talkmagic.co.uk

Hello to all fellow magicians!
I would like to announce that I am starting my blog. it's still in the early stages and there isnt much to see yet but please be sure to check me out.
I soon hope to put together the most up-to-date news pics and clips in the magic world.

Edited by Mods. Mark, part of your site referring to sharing magic secrets clearly states:

This is for magicians only and the information may or may not be copyrighted. Any and all secrets are to be kept to yourself. I dont wish to have other magicians p*ssed off at me for giving away information. I do believe that if you are really interested in learning a trick there is no difference in paying 100$ for a trick or making donations to me. I am a student as well as a teacher in magic and those truly interested in learning will find a way to learn. To me this is not stealing, it is networking. Networking with other magicians to trade information is common practice.

You might call it networking or any other euphemism you like but it's stealing if you pass on the intellectual property of others. On this basis we can't permit you to promote your site here.

I understand where the mods are comming from. but I am not so niave as to believe that magicians never traded information or secrets. I belong to the IBM and have chatted and traded tips secrets and information that has been passed down from magi to magi.
In the group we understand that we are all in the same club and love to help eachother out. Some of our goals are to not only perform but to bring magic to others in ways of teaching about not only tricks but the understanding and psychology that goes with it.
We have helpped others with fears, and empowered others to have the confidence try new unfamilliar things.
I am not about just giving away information to someone who wants to know, but to those that have a true interest in magic and will only use the knowledge for the right purposes.
Whos to say for sure what the right purposes are? well, unless you are clueless you can tell whos real and whos not. True magicians can answer simple ?'s about history and basics. More importantly a true fan of magic can answer the big question, "What is the secret of performing magic?"
If you can answer this simple question you must have given some thought into why you chose this craft. Magic is unlike anything else. It reqires more than just learning secrets, but the why and how the trick works for the spectator.
I'm not upset and again understand what was done. This is not a defensive reply at all, I just wanted you and others to know why I and other magi really perform and search for secrets. Not to steal but to gain knowledge and perspective
Thank You,
Mark Zellinger

I am not so niave as to believe that magicians never traded information or secrets.

That may be so Mark, but there are at least two good reasons why a magic forum like this can't condone the openly sharing of secrets.

1. TalkMagic is the number one magic forum as found by google, and as such we get a lot of non magicians searching for secrets. Our job here is not to make their life easier.

2. Whereas you may deem sharing secrets ok in a one to one situation, everything that get's said in a forum like this is open to 1000's of people. The secrets you are so willing to share are perhaps the bread and butter of the working magician. In short sharing secrets that are not yours to share is paramount to theft and is not something that Talk Magic wishes to be any part of.

I agree with Bananafish's comments: sharing secrets is your own choice. But it isn't the choice of this forum.

As such, any such publicised information is your responsibility. Unfortunately, the creators of the magic you share would be under the impression that a link from here would be a statement equal to us condoning such blogs.

Our policy is clearly stated in our terms and conditions which you agree to when you become a member.

For the record—whether you're an IBM member or not—the general consensus is that protection of magic secret's is a great concern these days. As Bananafish states, TalkMagic is the number one Google search for magic forums.

As such, we don't want publicity for being an 'exposure forum'. To some extent, it is true that we all privately share the odd commercial effect. But it is normally one-to-one, and usually in the aid of personal enlightenment—NOT public awareness.

It is not ours, or indeed your own place to share the secrets which others have kept to themselves, and released under trust to the magic fraternity.

The internet is currently a fantastic place to be—with forums, blogs, online shops, news, and much more. Unfortunately, there's also an uglier side to the whole thing, which is extortion, spam, pornography, file sharing, exposure, and a whole host of nasties which we'd rather not contribute to.

You mention that simple 'questions and answers' are not a reasonable way to weed out the leechers?

Well... at least it's a start. Anything which is shared from your site which could be counted as booty will be propagated around the net at an exponential rate. Only yesterday we had to remove a post for SELLING illicitly gained magic secrets—secrets which COULD have been taken from your own website, fettled up, and then sold on.

Perhaps people think we're over-reacting? Perhaps it comes across that we're 'whiter than white' and have never accepted information which could be considered copyright?

Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and it's our opinion that TalkMagic should REMAIN as clean as possible, and NOT another exposure forum.

Please, take no offence at this reply—it's merely a further explanation of the actions taken. We follow the wishes of the site owner—himself involved in the magic industry—who wishes the forum to remain a non-exposure, clean discussion arena. As guests to him, we respect his wishes.

And as guests—it is a matter of etiquette that we all respect the wishes of our hosts.

I wont take up alot of your time

thank you for taking the time to explain. I can see that you are right in all respects regarding this forum and I apologize if I offended anyone. I hope that we can put all this behind us and still be collegues.

just asking: If I remove the post on my site and not mention it again can I then post my blog?

Mark Zellinger