I am pretty sick of the users here with higher post counts complaining to people to use the search button. This would imply that you can only ask something if it hasn't already been asked. That is just crazy. Is it that hard to answer the persons question and gain a post?

Actually Joey, it gets very time consuming to post the same information over again - that's why they redid the entire search function to make it faster. For the most part, you will gain a lot of knowledge by reading prior posts and if there are further questinos, it's much better to append it to an old thread bumping it up to the top - otherwise you basically end up starting another thread that newer users then have to sift through when looking for information (ie looking in two places, not just one).

That's why it's always good to search first

Just my $0.02

While I agree with Alym, the computer I use (or maybe it is me) doesn't seem to use the search function very well.
I have tried to look up a subject or question and many times (most times actually) I get totally unrelated material.
As an example I might do a search for the bill in lemon effect and I get threads on bill tube, self folding bill and other non related subject matter. It really can get frustrating.
Iven

Joey, many times the question has been answered. Sometimes after reading a discussion thread to get answers causes a new question to pop into ones mind. I believe that by reading the existing threads and adding to an already ongoing discussion keeps that topic alive and vital until it is complete. Asking the same question over and over again only consumes valuable bandwidth and keeps the growth of the discussion narrow. Plus it is the height of laziness to not search first to see if your question has been discussed.

You will also notice that most times (over 90 percent of the times for me) that some one posts “try the search function” links to existing threads are given as examples of what would be found IF the person had just taken a second and searched. That takes a bit of work.

After you have been on the Café for a while and IF you read almost every thread (as I do) it gets annoying to see “what are the 10 best close-up tricks” for the Nth time!

If you are posting just to raise your count then shame on you!

By the way, try the search function, I'll bet this question has been discussed before!! LOL!!!

Everything is not easy either.

This topic has already been discussed. Use the search engine to find more on this exact subject...

Hey! Just kidding!

I always try to answer (when I can!) even if it is something that has been discussed before, mainly because I'm hoping that new ideas can be sparked from old ones.
Whenever I research something I always search it first to see if what's already been said sparks new ideas in me.

Hope you laughed at my joke.

I try to search first. It is easier now to search than it was before, I will admit that. But sometimes you do the search and get a lot of things that do not pertain to what you are looking for. Normally people asking doesn't bother me much unless the same topic appears just below the newly posted topic.

Funny thing is I've never looked around to see if there's a FAQ site on this board... if there isn't one there should be.
Maybe a section that covers some of the following:
How do I get into mentalism?
Spoon bending?
13 Steps?
David Blaine?
Derren Brown?
Alain Nu?
Whoever just did that TV special and where can I find those effects?
Can someone read Tarbell for me and tell me all the good tricks?
Can someone speed through tons of DVDs and tell me what I need to know?
What's the best DL?
What does DL mean?
What's the best false shuffle?
Who would win in a fight: David Blaine, Criss Angel or Buffy?
I have Watch & Wear, Time Machine, PK Time, and some other watch stuff... which one is best?
MOAB, UF, FF, DV, HA, TFB, or any of the other book tests... which one is the best and which one can I use to end my matrix routines with?
I'm about 12, where can I buy all the cool chemicals that will definitely allow me to do that cool Blaine thing and probably blow up my house?
Everything works with stooges, right?
I'm new to magic so can you tell me all the secrets right now?
I've never heard of NW, PW, 13 Steps, cold reading, Annemann, billet work or know how to do a proper equivoque sequence, can I still be a mentalist because I just bought KK?
I've been a mentalist for over 20 years, now who is this Maven, Waters, & Corinda you speak of?
I bought IA, Kopy Kat, The Janus Pad, Thought Transmitter, all of Riggs' impression devices, Vision In Black, the Fabrice Board, and a Buma Board... do I have anything that will work for preshow stuff?
What does preshow mean?
What's the best CT out there and can someone teach it to me and can I do it in my ventriloquist act and is there maybe something easier to use made by Tenyo?
Okay, I've bought every book that's out there and every DVD... I've even hunted down for things no longer in print and things that were only sold underground... now what?
What do you mean 'read it all and watch the DVDs'?
I don't like to practice, and I've only performed for my mirror and my pet hamster, although the hamster did not like most of what I did, how can I start booking myself as a professional magician?
I've heard there are some secret boards out there that will only let you in if you either pass some sort of test or one of their own invites you in... I've been doing mentalism since... wait, let me check my watch... since one this afternoon... how can I be invited in these secret clubs?
I'm still not sure why Alain Nu, Criss Angel, David Blaine, Kris Korn, Gerry McCambridge & Derren Brown got a show... I fool my friends every day witht he same stuff I saw on that show and no one's putting me on TV... what gives?
Hey, how come I'm the best mentalist in my bedroom and no one is offering me a TV special?
I'm trying to blend in all the fancy Buck twin cuts with a Morgan bending routine and an Ogawa matrix routine and it will end with me floating via the E-79... what do you think?
I need to know another Chair Prediction... I only have 184 ways of doing it... can someone provide me witha another way?
Okay, Any Card At Any Number is the latest rage, I want to to be able to do it so it's their deck, doesn't have to be complete, they can call any card... even a credit card... and they can call any number between 1 and 52, but they can even call fractions like 33 and one-eighth... and I can not have my back turned, but they can be in Minnesota while I'm under the Marianna's Trench locked in a safe... does any one have a simple way to do this? I don't want to use stooges, preshow work or MSG.
OOTW... I've been looking at those threads, but so far all I can figure out is that it means Only One Tooth Works... is this right? And if so, can I do it impromptu?
I want to buy the latest, greatest trick that's out there called The RED DECK THAT TURNS TO BLUE AND THAT'S ALL IT DOES, but I need to know if I can use it for a CT or a billet switch and instead of using a deck can I turn a silk into a Jumbo Chinese coin with it and will someone first show a demo video so I know what Red turning into Blue means... and could everyone that gets one before me please tell me your presentations that you've come up with so I don't have to work on any on my own... oh, and also show a demo video of how you use it... and I know it costs a hundred dollars to buy it, but can anyone just xerox a copy of the manuscript so I can see if I can build it myself... but if I can't, could someone make one for me cheaper that that, but that works better than the original... and if I get it to work right will my Mom finally love me?

And, of course, a section for stupid questions.

Greg

The kihei kid, man or myth?

I can reed thru itt & posts, a review somtime maybee. Will has to see hoz it goez.

Thanks. A dummy doing a CT? Dude, a ventriloquist mentalism act... kewl!

The puppeteer does the innocent prop management and the puppet reads minds. Amazing.

Has this been done?

If you want a really fast and easy search of the magic Café, try using Google. For example, if you wanted to find every occurence of the term "double lift" on the Magic Café, you would enter the search as follows:

site:www.themagiccafe.com +"double lift"

If this is too difficult and time consuming, maybe magic isn't the best pasttime for you.

Actually, Steve Spill did something similar with a mindreading duck puppet. He would hold up a large card and have someone think of a letter then he would put a crayon in the duck's mouth and the duck would scribble something. The spectator would call out his letter, like W, and Steve would turn the card around as he NW the letter on the card. It was pretty funny because as he asked for the letter the duck would start to squirt on Steve... Steve would look out into the audience and say, "Are you thinking of P."

Greg

P.S. I believe there was a later joke when he asked the spectator to think of a number and begged him not to think of number 2.

And Puck has a mindreading cockatoo who performs a famous booktest.

Jack Shalom

Oh, that' right... and lest we forget: Dana Daniel's and his mindreading parrot Luigi...."hey, it's a bird!!!"

Greg

Talk about sarcasm to the max...It couldn't drip any wetter than that.

Reading is fundamental.
Searching is basic.

Writing is an advanced skill.

I guess most topics here on the Café need to be locked except new arrivals and perhaps a "questions never been asked before" section.
Everything else would be read only and we can refer to this site as magicians that helped magicians (or those trying to become magicians).

I always find it interesting to read posts from any that respond to topics already discussed. Sometimes newer members bring a different outlook or perspective on a previously discussed thread.

But that's just my opinion.

Btw, very funny response Greg!

GlenD

Now let's suppose you want to do better:

a) Presume what you want to ask about HAS ALREADY BEEN POSTED or published, as magic has a good 500+ years of published history.

b) Simple well formed questions are easier to read than compound/complex queries.

c) Use proper terms if you know them. A couple we trip over regularly are "Elmsley Count" which is properly "Alex Elmsley's Ghost Count", and "Double Lift" which if you are turning the card over onto the pack(et), would be a "Double Turnover".

d) Keep an eye for shorthand, usually capitalized since the abbreviation is a proper name for a thing.

I glanced over that an misread "duck". I read the U as an I.

I thought, that would be one unique presentation...albeit not very family friendly

Unless the family are Mansons.

But now that you brought it up (pun intended) that would be a funny presentation... and it would give you a reason to reach into your pants and do some PW.

Greg