by Farlsborough » Jan 17th, '09, 15:45
Bucketheady -
I think everyone's being pretty supportive and giving you some good advice, but as Dat says, there's only so much we can take.
I don't mind spelling it out a bit because it's unfair on you not to be clear.
This forum is an online community of magicians and people who do magic. Some people post a lot, some people hardly post at all, and some people mostly post in the non-magic area (The Dove's Head). That's totally fine, and we welcome different personalities and contributors.
However, we do expect just a few basic "unwritten rules" (they might even be written, in the stickies somewhere), and one of the big ones is this: ignoring everything else on the forum and just asking your question because it's easier will annoy people very much.
Imagine I gave you a book about ancient egyptian history for your birthday. If you then asked me a different question every day, "when were the pyramids built?" "Where is the river Nile?" etc, can you see why I would be annoyed? You'd be totally ignoring all the information already provided and just asking one sentence questions because it's "easier".
Many, many magical products have been reviewed on this forum, and most people here would agree that the "best" gimmick/trick/prop/effect will not be the same for everyone.
We therefore kind of expect two things from you before you ask questions: that A) you read reviews and learn about a trick BEFORE asking, so the answers will make sense to you. The MINIMUM we ask is that you use the forum search function to look at what's already been said here. (I just searched for "gecko" and there are several threads about it already - have you read them all?) And...
B) Give us some information about your skill level, where you perform, what magic you already do, how it's going to fit into your routine. This way the advice will be useful rather than pointless.
We're here to discuss things, and yes - to help. But we're not here just to tell you how to spend your pocket money I'm afraid. Believe it or not, people put thought and effort into their posts on this board, and that's what makes it such a cool place. Your questions seem to expect us to put time and effort in every day to answer a one line question when you haven't put any effort in yourself first, and that's very annoying. (If I just pitched up at your house as a stranger and asked you to drive 200 miles to bring me something because I couldn't bring it myself, can you imagine how you'd feel?)
Finally, because of how different magic is good for different people, the "which is best, this or this..." questions are one of our least favourite questions, and again, if all you do is ask these questions, you'll make people angry! All of us feel like asking those questions sometimes, but we try to do so only very occasionally. And as above - if you do NEED to ask that question, tell us about what magic you want to do with it, where and who you'll be performing to, your skill level and what you already know about the pros and cons of each item.