The Magic Café is great but its success has caused it to grow so much that it literally takes a newcomer, or even the occasional user, a good 15 minutes to find the right Forum for what they are interested in if they find it at all. There have been many times that I have just given up and settled for reading about whatever I could find.

Having cute but somewhat oblique titles like "Penny for your thoughts" instead of Mentalism means that the newcomer has to now read the description below the title to know what the Forum is about which just adds to the tiresome process of searching for the right Forum (and heaven forgive the newcomer that posts something in the wrong forum). Also the search feature normally rejects any search that does not specify a Forum name which of course increases the importance of being able to find the right forum.

Which brings me to my suggesting of creating a search feature that would allow a member to type in their area of interest (e.g. mentalism, new lectures, balloon animals, etc.) and have a list of forums that deal with that topic would be outstanding. Basically add a search for just the Forum titles and descriptions (since many of the titles are almost useless to a search engine).

This is the biggest problem with the Magic Café that I can see. Sorry for pointing it out if it is already painfully clear to everyone coming to the Café, but it had to be said.

Although not a complete answer to your question, at the top of the index list, you'll see it says "welcome to the Magic Café". Click on that and the index is reduced to just forum titles. It's easier to find what you are looking for this way. For instance if you were looking for sleight of hand information, you could click on the close up forum. If you were looking for card effects, try the "pick a card any card" forum. If you were looking for effects with money, you'd click on "show me the money". If you click on the forum title, only that forum will open up with a description of each of the areas involving card magic. It does narrow things down a bit for you. To return to the normal listings, just click on the Café Logo.

Granted, some titles are a little vague but for the most part, they are pretty self explanatory.

I wish I could put a check next to my favorite forums and then have them appear in a list without the other forums. Similar to how on my TV I can program my remote to only show my favorite channels.

Then you can always browse all the forums if you want but you have the option to browse only your favorites.

Mike, you could use your browser and add the sections you are interested in as a favorite.

That's very true. I never got into the habit of using my favorites. I guess it's because they load it up with so much junk you can't find anything. I've often thought about clearing it out and just putting in the stuff I care about but never got around to it.