 | | | | | | Anita's Activities as Practicing Psychic Last Post 16 Apr 2010 02:05 AM by UncaYimmy. 57 Replies. | Sort: |
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GeeMack
Groupie
Posts:25
 | | 08 Apr 2010 07:06 AM |
| Posted By Farencue on 07 Apr 2010 09:13 PM
UncaYimmy
I couldn't care less if I am excluded from your private group mate. That's your call, and I'm not going to pack up my bat and ball and go home because of it. In fact my exclusion is probably helpful in demonstrating that not everyone who agrees with this site is part of a "club".
Me too! Let's go start our own private club, Farencue, and not let the Meanies in!  | | | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 08 Apr 2010 08:20 AM |
| Me too! Let's go start our own private club, Farencue, and not let the Meanies in! Sorta like the JREF? I just went back and looked at some private threads from April 2009. If you think VFF says stupid stuff when she knows people are watching, imagine what she says in private. You'd burst a vein having to keep quiet about it. Believe me, the temptation is strong for all of us. If you were to examine some of that stuff closely, you would conclude that Anita is a liar and a fraud.  | | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| Farencue
One of the Gang
Posts:176
| | 08 Apr 2010 12:17 PM |
| LOL Geemack, I aint no clubbie! | | | |
| Farencue
One of the Gang
Posts:176
| | 08 Apr 2010 12:24 PM |
| Posted By Christa on 07 Apr 2010 02:31 PM
As long as I'm indulging my suspicious mind, let me just say that Anita is younger and more attractive than most MDC applicants. The JREF is old and sclerotic. Another reason I rarely post there is that, though I like many posters and some of the threads, it feels like a website for grandparents. And not the cool kind of grandparents who take you places and tell you interesting stories. The kind who chase you off their lawns and don't give out candy on Hallowe'en. Perhaps they're hoping Anita's test will attract a younger audience, and maybe some administrators think a young MDC audience will translate into more JREF users and a way forward after the founder's inevitable death. But JREF rules are so stodgy that I can't imagine lively people of any age joining. It's just too dull and old-fashioned, and it's really not that much fun. Which is weird, because Randi seems like a fun guy who doesn't fetishize rules. People of any age with half a brain know Anita's a scammer and a nut. And one thing about the web that most marketers haven't figured out yet is that people of all ages actually like being on the same forum. It's not the chronological age; it's the spirit of the people. So they won't get more people in her age range, they'll just maybe get a few people who are looking for an online geriatric hall monitors' after-school skeptical club. Besides, Anita is a young person with an old lady vibe. Remember that awful IIG dress nobody's cool grandma would consent to be buried in? So, JREF, if this is why you're encouraging this dangerous fraudster, you're wasting your time. Love your choice of words Christa! Nominated for a Meanie Award.
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| Akhenaten
Stripes Earned - Respect Me
Posts:618
| | 08 Apr 2010 01:39 PM |
| Posted By Farencue on 08 Apr 2010 04:24 AM
Posted By Christa on 07 Apr 2010 02:31 PM
As long as I'm indulging my suspicious mind, let me just say that Anita is younger and more attractive than most MDC applicants. The JREF is old and sclerotic. Another reason I rarely post there is that, though I like many posters and some of the threads, it feels like a website for grandparents. And not the cool kind of grandparents who take you places and tell you interesting stories. The kind who chase you off their lawns and don't give out candy on Hallowe'en. Perhaps they're hoping Anita's test will attract a younger audience, and maybe some administrators think a young MDC audience will translate into more JREF users and a way forward after the founder's inevitable death. But JREF rules are so stodgy that I can't imagine lively people of any age joining. It's just too dull and old-fashioned, and it's really not that much fun. Which is weird, because Randi seems like a fun guy who doesn't fetishize rules. People of any age with half a brain know Anita's a scammer and a nut. And one thing about the web that most marketers haven't figured out yet is that people of all ages actually like being on the same forum. It's not the chronological age; it's the spirit of the people. So they won't get more people in her age range, they'll just maybe get a few people who are looking for an online geriatric hall monitors' after-school skeptical club. Besides, Anita is a young person with an old lady vibe. Remember that awful IIG dress nobody's cool grandma would consent to be buried in? So, JREF, if this is why you're encouraging this dangerous fraudster, you're wasting your time. Love your choice of words Christa! Nominated for a Meanie Award.
Couldn't agree more, China. Christa, this is for you. Wear it proudly. The Order of Arcturus 
| | | The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on.
Nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line.
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.
- from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, who really should have read the FAQ and learned about the Edit function. | |
| Christa
One of the Gang
Posts:55
| | 08 Apr 2010 03:22 PM |
| YYAAAAAYYY! The Order of Arcturus! Finally my life has meaning. Do I get a title? | | | |
| desertgal
V.P. of Patient Relations
Stripes Earned - Respect Me
Posts:1030
| | 08 Apr 2010 05:36 PM |
| Posted By UncaYimmy on 07 Apr 2010 10:21 PM
Just look at the vitriol spewed by Hawk One in my blog comments.
Actually, given the similarity in the wording of his posts and the ones by "VfF", and the timing, I'm guessing that Hawk One and "VfF" are both the new skeptical boyfriend. Not that he exhibits much skepticism. ETA: Posted this before I read your similar comments on your blog - seems we are probably in sync on that suspicion. | | | "The only time you can read the future from cards is when you are holding four aces in a poker game." - Pernell Roberts | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | desertgal
V.P. of Patient Relations
Stripes Earned - Respect Me
Posts:1030
| | 08 Apr 2010 11:58 PM |
| Fair enough. No offense intended. | | | "The only time you can read the future from cards is when you are holding four aces in a poker game." - Pernell Roberts | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 09 Apr 2010 01:17 AM |
| I took no offense and Hawk One shouldn't. The reason I looked was because I was suspicious myself what with them being so close together timing-wise and subject wise. Not only was the IP address different, but Hawk's IP originates from outside the USA (Europe) while the "VFF" IP address is from Verizon Wireless.
| | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| tsig
Newbie
Posts:5
| | 09 Apr 2010 10:05 AM |
| Posted By UncaYimmy on 07 Apr 2010 05:40 PM
I think we're in agreement. Wow. Apparently I *can* disagree with someone amicably and reach a mutual understanding. Go figure!
Did you know that 70% of the traffic to Randi.org goes to the forums? Judging by the comments on the SWIFT blog, many of the readers are also members of the forum, where they are much more active. I would argue that the forums are the JREF brand, which is sad because the forums are like a red-headed stepchild.
Did you also notice that the commenting system doesn't have any of the rules that the forums do? There's no moderation to speak of. Randi apparently reads those comments, but he ignores the forums. Banned forum members can post there as well. This is further evidence that the JREF simply views the forums as an annoyance at best.
They are fools for ignoring 3,000 active members and 100,000+ unique visitors per month to the forums.
Having gone thru three form sutdowns/purgings I see all the signs* in place at JREF:
Owner of forum completely disinterested in forum Increasing rigidity in moderation of forum Increasing polarization of forum members View the forum as a liability rather than a resource. So my advice is if you have anything you want to save at JREF do it now. *I listed four but I'm sure there are many more. BTW the forums I am refering to are RDF, IIdb and EvC | | | |
| Christa
One of the Gang
Posts:55
| | 10 Apr 2010 10:47 PM |
| First of all, I was inducted into the Order of Arcturus yesterday and NO ONE from Arcturus has contacted me about my new title or the date and time of the induction ceremony. I'm beginning to think the Order of Arcturus does not exist. And I don't understand that at all, because I've seen an image of the badge, I know Arcturus exists, and I know at least one person on the JREF posts from there. So I think explanations are in order, preferably before I go buy a new dress. Second, bookitty, where are you? I was snarky about your not defending your good name before, but now I'm honestly mystified. So I'm just going to ask you directly. Bookitty, did you help Anita with the IIG test? Did you line up a test subject on her behalf? Feed her information? Do anything to compromise the integrity of the test? Did you also, in a somewhat troll-like fashion, join this forum so you could pretend you were investigating Anita's claims? Did you then reach your foregone conclusion, based on your pretend investigations, that Anita is not doing anything wrong? (A conclusion that has nothing to do with the substance of Anita's claims, incidentally.) I don't know you or anything about you, I don't know UY, I don't know anyone on here IRL. I will give you a fair hearing. | | | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 11 Apr 2010 12:02 AM |
| Christa, I brought it up again over at the JREF.
