Just heard from Harry. He has been banned from the Café. Personally it makes me sick to see a living legend like Harry banned, especially when there are so many trolls that add no value on this forum every day.

Permanently?

Ya breaks da rules, ya suffer da consequences.

That's what I like about Steve Brooks, he enforces the rules. His show, his rules. Period.

It is absolutely facinating who they choose to ban and not.

Not my house not my rules but it seems as is often there are no real rules.

Many time Mr. Brooks probably doesn't know who is involved I bet. How could he? I would never expect him to keep up with every thread and every time someone hoses down the deck with testosterone. He must have better things to do.

It is a system that deals with a lot of people. Probably not going to be perfect.

I have nothing but respect for Steve and All the moderators. They have a very hard job to do
and they do it the best they can. We really can’t ask for more.

Tom

I stand behind the Café and the Moderators rulings but I am certainly hoping that it is only a temporary ban on Harry Lorayne.

It is not the first time that a well respected member has been banned for a while. Some have come back and are still well respected members.

Let us hope this will be the case for Harry.

-Mary Mowder

EDITED:


You might read the very last paragraph.

I used to engage in some of the things not permitted and I got banned once. That was enough. He was gracious enough to permit me to come back. It's Steve's House, his rules. I'm sure Mr. Lorrayne will be back unless he did something really really bad.

I'm well aware of the last line. But the fact remains that the "rules" are not enforced with anything remotely resembling fairness or consistency. I choose to come here for my own reasons. I'm not complaining; I'm stating what should be pretty obvious and uncontroversial to anyone whose spent much time here.

The behavior of members who buy advertising here isn't judged as strictly as everyone else's. If you had a store and a customer who bought a lot of merchandise from you was insulting and ranting nonsensically at the people in your store who weren't buying anything, you'd let the nut case stay as long as he was contributing to your bottom line. This is a very wise business decision by Mr. Brooks. Completely understandable.

I hope it is temporary too. Although I don't always agree with Harry, he is spunky as heck and I admire his never back down attitude. I can only hope to be half the person he is at his age (or any age for that matter). It really is weird though. How does the banning work? I have seen exposure, constant name calling and generally snide disparaging comments for quite a time from one small group in the Latest and greatest forum (that lasted around 3000 posts hint, hint) with no action taken. That is only one example, there are plenty more. I have certainly dodged the "bullet" a couple times when I spoke my peace even though I thought it would get me banned and it did not.

At one time, I even asked to have my entire profile removed as I did not want to be a part of some in fighting anymore and was denied. When I changed my "location" on my avatar to read "Account deleted at users request" (or something of that nature. I got a pm from a mod asking me to change it and If I no longer want to participate, just don't log on.

I did get over it some weeks later and slowly started participating again. I am not perfect. None of us are, but I do strive to be a better person "most of the time". There are all kinds of people in the world and you cannot please them all. I strive to be helpful in a "MAGICIANS HELPING MAGICIANS WAY" but at times my darker bluntly honest and don't care side shines through. Oh well, I say this - "let he without sin throw the first stone".

I was doing magic professionally for a good while before I even discovered the Café back in January 2003 and really enjoyed this place back then. (I still do, it is just different than it was) I, like many others, stepped away for a few years the re-connected. It is a great place and I would miss it (were I banned or it went away). I share a birthday with Steve and in the early years he used to shoot me a "happy birthday" pm and I really thought that was nice of him. The last few years I have sent him one with no reply (and I truly do not expect it, I am sure he is busy). I don't know how involved he is with "running the ship" anymore, I am sure it is overwhelming considering the growth over my 13 years here. (I hope 13 doesn't become my unlucky number and be the year I am banned.

One thing that I think would be nice and very helpful at the same time, would be to shoot people on the brink of being banned a notice. Kind of a "shape up or ship out warning" This would be for "casual offenders of the rules" who are ramping up their bad behavior, not for the ones who do something so outrageous that they deserve an immediate ban.

I really hate to see this happened to Harry, I wish him well and hope it to be very temporary. But I am glad it raised a topic that could use some discussion and clarification. Sorry for the rant, it just opened up some thoughts that have been on my mind for a long while. I do believe Harry will be back though - Look how many times my good friend DEVIOUS has been banned and returned

I hope Harry returns sooner than later. He is indeed a "living legend"; and I look forward to hearing from him again. Lynn

We all may not be in the same league on here but we all are on the same forum. If anybody is to be ‘owed’ anything it is the Café and
certainly their rules should be respected by all. I hate to see anybody banned, and I hope it is temporary too. I’m sure it is.
But it makes me respect the Café even more knowing that a ‘name’ can be treated the same way as anyone else. If anything we should
be saying, ‘well done staff.’

Still I too wish him the best and hope he returns.

Tom

I have a few of H.L.'s books and am a fan. It's great to have access to the authors of so many great magic books here on the café. By the same token, this resource is run by people and I appreciate those people

My advice is when you do something wrong and get caught then take your punishment like a man and don’t cry about it like a little girl.

I used to be a big fan of Harry until I joined the Café and saw how he treats others, especially those who even mildly disagree with him. I contrast that to how other heroes of mine, such as Bob Cassidy, behave, and he suffers in the comparison. It is always uncomfortable to see someone banned, but sometimes it is less of a surprise than other times.

Tony, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Start being honest. You didn't mildly disagree with him, you deliberately ignored his position and twisted his words to fit your agenda.
I thought we put this to rest elsewhere.
Now you have the intrepid boldness to slam him here.
Not very classy.

Harry never treated me with anything but respect. That is my only experience.

Mine too. Definitely one of the classiest, kindest, most generous magicians I've come to know over the past 30 years.
I certainly do not condone his conduct once he has "blown his stack", but the way he gets there is often through people with less than good intentions.

Temporary again.