I think one of the things I am failing to understand is this: WHY is Anita HERE?
She started with IIG in 2007, and she left it up to them to design the protocol. Now, granted, they might be slower than she likes, but she has shifted the goalposts so often, and made the proposed protocol so unwieldy, the folks at IIG are probably frustrated beyond belief.
She came on here over two months ago, saying that she wanted the skeptics here to apply critical thinking to her claims, and help her design a protocol. Again, we had the shifting of the goalposts-first she could do chemical tests, and then she couldn't, and then the photographs were possible, and then they weren't, and so on.
She has spent countless hours on this thread (and others) arguing over and rejecting 99% of the critical thinking that has come her way. We've pointed out flaws in her anecdotal conclusions - she argued and ultimately ignored the points that were made. We pointed out flaws in her reasoning - she argued. We pointed out flaws in her methods - she argued. We pointed out that she might be delusional-she argued. Protocols were suggested - she debated them and dismissed them. One poster suggested a simple test with crystals, based on the info on her website. She agreed - but we don't know if she did it. Pup suggested another quick test with medications -and she accepted, and, then, for some unfathomable reason, amended the test. (Why does she need samples of the original medications again?) She argued about whether she has synesthesia-and still seems convinced that she does. She argued repeatedly about whether ESP ability could be proven or not proven. She argued about whether her anecdotes were evidence or samples. She argued over the definition of the null hypothesis. She argued over whether she believes in her perceptions. She argued over her numerous contradictions, over the definition of vibrational algebra, etc, etc, etc. In the meantime, she threw in, here and there, even more outrageous claims, and then argued over whether we could discuss them or not. If we discuss her credibility, she responds that it isn't relevant to her main claim. If we mention anything she doesn't want to discuss, it isn't relevant to her main claim - and, for some reason, she decided a while back that she was the forum police and could dictate what we discuss.
She went to one skeptics meeting with the attitude that she could just waltz in and start diagnosing the members. When that didn't happen, she, at Dr. Carlson's and GodofPie's suggestions, finally understood what UncaYimmy and others had been telling her for a month - that she would need to gather something more compelling than the anecdotal evidence (oh, sorry, samples) on her website, and design her own protocol for any "official" test based on that study. She babbled on about that, until UncaYimmy took the time to write her a protocol to help her out.
Ashles took the time to start a thread about developing a protocol for her, which she largely ignored. UncaYimmy took the time to start the moderated thread to clarify her claim-and it has been like pulling teeth to get her to respond there, while she posts here over and over again. She blames us for that - mostly me - we are, apparently, "forcing" her to answer questions she deems unworthy. And so far, she has cherry picked our responses, and answers a lot of them out of context, which leads to more "false assumptions" on our part.
Through it all, she's been alternately condescending and strangely disingenuous, insulting and almost sycophantic She said she came here for critical thinking, but I don't see how, since she has argued and disagreed with most of it. She has accused us repeatedly of making false assumptions and inaccurate conclusions over and over again-even though, except for two occasions, our assessments were accurate-she just didn't agree with them. The two occasions-the mistake about her education and about her nationality-were resolved fairly quickly, yet she's been using them as a stick to beat us with ever since. She went off on Cuddles in a totally irrational temper tantrum.
And, now, in another one of her bizarre disingenuous about faces, she says: "I will continue working on the paperwork for the upcoming study, and once their preliminary drafts are prepared I will post them and invite everyone to critique on them in the way only you know how. That way they can be improved on until we all agree that they are ready to be named final drafts."
I can't understand why. With the exception of UncaYimmy's study protocol, it seems like the only purpose the JREF serves for Anita is some sort of self absorbed blog/whipping boy/mysterious testing ground.
