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Steve Brooks Founder / Manager Northern California - United States 3780 Posts |
Hi folks,
Normally I do not get into detailed discussions nor explanations regarding the behind the scenes day to day activities here in our Café community. The Magic Café has operated for almost nine years with barely any problems to speak about. Oh sure, we have had the typical technical problems or glitches that most growing websites experience. In addition, from time to time we have had to also deal with Internet trolls, idiots and other such nonsense and that is to be expected with a website that deals with thousands of visitors from around the world 24/7. I think that for the most part our little magic community functions extremely well with the majority of our membership getting along with each other and participating within the rules, policies and guidelines that we established from the very begining. As the Café has grown we have made numerous changes thru the years. You know, added new features, tweaked the search engine and in some cases removed or modified user functions and areas because of one reason or another. If something works well we keep it, if not - why waste the banwidth? You see, like a painting the Magic Café is ever a work in progress, always changing in the hopes of providing a safe and educational community for all our members. In the end we want the website to function smoothly while at the same time provide the best experience possible for everyone. I think to that end we have been successful. Having said all of that, I just wanted to take a moment and post an explanation as to why the Stand the Test forum and all of its postings have recently been removed from the Café. A Little History Most of you may not even have noticed the removal of the Stand the Test forum because it was in an area you never even visited. Others may have been aware of the forum but never quite understood the purpose or how it even related to magicians and/or magic tricks - let me try to explain. First, the forum was not created for magicians and other entertainers but rather for Skeptics. Skeptics? What are you talking about Steve? Aren't skeptics the people who challenge everything from ghost hunters to psychic's and the paranormal? Why on earth would you create a forum for skeptics on a magicians website? That's a good question. I mean, what the heck was I thinking? I think a little history is in order. As you know, the Café has a forum for Mentalists known simply as Penny for your thoughts. It is here that those into mentalism can gather to discuss all things which relate to the art and practice of mentalism. Deeper mentalism subjects (which may get into methods) are generally discussed in the Inner Thoughts forum located in the category known as The Banquet Room. Entrance requires a member having made at least fifty legitimate posts on the Café. As it turns out, since its inception the Penny for your thoughts forum has become extremely popular. In fact, it is actually busier than many mentalism websites! As passionate as magicians can be about their craft, the mentalism community appears to be even more so. As you might imagine many a heated argument can be found in the Penny forum and I often make the joke that I'm glad I pursued magic instead of mentalism! All kidding aside, the mentalism community is what it is and who am I to argue? I have enough work just keeping track of all things magical. Anyhow, as the years passed more and more folks from the skeptics community began visiting the Penny forum and challenging the mentalists who frequent there. This presents an interesting situation. You see, the folks who are into mentalism are entertainers and the skeptics seem to be looking to challenge many of these folks. Challenge? What do you mean challenge? Well, put simply, it is my own personal belief that many skeptics are under the impression that the mentalists may be attempting to fool the general lay audience into thinking that what they do on stage involves real pyshic powers and may be a bit more than entertainment. I don't know, but that seems to be the root issue. In any case, the flooding of the Penny forum by skeptics, debunkers and other critics was begining to cause way too many problems. Fighting and bickering between the two schools of thought was not only getting out of hand, but the mentalists who were not actually under attack by the critics were having a difficult time just trying to discuss their own craft. It was ridiculous and something really needed to be done. But what to do? STAND THE TEST I thought the situation over and decided that I had two choices; I could systematically begin banning all the critics who were entering the Penny forum for the sole purpose of fighting with the mentalists or I could perhaps give the skeptics and debunkers their very own area...hmmm. Giving the mentalism critics the benefit of the doubt I decided to create a forum just for them. Thus was born the Stand the Test area. Here I felt these folks could discuss things relating to skeptism and debunking without the constant fighting and bickering within the mentalism community. I probably should have never used the word debunking. The so called skeptics really seem to cherish the title of debunker. Once the new forum was up and running they began coming here in droves, seriously. Not only were the already registered members who had once frequented the Penny forum posting in the new area, but a slew of skeptics and debunkers from other websites quickly learned of the new forum and the onslaught began. I think these folks saw the new area as a call to come here and debunk any subject they wanted...they were gravely mistaken. BEGINING OF THE END Now while the Stand the Test area was thriving with activity I noticed that the termoil that normally could be found in the Penny forum had all but vanished. Sure, you will always have debates and disagreements between mentalists, but all the other garbage had stopped. For that I was happy. In the meantime, quite the train wreck was happening in the new skeptism area. Fighting, arguing, finger pointing and an all around feeling of negativity prevailed within, it was getting ugly. Not only were the skeptics and debunkers fighting each other, but now we had folks entering the forum and challenging the skeptics - geez. What a mess. Add to that I was constantly getting nasty emails and private messages demanding why so and so thread was removed. Oh, you mean the one where there were pages upon pages of people attacking religion and the beliefs of believers, or one of the other crazy topics that went way over the edge? To make matters even worse, I began receiving profanity filled emails (from various skeptics and debunkers) whos contents ranged from death threats to law suit threats. This was becoming truly insane. I finally decided that I just don't have time for this nonsense any longer. Really, I am not a babysitter nor am I a mediator. I am a magician who loves magic - period. I had given the children a nice playground and they chose to litter it with garbage. Nothing left to do but clean the place up it would seem, and so I have. The former Stand the Test forum and all of its contents has been permanently removed from our servers. It is a shame really, as there were actually a few good topics if you were willing to dig down to the bottom of the trash can to find them. Not all the folks who spent time there were trouble makers but many of them just could not behave like adults. I wish only the best for them and hopefully they will slowly wander back to the skeptic websites where there must be an army of folks who deal with the drama everyday. I apologize for the lengthy explanation folks. Perhaps now you can understand why I don't explain all the little things which take place behind the scenes each day here. My staff and I pretty much have our hands full keeping the Magic Café running smoothly and you have better things to read about, like maybe something to do with magic?
"Always be you because nobody else can" - Steve Brooks
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