Broken record, You don't care for the explanation given to you.
For me, the mere fact that JE can be observed 'cheating' (ie using cold & hot reading and other standard 'psychic' tricks) at times is enough to convince me that he has no extraordinary Ability X. Actually, that the history of similar claims all being demonstrably false positions me such that JE's claim (or a claim made on his behalf) elicits only a weary "Go on then, show me..."
Robin, on the other hand, is more ready to accept the possibility of Ability X. More ready than I and considerably more ready than those to whom certain positions are Articles of Faith. So ready, in fact, that she has accepted what she has seen and heard, at first hand, as evidence, even proof, of JE's claim.
The explanation given to her is not adequate. If she doesn't care for it, it's not her record that's broken, it's your gramophone that doesn't fit. A list of ways in which psychics and mediums fraudulently present their 'powers' is
not a rebuttal of the evidence Robin has seen and heard. Even evidence of JE using those same techniques is
not evidence that he uses them all the time, that everything he says is fraudulent. They may appear to be adequate evidence, if you already hold the position that he can't possibly possess Ability X, but it does your argument more harm than good to suggest to Robin that it is her fault that your argument is inadequately presented.
Standard Tiresome Disclaimer: None of this is support for Robin's position or for JE's claim. Feel free to throw stones anyway, it sorts the wheat from the chaff.
You would be better enabled to address Robin's specific evidence with specific counter-evidence if I'd been enabled to elicit more detail from Robin. In fact, as a matter of record, evincing the necessary sympathy to draw such information from Robin led to the mob turning their attention to me (this is some 20 pages ago), and I withdrew, leaving the field to a combative, entrenched dispute that amounted to little more than "You're wrong!", "No I'm not!", "Ohhhh yes you are!", "Ohhhh no I'm not".
Of course, that would only matter if there were ever any intent to honestly engage with Robin on the part of most posters, if they genuinely wished to change her mind. Rather, their intent (if we may assess the intent of intelligent people by reference to their chosen methods) is to demonstrate that
she has not changed
their minds. In this we may record great success. The Woo has not penetrated the For
tressum of Skepticism. But 60 pages in and at least one poster is reduced to claiming he isn't really trying to convince
Robin, but rather some Straw Woo who he can pretend is observing from the sidelines and is magically more susceptible to his chosen weapons.
Seriously, Robin is a
person, not an idea, however much the idea dominates the exchange. If you all you do is chant an unbending challenge to the idea you will not engage with the
person and you will consequently not change the idea.
(By the way, what is it with female "readers" and stiletto fingernails? She's got a set almost as bad as Sylvia's.)