Bookitty's reply where she didn't directly address the issue other than to argue that my characterization of her as "staunch defender" of Anita is incorrect.
Here's my follow-up where I wrote, "The only relevant question is whether you did something deliberately or otherwise that may have influenced the outcome of the IIG test." That was Friday at 1:30 AM California time. She has not replied yet.
| | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 11 Apr 2010 01:02 AM |
| tsig, I agree it's quite possible the forum could be shut down. The signs are certainly there. It happened once in the past, right? Or at least very nearly so?
I posted some stats in Forum Management that were I driving the JREF Forums bus would make me considering a major change. The JREF is an educational resource for the paranormal, pseudoscientific and supernatural. Do you know the usage breakdown by forum? The forum with the most posts is Community, which beats Politics by a hair. Of the 21 forums in the public area, Humor (in the private area) has more posts than 16 of them (and probably a dozen of them combined). Movies/Gaming and Forum Management each have more posts than 15 of the public forums.
As far as the JREF mission goes, General Skepticism and the Paranormal, Religion and Philosophy and Science and Medicine are at the core. They really only need those three. You can lump 9/11 and other CT stuff in there if you want, but personally I'd shut down the 9/11 CT Forum simply because it has run its course many times over, and it requires too much moderator effort. Still, though, I wouldn't argue that it doesn't fit the mission and would try to find a way to keep it.
Politics? Social Issues? Meh. I can see the value of a skeptical approach to those topics, but in practice that's not what happens. I don't find the quality of debate in those forums any higher than I see on non-skeptical forums. Most of the rest of the forums are not related at all to the mission.
The vBulletin software won't let me do a search without a word to search for, so I searched for the word "straw" in threads with over 1,000 posts in GS&P figuring somebody in such a thread would refer to straw men. Of the 19 threads that came back, the majority were about bigfoot and VisionFromFeeling. One thread that ran from 2005 to 2008 had 16,000+ posts (it was about bigfoot).
Forum-wide, 14 of the top 25 threads for that search were in Humor and Community, and they combined for 167,391 posts. Only 8 of the remaining 11 were in public areas or what I consider the "meat" of the board. They combined for 65,541 posts or about 40% of the posts found in Community and Humor.
I'd also like to point out that Forum Management hurts the board as a whole. There are issues with moderation, that's for sure. However, the way the complaints are handled worsens the situation because the mods are inept when it comes to dealing with people, especially Darat. The moderation inside of FM is by far the worst of any forum on the board. Look at the number of infractions and suspensions that come as a direct result of engaging in debate about moderation. There is no evidence that FM results in the general membership following the rules better. There is clear evidence, however, that it results in members getting pissed off, and sometimes that spills over into other forums. I know I catch shit from a bunch of different members simply because of my FM opinions, so it's not just the aggrieved party dragging it elsewhere. And let's not forget the people who simply walk away from the board in disgust. That FM is so incredibly busy indicates what a problem it really is.
The method of moderation is also fundamentally flawed in that it relies upon the reporting system almost exclusively. So, while the mods will have their own biases that they try to keep in check, the membership has even more, and they don't try to keep them in check. As a result, some people are targeted for reports far more than others even though their "breaches" are no different. The mods, even if they act without any bias, end up enforcing a bias. They argue that it's not bias because the breaches are real breaches. The net effect, though, is that certain people are subject to more moderation than others despite similar behavior.
