Dear Mods,

Is it possible to programme the Café so that if people use terms related to our craft (S****, I****** s******, etc.) They automatically get all the letters bar the first one astrixed out? I've seen that happen with the names of banned members (although that was the whole name, every letter).

It seems this would help with the problems of exposure.

Kind regards,

Ross

I think the reason behind the reluctance is that it will be a blanket censor.

Meaning the censor will be in effect everywhere making it cumbersome.

However, if there were a technical way around that, I'd say it would be good.

I'm not that tech savvy to tell...

We could a** * ****** of t*** that might make a p****** i*********. Or we could start o** f****** the issue. The arguments s**** up different ways and it's difficult to stay o** ***** of the game. I'm not we can n*** it, if you follow my t*****.

You see the problem?

Mike

Exactly my point.

Good point Mike - I had not thought of that. It might be possible to astrix some terms with no other meaning, or even terms with two words paired together. So we could maybe be covered for:

S****
P***** r******
I********* p**
D*** r******
I****** s*******
d*** s*****
I******** t*****
e********

I've known of someone who got banned and his full name was astrixed out, but others that shared his first name were still able to use that name.

In principle it's a good idea if it is technically possible, and if it is limited to very specific strings. It would also make it easier for posters because they wouldn't need to worry about calculating the number of asterisks. At the end of the day, someone would have to do the work, which could be quite time consuming. Typos and spelling mistakes are another issue however.

Mike

If you see exposure you can always report the post.

In most cases it's actually convenient for each user to encode their posts using shorthand. Eg. DR is easier and faster to type than d*** r****** and it's clearer for everyone. You could use similar acronyms for other principles. I might make a prediction using NW, use the ID as an out (or not!), find multiple uses in card or ESP effects with an MD and so on.

Ultimately, though, I don't believe exposure in general on magic forums it's a real problem.

Its also a never ending task, and who decides which words get censored and which don't?. The community should be self policed IMO

There's nothing wrong with the shorthand we're using, guys. Personally, I have no problem reading NW instead of having it spelled out...and it won't make any sense to those who don't know what they are looking for. But performers will either have the good manners (and judgement) to use the shorthand...or they won't.

But it's really starting to annoy me -- seeing the kiddie cowboys come on-line and say "HEY! I HAVE 50 'TT's AND I WANT TO MAKE THEM INTO 'NW's..." Dear Lord...

The bottom line is there's not a thing we can do about that. Nothing. Only education, I suppose. Despite the fact it makes PERFECT SENSE to keep your mouth shut about the trade secrets..........arrrgh.

We should maybe contact Craig over at Promystic and ask him if he can devise a device that will work over the internet. This device would deliver a mild electrical shock each time some dork actually wrote out the words that go with "NW" or "TT" -- with said shocks getting more and more powerful with each infraction...until the offenders actually p** their pants. This would make an impression.

David

I agree with Mike and David - blanking out every magical term we think is worth to be protected (and which one does not fit that bill?) will probably give us an annoying reading experience.
Actually, it could be better to leave it to the responsibility of each individual here, to protect what she or he is writing by camouflaging it, eg. typos, replacing letters with num63rs etc.

However, this shifts the problem to the users: how can we make 'new' or careless users be aware of the problem?
A new-user guideline?
More restrictive actions taken by the mods against exposure?
...?

What is the point of secrecy here whilst Penn and Teller aided and abetted by some of the very same magicians/mentalists who come here, openly exposing things on National TV?

And arrogant about it when questioned.

There are some bad eggs in our own ranks that need addressing before we can think about stopping little Johnny from learning things here.

http://www.flashhog.com/swami/

Is that a s*a*i or a P*i**ess?

Love it in any case...

David

Now THERE'S something for the automatic censor. Why do we need to make crude remarks? How on earth is an updated filter going to accomplish anything, if we ccan't even talk civily to one another. Build a better filter and some one with an axe to grind will just sidestep it. It deosn't take a genius to sidestep the F word: F*r*o*g, so why do you think a filter will discourage other uncaring trolls?

Yes, puns should be censored. My bad. Samuel Johnson was right.

I do honestly believe that this is a case of running when no one is chasing. You know this is a forum where magicians/mentalists meet. We discuss magic and mentalism---this is what we do. I have yet to find one person in my performances say "I know how he did that! I learned it from the Magic Café". Honestly folks when the average person leaves a performance they go on with their lives. I would imagine if a person actually takes the time to search and see how we do what we do then I would argue we are seeing the birth of a fellow performer. In the mean while I leave you all with three magical words that will serve you well---"Practice, practice, practice".


Good magic to all,


Eric

Good take Eric,

B***,

Deco*****d

Of course...!

The staff here run this board, get NO pay, etc...

Obviously they don't care about the art of magic.

There are no secrets in magic any more.

I can look up any trick I want and find out how to do it.
Wikipedia has the majority of them.

Why hide something that is ready available all over the internet?

Randi

I get the feeling OP is a mentalist. So many of the mentalists on this site are so pretentious, so very anal about keeping secrets.
Don't they know you can find most of the terms they try so desperately to hide on sites that are far more public than this one?
(I speak here of Penguin. Click "mentalism," and the name of every tool of the trade is at your fingertips.)