery is fine in your eyes, as long as it is done by someone who thinks of themselves as a skeptic. I hope Jim Carr's children won't be embarrassed about their dad when they grow up."
And then there was the harassment by phone. Numerous times Miss Ikonen asked me to call her on the phone or asked if she could call me. I repeatedly and sternly told her that she should never, ever call me and that I would never call her. Well, after she posted some notes she took where with her sooper powers she determined that "black people are different" (from what, she never explained), some members here commented that her comments were racist. Incensed, Miss Ikonen began repeatedly calling my cell phone (she got the number from my business website), but I did not answer. She left a long (over two minutes) rambling voicemail threatening to call the police and/or file a lawsuit against me.
This wasn't to be the only time she threatened police action and lawsuits. After she failed the IIG test and was in a downward spiral, she posted here making the same threats. Ultimately, I ended up banning her from this website. I also informed her that she should not attempt to contact me again except through a lawyer. Well, that didn't work out too well.
Persistent and Downright Scary
Miss Ikonen began e-mail me repeatedly after that. Each time, I would respond telling her not to contact me again except through a lawyer. She scoffed at that and said that she would contact me if she wanted to. Around Christmas of 2009, she sent me a rather scary e-mail claiming that she was dying. She said that should she simply stop posting on the Internet, it was because she was dead. She just wanted to say, "I LOVE YOU!" The reality was that she was having panic attacks, which she thought were heart problems. She just didn't believe the hospital staff (or didn't want to).
The e-mails kept coming along with my terse responses to not contact me except through an attorney. After she flew to California, she e-mailed me to tell me that she had a layover in Phoenix (where I live) and commented about how the streets looked, something one wouldn't see from the confines of the airport. I took it as an implication that she may have traveled near my home since I'm only five miles away from Sky Harbor.
At that point I sent her an e-mail advising her that I was looking into filing a civil no-contact order in her home state and needed her address. I told her to respond with nothing else. She was quiet for a day, then she left a comment on one of my YouTube videos (A Skeptic's Belief in Chi) with myself and my children it. She commented on what a wonderful family I had, which is just spooky. I then received a 3,501 word rambling e-mail from her along with her address.
Be Careful Out There
I could go on and share other stories such as how several times she "friended" me on Facebook, then "defriended" me only to "friend" me again saying she couldn't take not having me as a Facebook friend. Or how I would sometimes need to end instant message conversations with her by blocking her account because she simply would not stop sending me messages. This kind of obsessive behavior is disconcerting and would be downright frightening if our genders were reversed.
To anyone considering getting involved with her, I advise you to think twice. She's a known liar, and, as you can see, she can be quite vindictive. While she acts demure at times, it's only because that's what works best for her. She seems willing to stop at nothing to get what she's after, which is at this point seems to be attention. She wants you to think that if you just work with her, she'll change her mind about her claims, but that's just a ruse. She's failed multiple tests, most of which are documented here. She's using skeptics to her own ends.
Just ask yourself this: If she were a 50 year old, balding fat guy with bad teeth, would you react the same way?