What compounds the problem is that the mods love this whole "context" thing. The more you get reported, the more you come to their attention. The more you come to their attention, the more you're perceived as a troublemaker, so they lower the evidence bar and make it harder for you to follow the rules. Meanwhile, the "good guys" don't get get reported as often. When they do, it's less frequent. They are not troublemakers, so they can get away with more.
Good forums have moderators by individual forum. They read most if not all of the posts. They know the players and deal with it accordingly. People can still report posts, but the mods take a much more active role and can see these patterns of member bias. There's no reason the JREF can't do the same except for inertia.
Personally, when I look at the JREF Proper (the main site) and look at the forums, I conclude the forums are a mess. It's an underutilized asset that wastes resources and detracts from the mission overall. | | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| bookitty
One of the Gang
Posts:140
| | 11 Apr 2010 08:35 AM |
| Where am I? You may be mistaking an interesting discussion on an internet forum for something of vital importance. As for your questions, - no, no, no and no. I was actually the one who mentioned that I knew the subject. Any information you have on that subject came from me. The reason I mentioned it at the time was because I thought it odd that she got that one right. I still think it's odd. I still think (as I said just a few days ago) that VFF has tried to diagnosis people with her unproven ability. She has been unable to examine her own claims critically, has dramatically drawn attention to herself, imprinted on UY like a baby duck, and generally been a pain in the behind. I simply don't like to see people bullied when treating them like a human being gets better results. If that's all it take for you to generate some vast conspiracy, so be it. You guys seem to be having a lovely time and I'd hate to ruin it. | | | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 11 Apr 2010 10:24 AM |
| Thank you for finally answering that question. Do you think it was wrong to ask? Do you think it was wrong to get suspicious when you seemingly avoided the question? I don't. Nobody accused you of anything. We asked.
As for your last paragraph, what "results" are we talking about here? What results do you think I am trying to achieve? How about others? What do you think it would take for me to claim mission accomplished?
As for bullying, please cite some specific examples of what you consider bullying on my part. If you have a definition that is different than the following, please say so:
Bully - A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.
| | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 12 Apr 2010 11:25 AM |
| BTW, Bookitty, it seems your change of heart about Anita occurred around the time she was in Los Angeles for the Regen Taylor IIG Challenge. Did the two of you get together? Did she get a chance to meet the one subject she chose correctly?
| | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
| UncaYimmy
Your Brilliancy
Leader of the Pack
Posts:1156
| | 16 Apr 2010 02:05 AM |
| GreyICE has asked to be unregistered from the JREF Forums. Apparently he "abused" the reporting system, which is if it's like what I did, it means he reported a post that should never have been actioned because the mods have actioned similar posts before. This inconsistency in moderation and steadfast refusal to acknowledge mistakes leads otherwise well-mannered members to become so disgusted they feel the need to cut all ties with the forum. In my case a member was suspended for writing in effect, "If you think ignoring your senses is a good idea, try doing it on the railroad tracks and see what happens." He mistakenly thought I was saying he should ignore his senses when he wrote that, but the moderators said it was an advocacy of suicide and suspended him. Many were flabbergasted. The defense was that somebody could "mistakenly" think it was an advocacy of suicide, thus it needed to be actioned. So, a few days later I saw Darat, an admin, suggest to someone that they "drink the TEA." All caps, just like that. I had no idea what it was, so I went to www.AcronymFinder.com to look it up. The only things that fit were a couple of chemicals that were poisonous. I reported the post saying that it could be mistakenly taken as an advocacy of suicide. The truth is, neither case was even remotely actionable, only my report was deemed an abuse of the report system. It turns out that TEA is a microbrew in the UK called Traditional English Ale (it's written as an abbreviation with periods rather than an acronym). However, most people would not know this. I was deemed by the mods as not being genuine in my report. Well, in the case above, the person who reported the railroad tracks post admitted to not being sincere and really just wanting to get the other member in trouble with the mods. Unfortunately, this type of moderation happens all too often. | | UncaYimmy
Web Design and Virtual Marketing | |
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