Post by Mr. Jon Donnis on Sept 19, 2012 22:43:44 GMT
Saw a post on a "skeptical" forum about me!
I wont mention the site as they dont deserve the free publicity, but I will say it is run by the people who stabbed John Jackson of UK Skeptics fame, in the back, and it was their poor attempt to basically steal his material, and remake his forum since he closed down the old one.
Anyway as I often do with new skeptical forums I come across, I offered my help and advice on how best to run a forum, and publicise it and so on. Afterall who better than me.
Unfortunately after a few posts it became very apparent that the forum contained a few disgruntled ex members of BadPsychics as well as jealous skeptics I had pissed off in the past.
The forum had claimed it was 18 months in the making, run by 6 people. It has now been open 3 months or so, and has 80 members, with maybe 3 new threads started a day with little to no activity.
The site and the forum is a failure. Just imagine that instead of attacking and abusing me, they had accepted my free offer of help and advice.
The site is mainly run by a former career psychic turned "skeptic", thats probably why they hate me! lol.
Anyway here is the part of the post that is about me. I will reply throughout it.
Note an admission that they were discussing banning me in private pretty much since they started, even though I had not posted anything negative, and they had already started being rude and aggresive to me!
I guess my reputation really does precede me!
One of favourite quotes I use to wind people up.
I would note that the quote is taken slightly out of context here, as I only use that quote when reffering to being an internet skeptic who exposes psychics/mediums.
I would also suggest that the meaning of the word "successful" does not always mean the one who has made the most money, most fame or have the biggest profile! I wonder who they will mention next?
A professional magician, who makes a career out of magic!
Wouldn't call him a successful skeptic, I would call him a very successful magician
Ben is someone I have great respect for, and was one of the inspirations for Nik when he first started BP.
Ben is a Doctor, a Psychiatrist and a Science writer.
I would not claim that he is solely a skeptic, as he has many more abilities and academia.
He has made a very good career from his jobs and his books
Atheist, scientist etc. Again is he famous for being a skeptic? Nope, I would say he is famous for being a scientist, a writer, and an atheist, and he has earned millions from doing so.
I am guessing they mean Dara O'Briain, both Fry and O'Briain are successful comedians, presenters etc, and neither are famous solely for being a skeptic.
Both are millionaires from their TV work.
Another famous person, a magician, psychologist, and a millionaire from his best selling book about Luck.
Again I would suggest he is famous for other reasons than just being a skeptic.
Also worth noting that Wiseman in the past would come to me for help and advice with regards to psychics.
Well none of the names you mentioned are famous purely for being a skeptic.
All are millionaires, so if that is what you judge as successful, well then I am bottom of the pile.
HOWEVER, to go back to the original claim she was mocking me for
"the single most successful skeptic in the UK"
Back when this person was taking money off vulnerable grieving people for bulls*it fake psychic readings, I was HELPING vulnerable grieving people FIGHT against psychics.
For me to be a success at something like skepticism, you do it from a starting point of nothing.
ALL of the famous names you mentioned were already famous, were already very rich from other projects.
I NEVER made a profit in 8 years of BadPsychics, every year I lost money, hundreds of pounds.
I did what I did and what I do because it is the right thing to do, not because it makes me rich, not because it will get me more twitter followers, or raise my profile, I do it not because it will help me sell more books, or raise my premium when doing the skeptic circuits.
Do you think the likes of Stephen Fry or Dara O'Briain would give a s*it about psychics if they weren't millionaire TV stars? Do you think they would put thousands of hours of unpaid hard word exposing such people just because it was the right thing to do?
ALL of the people you mention do what they do within the broad industry of skepticism for MONEY, for fame, for ego, profile.
I like those people, I like them all.
But they wouldn't have lasted a week in my shoes.
The death threats, the daily abuse, the hours and hours of unpaid work every day, having to deal with lawyers on a weekly basis.
