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reese Inner circle of Hell 1332 Posts |
The magic Café is a site designed to sell product. So...why complain about it here. It's a blatant commercial endeavor. It's designed to sell you product. Resistance is futile. Buy the latest newist thing. You can't resist. Do it now. And then... hype it.
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Mark_Chandaue Inner circle Essex UK 4187 Posts |
To be fair to Steve Brooks I think selling products is a necessary evil rather than the purpose of this site. In a previous life I ran one of the largest combat flight simulation sites in the world Frugal’s World of Simulations and I can say from experience that when your traffic gets high and your forums get busy the running costs go up astronomically. Bandwidth is cheap until you start using a ton of it and need a dedicated server, then it gets very expensive. It is simply not economically viable to run a site as busy as this without either charging subscription fees or advertising. My forums only had around 16000 members.
When it comes to reviews, I tend to know which creators I trust and which reviewers I agree with. I also know which reviewers don’t match my tastes. When I provide my own material for review I provide it with no strings attached and ask the reviewer to give their honest opinion. Reviews are worthless if they are not honest. Personally I am more likely to write a review of something if I like it. If I have nothing good to say I usually don’t bother to write anything unless the thing is so bad that I think people need to be warned. I’m sure there are reviewers out there with similar policies. I have been asked to endorse things in the past and have declined whilst privately giving my opinion to the creator. I won’t endorse something unless I genuinely like it. Mark |
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Poof-Daddy Inner circle Considering Stopping At Exactly 5313 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 12, 2020, reese wrote: I respect your opinion and even agree with some points to an extent, but I have to disagree on other points. I have only been a member for a little over a year before you joined but I remember 17 years ago when I joined, it was more of a message board but very advanced for the time. This was a great place to find other magicians in your area as well as meet some from many different continents. It was free to join and use all the forums then and still is. I really believe for Steve Brooks, the Magic Café is a labor of love. Sure there are more L&G products being shoved at us in the proper forums, but that is, in my opinion, people who want to sell new items as well as some put "out there" to sell to the hobbyist so they can pay to advertise here (the part that pays for all this as well as donations from members who can afford to). I think because in the beginning of the Magic Café's life, there was not a lot of promo videos. I still remember getting catalogs mailed by companies big and small (Chris Smith's "Magicsmith" was a favorite of mine). Often you read a blurb, sent a check and later got your "item" if you loved it or hated it, it was yours, no refunds - you bought the secret. The Magic Café made it possible to communicate with others and often make better buying decisions. It's kind of the same today, it just comes with more trolls and drama. In the end, it still works out. I remember when Penguin first started doing video demo's of the effects they sold and thought it was the next best thing than being at the local magic shop. Unfortunately, it eventually led to video demo's being par for the course if you wanted anyone to buy a product. Then they tried to go Hollywood but many took the route of deception by how and what they showed. This brings us to now but it is certainly not Steve Brooks trying to sell merch. I liked it more back in the beginning but it is still the best of all the forums out there Thanks to Steve Brooks, his web gurus and the Mods who do their best with the extreme volume of replies and new threads every day. As for the topic of this thread - "Is is just me or are people afraid of giving true comments now" I think it is just him. If anything, you can find just as many true negative comments as there are true positive ones. As far as reviews, I never go by pre-planted quotes by other creators. Then there are several "Review Channels" on YouTube. Most of them "I" consider useless. Some were great, like Jeff Stone's videos and "My Lovely Assistant" but I think his health got too bad to do it anymore. I pretty much gave up on most review channels. Instead, over the many years on this forum, I have quite a few members who I know I can count on their view and several who I take with a grain of salt. Lastly, a list of members that I just outright ignore their entire posts. I find it easy to skip what I don't want to read rather than take the bait and argue. I live by the rule, Don't feed the Trolls.
Cancer Sux - It is time to find a Cure
Don't spend so much time trying not to die that you forget how to live - H's wife to H on CSI Miami (paraphrased). |
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Gaz Lawrence Inner circle 5991 Posts |
I find it easy to skip what I don't want to read rather than take the bait and argue. I live by the rule, Don't feed the Trolls.
Great post I am a sucker for that , hence one social network platform ( ie here ) is enough for me . I would find life quite boring though if we couldn’t have an opinion on anything or pull people up when they are obviously wrong imo . ( see there , we have to almost apologise with imo after everything we say these days 😂😂 ) Gaz 🙂 |
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takeachance Inner circle 3764 Posts |
I pulled up some well know names here some time ago for their over priced rubbish, and although I didn't receive open threats, I did receive condemation from members here, their fan boys sent flying monkeys to condemn me. The slight satisfaction that after time they were exposed and the fan boys silenced was a very minor and shallow victory.
I come here to enjoy a comradery of like minded people who enjoy the same arts and discuss the pro's and con's, but to wake up in the morning to those members who enjoy confrontations rather than discussions and others who just enjoy trolling or just wanting to demonstrate their superior intellectual being, is not how I want to start my day. So now, I basically stay quite and don't pass on rubbish in the "for sale section" instead I take the hit and it goes into the back draw, sometimes the bin. I do continue to answer many PM's but little in open forums anymore. There are some really wonderful members here that one can benefit greatly from their knowledge and then there are those who are legends in their own minds here as well. I tip my hat to those who can take the heat and appreciate their opinion's. Like a lot of social media sites, the Café can wear you down just like any site of it's kind. |
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strollingmagician Loyal user 285 Posts |
The Magic Café motto is “magicians helping magicians”. Feels more like “magicians selling magicians” now.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
The Wizards of Madison Avenue are not called Wizards for nothing; advertising is a form of magic called Sorcery; controlling the inner, with the outer world - a matter of matter over the mind as opposed to mind over matter. When a great magician becomes a great sorcerer he will become big on the boards.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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weirdwizardx Veteran user 389 Posts |
I don't think that people is afraid but I do think that people does not give their honest opinion or the today standards for most of the people is way low.
I dunno how many times ive seen magic reviews theyare almost always positive and the final conclusion is like is a good trick you should buy it... Since when you have to buy it if is a good trick? Is like this is the new hyper trick you must buy it and the next day you found out that there is version 2.0 and other super wonderful stuff that you must buy... Magic is not treated like an art anymore... NowadaysMagic is treated like fast food. You eat fast, continue qwith other things, Is the other day, you eat fast... |
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Andy W New user Chicago 38 Posts |
Can’t believe this post stop. Great discussion here
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