talkmagic.co.uk

Is it just me, or are less and less regular members starting new posts?

I notice that increasing numbers of new posts spring up each day by newer TM additions, but barely a scratching from our more seasoned visitors.

Is it that with all the rubbish which is being posted lately by certain newcomers is putting the veteran posters off posting?

Or could it just be that more seasoned members only speak when there's something to speak about?

It certainly seems that more an more new members feel the need to be rather verbose, possibly in the quest of being allowed into the fabled 'MO' area. But the sly paradox in that instance is that +++ posts will either make or break the decision.

Hmmmmmm... Wednesdays.

think its a bit of both my friend.

pmed you anyway.

Well, I've never been one for starting new posts anyway . I don't really have that much to say... nothing to write an essay about, not that creative, don't have any new tricks to make a video of



Not all newbies' posts are bad though...

Kati

katrielalex wrote:Not all newbies' posts are bad though...

Nobody said they were!

I'm saying it!

Just kidding.

Anyway - I have a buttload of purchases that I want to review, so hopefully I'll be contributing more to the forums in the next few days.

iv'e got a purchase list a mile long but no cash to realise it
seige did you get my pm.

i guess the nwebies just start threads like "rate my snapchange" and "help with the ACR/snap change" or "where can i learn this cool ace amazing card trick i saw (read: snap change)?"
whereas some of the more regular people can actually use the search function and have read the rules.
/rant

magicdiscoman wrote:iv'e got a purchase list a mile long but no cash to realise it

umm....ditto!

Mines probably a few miles long though! lol

To be honest, I find TM a real drag recently. The past 12 months for some reason have seen a huge increase in the posters that Larry mentions above.

Does my head in.

I've bought some magic recently, put a couple reviews up in the last few months, but they're rarely read, let alone replied to. Because I know the value of books and DVDs over packet tricks and gizmos and the latest effect, it seems there's little interest in what I have to say.

I received Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz through the post today. I'm not going to bother putting a review up, or even add to the existing one, because it might be read, but definitely not digested. No-one will buy it because of my review. It costs £30. It's a book. It doesn't contain any 'tricks'. It's not what the average TM member wants anymore.

I read threads written by the old-style regulars, and avoid those that Larry mentioned.

It pains me to say it, Seige, but you're right. Us veterans don't post as much. I don't bother starting new threads - I'm not fashionable enough.

I don't feel catered for anymore.

Maybe a whole other forum, the same as this one, but with the MO ruling from the start? Like a TalkMagic elite?

Well said Zack! i am the same with reviews. In the past year i have purchased many books and DVDs i don't review them as many people just want the latest 'prop' or 'that thing Blaine did on TV'. Most of card act i perform come from books and i hardly use any gimmicks.

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz GREAT choice!

Well I am hardly a veteran or a huge poster (lol funny image ) or anything like that but yeah I agree with all of the above. There have been a lot of great newcomers these past few months making great posts, but there are also a lot of the ones mentioned above. I did a few reviews recently, but they received little attention. I agree with Zach - I just feel like I can't be bothered to post them if no-ones really going to look at them and read them.

Also I don't have too much to say at the moment so don't really start any new posts, but if there's something that I am interested in or feel that I can add to then I will most definitely add to an existing topic.

I'm still fairly new to TM, but I have found that a large percent of the posts now seem to be Sin Bin material.

I have not started that many threads, but I hope to make one later that newbies can be pointed too, as an example of what NOT to do when you start in magic.

Another point is that when you start with a Forum, you tend to have lots of questions. Therefore you start more threads. After a while, you can run out of new topics you can start. It doesn't stop some of the new ones though!

I'd better get typing

I don't start alot fo topics coz I don't often have much to say and when I do it has often been covered before. I keep thinking of stuff I'd like to say or whatever but then searching for it find that it's all been covered.

As far as reviews and things go, well I have such a long 'to buy' list of "10/10 Must Buy!" books and dvds, that reading anymore reviews would pointless. It would just go 'on the list' to get after I've read 'those other 5 books'. There is also alot of stuff going around like "you can't read that until you've read this", you can't do those tricks till you've mastered that. So what's the point in reading those reviews? And then if someone says they like the sound of it and they might get it, another memeber says "no way you should not get that".

I have yet to write a 'proper' review as most of the stuff I have bought has already been reviewed.

TBH I wa sput off reviewing because I would spend a good amount of time on a review well presented etc and get less response by far than the bad reviews because everyone would make jokes, critisise or correct - which i have no problem with but it isn't an equal weighting.

Also, I wish the more knowledgeable people would post more as I think that is the way to solve the issues mentioned withdrawing is like handing the forum over to the idiots.

perhaps there could be a few basic questions anyone would know after reading a few basic books - like they have on magician's websites for the MO area so only people withh some knowledge could even join.

I wonder whether it would be possible to make an 'intermediate' forum level - say, move Reviews, Reviews Request, Support & Tips, Misc, Events, Magician Talk, and File Sharing into a semi-MO area. That way total newbies can't spam the boards but once someone has made, say, 10 posts and answered a basic question or two to prove that they really do want to learn magic, they can be granted access to the semi-MO area and the main part of TM.

It shouldn't be too hard to implement actually, it's the same idea as the MO area. Just make a new usergroup called, say, Approved, and allow new posters into that group after X posts.

Kati