You want to talk about what it takes to make a successful skeptic, well let me tell you, it takes someone like me, it takes someone who wont back down, who will fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, someone who will reach into his own pocket and do whats right for the greater good, and all in a purely altruistic manner.
You want to talk about success, if I wanted to be famous, I would be, I turned down many TV invitations, hell I would often get asked BEFORE Chris French or Richard Wiseman, I would suggest them for the job because I did NOT want to be famous.
£700 fee offered to go on ITV This Morning plus expenses! I turned it down, when the likes of Chris French etc would run for it arms wide open, just for 5 minutes on the TV!
I was regularly asked to do the SitP circuit, I turned them down every time!
Success for me isn't about how big your profile is, how many people recognise you on the street, for me success is about how many people you have helped, how many psychics you force to change their claims.
Even last month Simon Singh wrote an article about Sally Morgan, who did he go to for help? He came to me!
You mention these famous names, well the truth of the matter is when they need help they come to me! Because they know when it comes to psychics and mediums I am the best.
So yeah if I claim "I'm the single most successful skeptic in the UK"
yes I do it with my tongue in my cheek, I dont expect people to take that seriously, but ask yourself, when it comes to actually making a difference on a personal level, on a face to face level, on making the bad guys panic and worry, hell yeah maybe I am one of the most successful skeptics around. And if you dont like that or cant accept that, then tough.
The SNU once refferred to me as
"The single biggest threat to spiritualism since Houdini"
Now I dont believe that to be the case now, or when they said it, but the fact they did means I had them worried.
So the next time you see some successful comedian, magician, scientist, writer or whoever jumping on the skeptical bandwagon because it sounds cool, ask yourself, have they ever actually done anything truly altruistically in aid of skepticism or are they just doing it for themselves?
I wont mention the site as they dont deserve the free publicity, but I will say it is run by the people who stabbed John Jackson of UK Skeptics fame, in the back, and it was their poor attempt to basically steal his material, and remake his forum since he closed down the old one.
Anyway as I often do with new skeptical forums I come across, I offered my help and advice on how best to run a forum, and publicise it and so on. Afterall who better than me.
Unfortunately after a few posts it became very apparent that the forum contained a few disgruntled ex members of BadPsychics as well as jealous skeptics I had pissed off in the past.
The forum had claimed it was 18 months in the making, run by 6 people. It has now been open 3 months or so, and has 80 members, with maybe 3 new threads started a day with little to no activity.
The site and the forum is a failure. Just imagine that instead of attacking and abusing me, they had accepted my free offer of help and advice.
The site is mainly run by a former career psychic turned "skeptic", thats probably why they hate me! lol.
Anyway here is the part of the post that is about me. I will reply throughout it.
The other ban has been a while in coming, and generated much discussion in the team since early after go-live.
Note an admission that they were discussing banning me in private pretty much since they started, even though I had not posted anything negative, and they had already started being rude and aggresive to me!
I guess my reputation really does precede me!
I feel it may be appropriate to make some comment on this situation. This member repeatedly made the claim that they are "the single most successful skeptic in the UK".
One of favourite quotes I use to wind people up.I would note that the quote is taken slightly out of context here, as I only use that quote when reffering to being an internet skeptic who exposes psychics/mediums.
I would also suggest that the meaning of the word "successful" does not always mean the one who has made the most money, most fame or have the biggest profile! I wonder who they will mention next?
In my experience, in conversation about skepticism in the UK names come up such as (in no particular order - and not exhaustive) Derren Brown
A professional magician, who makes a career out of magic!
Wouldn't call him a successful skeptic, I would call him a very successful magician
Ben Goldacre
Ben is someone I have great respect for, and was one of the inspirations for Nik when he first started BP.
Ben is a Doctor, a Psychiatrist and a Science writer.
I would not claim that he is solely a skeptic, as he has many more abilities and academia.
He has made a very good career from his jobs and his books
Richard Dawkins
Atheist, scientist etc. Again is he famous for being a skeptic? Nope, I would say he is famous for being a scientist, a writer, and an atheist, and he has earned millions from doing so.
Stephen Fry, Daragh O'Brien
I am guessing they mean Dara O'Briain, both Fry and O'Briain are successful comedians, presenters etc, and neither are famous solely for being a skeptic.
Both are millionaires from their TV work.
Richard Wiseman
Another famous person, a magician, psychologist, and a millionaire from his best selling book about Luck.
Again I would suggest he is famous for other reasons than just being a skeptic.
Also worth noting that Wiseman in the past would come to me for help and advice with regards to psychics.
but not this member's. I guess it depends on your definition of "single" as well as "successful", and some may have a rather unusual one.
Well none of the names you mentioned are famous purely for being a skeptic.
All are millionaires, so if that is what you judge as successful, well then I am bottom of the pile.
HOWEVER, to go back to the original claim she was mocking me for
"the single most successful skeptic in the UK"
Back when this person was taking money off vulnerable grieving people for bulls*it fake psychic readings, I was HELPING vulnerable grieving people FIGHT against psychics.
For me to be a success at something like skepticism, you do it from a starting point of nothing.
ALL of the famous names you mentioned were already famous, were already very rich from other projects.
I NEVER made a profit in 8 years of BadPsychics, every year I lost money, hundreds of pounds.
I did what I did and what I do because it is the right thing to do, not because it makes me rich, not because it will get me more twitter followers, or raise my profile, I do it not because it will help me sell more books, or raise my premium when doing the skeptic circuits.
Do you think the likes of Stephen Fry or Dara O'Briain would give a s*it about psychics if they weren't millionaire TV stars? Do you think they would put thousands of hours of unpaid hard word exposing such people just because it was the right thing to do?
ALL of the people you mention do what they do within the broad industry of skepticism for MONEY, for fame, for ego, profile.
I like those people, I like them all.
But they wouldn't have lasted a week in my shoes.
The death threats, the daily abuse, the hours and hours of unpaid work every day, having to deal with lawyers on a weekly basis.
You want to talk about what it takes to make a successful skeptic, well let me tell you, it takes someone like me, it takes someone who wont back down, who will fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, someone who will reach into his own pocket and do whats right for the greater good, and all in a purely altruistic manner.
You want to talk about success, if I wanted to be famous, I would be, I turned down many TV invitations, hell I would often get asked BEFORE Chris French or Richard Wiseman, I would suggest them for the job because I did NOT want to be famous.
£700 fee offered to go on ITV This Morning plus expenses! I turned it down, when the likes of Chris French etc would run for it arms wide open, just for 5 minutes on the TV!
I was regularly asked to do the SitP circuit, I turned them down every time!
Success for me isn't about how big your profile is, how many people recognise you on the street, for me success is about how many people you have helped, how many psychics you force to change their claims.
Even last month Simon Singh wrote an article about Sally Morgan, who did he go to for help? He came to me!
You mention these famous names, well the truth of the matter is when they need help they come to me! Because they know when it comes to psychics and mediums I am the best.
So yeah if I claim "I'm the single most successful skeptic in the UK"
yes I do it with my tongue in my cheek, I dont expect people to take that seriously, but ask yourself, when it comes to actually making a difference on a personal level, on a face to face level, on making the bad guys panic and worry, hell yeah maybe I am one of the most successful skeptics around. And if you dont like that or cant accept that, then tough.
The SNU once refferred to me as
"The single biggest threat to spiritualism since Houdini"
Now I dont believe that to be the case now, or when they said it, but the fact they did means I had them worried.
So the next time you see some successful comedian, magician, scientist, writer or whoever jumping on the skeptical bandwagon because it sounds cool, ask yourself, have they ever actually done anything truly altruistically in aid of skepticism or are they just doing it for themselves?
