The Forums

[Chris Clemmons]

Greetings,

I have recently noticed that the viewing rate of the forums have gone down, and we are not seeing as many new people as we used to.
To current members:
Invite as many people that you know to blacksmagicgroup.com forums and make sure they introduce themselves including who invited them so I know how many you have invited.
The person with the most will get a special treat from me after a good hard week of invitations.
I want to see these forums bouncing, let them know that there are some really great features coming to the site and they don't want to miss out.
Let's put this place up in the ranks!

Thanks,
Chris Clemmons

[Kipp Sherry]

When you invite someone to join the forum, please stress the importance of them using their "real name" as their user id.

We still have a lot of people who sign up with an alias. I then have to lock their account, send a notice asking them for their real name, changing the account, and notifying them of the change. Several accounts have been deleted since they did not provide their real name.

It will save a lot of time and headaches for everyone if the just create their account correctly the first time.

The correct format for a user id is: "FirstName LastName".

So please stress this when you send out an invitation to join the forum.

Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry

[Timothy Drake]

Originally Posted by Kipp Sherry

We still have a lot of people who sign up with an alias. I then have to lock their account, send a notice asking them for their real name, changing the account, and notifying them of the change. Several accounts have been deleted since they did not provide their real name.

Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry

Hello Kipp,

No loss on our part. LOL If people feel they have to hide their identity from others who want to know them and share magic talk/info with them then they must not have much legit material to contribute.

Other forums are now a total mess of hostility, egos, rants and flames due to the ability to spout off opinion whilst hiding in a dark closet. Anonymous posters have taken many of them over. The usage of real names may prevent some from signing up here but I much prefer to know those I am speaking with. It makes for better conversation, sharing of opinion and yes... even heated debate. LOL

Best,

Tim

[Taylor Warren]

Next time I make a video, I will remember to include blacksmagicgroup.com. I will also do my best to try to bring more people.

[Taylor Warren]

Originally Posted by Timothy Drake

Hello Kipp,

No loss on our part. LOL If people feel they have to hide their identity from others who want to know them and share magic talk/info with them then they must not have much legit material to contribute.

Other forums are now a total mess of hostility, egos, rants and flames due to the ability to spout off opinion whilst hiding in a dark closet. Anonymous posters have taken many of them over. The usage of real names may prevent some from signing up here but I much prefer to know those I am speaking with. It makes for better conversation, sharing of opinion and yes... even heated debate. LOL

Best,

Tim

Also, I have to disagree with your first statement Tim. I have a lot to offer but I would rather hide my name because I am always targeted considering I am a hacker. People also have other personal reasons why they would want to hide it.

[Timothy Drake]

Originally Posted by Taylor Warren

Also, I have to disagree with your first statement Tim. I have a lot to offer but I would rather hide my name because I am always targeted considering I am a hacker. People also have other personal reasons why they would want to hide it.

Hello Taylor,

Are you saying that Taylor Warren is not your real name? I still can't see any reason why people would want to hide who they are.


I spend a lot of time trying to help other up and coming magicians. If someone called me and said..." I want help from you but I won't tell you who I am" I'd have no interest in assisting them. Why wouldn't they want to tell me? Are they competition? Maybe they use a bunch of knockoff illusions and thus know I wouldn't help them for that reason? Maybe they have another reason for not wanting me to know their name? The point is .... there is no good reason for them hide who they are. There may be reasons but not good reasons. Well....maybe good for them but not for others. LOL

On the other hand.... I ask advice from others as well. If I am asking advice I'd like to ask it from someone who has really experienced it and not someone who merely wants me to think they have. There are so many kids in forums these days acting like they are seasoned pros yet they are still in junior high. LOL

If a new product comes on the magic market and I ask for a review I like to know that the review is not being posted by a person selling that product or a friend of the inventor. A review as well as magic discussion is taken more seriously by the reader AND the poster if the posters name is attached to it.

I don't let mystery mechanics work on my car or take legal advice from someone who says he's a lawyer.... I want to know that person really knows what they are talking about. If I can look at a posters website or learn a bit about them and what they do and have done then I can make a good judgement as to whether or not I want to discuss with them.

It doesn't matter if its a terrible website or even a photo of a 10 year old kid doing his first card trick. The fact that they are willing to put their name forward is enough for me to want to talk magic to them.

Best,

Tim

[Taylor Warren]

No, Taylor Warren is my real name.

[Kipp Sherry]

Originally Posted by Taylor Warren

Also, I have to disagree with your first statement Tim. I have a lot to offer but I would rather hide my name because I am always targeted considering I am a hacker. People also have other personal reasons why they would want to hide it.

Taylor,

I won't hold it against you that you are a hacker. Maybe it's because I was one in the early 80's. Back then the big issue was pirating software, so people would build copy protection code to keep people from making illegal copies. For me it was not so much the idea of getting the software for free, it was more about the challenge to break the code, and even further, to be the first to break the code. I never passed around unauthorized copies of the software for my own financial gain, and I never did anything malicious. It really was about breaking a code that someone said could not be broken. It was very similar to looking at a magic effect and trying to figure out how it was done on my own.

So I guess when you say you're a hacker, I say you have nothing to hide. Unless you are using it for malicious purposes such as loading trogans or stealing information for your own financial gain. I assume this is the case since you have told us your real name and admitted to what you do. Who knows, maybe some day you will find that you have already proven to yourself that you are good enough and the thrill will be lost. At that point you can take your knowledge gained and put it to use in a legal way.

Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry

[Kipp Sherry]

Originally Posted by Timothy Drake

Hello Kipp,

No loss on our part. LOL If people feel they have to hide their identity from others who want to know them and share magic talk/info with them then they must not have much legit material to contribute.

Other forums are now a total mess of hostility, egos, rants and flames due to the ability to spout off opinion whilst hiding in a dark closet. Anonymous posters have taken many of them over. The usage of real names may prevent some from signing up here but I much prefer to know those I am speaking with. It makes for better conversation, sharing of opinion and yes... even heated debate. LOL

Best,

Tim

Tim,

I agree totally. That is why we ask people to use their real name. I was just pointing out that it is a very time consuming process to go through. Most people just miss that announcement that we want them to use their real name. But either way, it still takes a lot of my time to clean things up.

Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry

[Kipp Sherry]

Originally Posted by Chris Clemmons

Greetings,

The person with the most will get a special treat from me after a good hard week of invitations.

Thanks,
Chris Clemmons

Chris,

Who won the special treat, and what was it?

Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry