On Magic Forums...

In the inaugural post of this blog, I brought up that the Magic Cafe and why it's a bad place to learn to be a magician. I will now take the opportunity to expound on why there are so few good places on the internet to learn magic and mentalism.

Simply put, anonymity is the greatest gift to wannabes ever. They can make all sorts of outrageous, exaggerated and patently false claims and the majority of people will never try to call them on it. It's especially bad in larger magic online communities because everyone suddenly becomes afraid for their reputation. You don't want to rock the boat. In a more tightly-knit group, there's always going to be some social pressure, but as time goes on a competent group will come to understand each other better and criticism will become harsher and more focused. The intimacy actually allows greater honesty. But amidst a sea of other anonymous entities, all vying for attention, it becomes harder and harder to rock the boat. Very few maintain the sense of audacity needed to speak up when they feel it's right.

The Magic Cafe's slogan is "Magicians helping magicians." What a load of horse crap. The general mood from one sub-forum to the next changes subtly as you go, but they all have an overwhelming sense of everyone smiling through their teeth and trying to play nice because they're afraid of offending someone and jeopardizing their reputation. Unless of course you drop a grenade into the mix. Bring up Criss Angel, Ellusionist, the Masked Magician, or any other polarizing figure and the place turns into a veritable feeding frenzy before either Brooks or one of his lap dog moderators step in to take care of things long after it's too late to salvage anyone's dignity.

Similarly you get places like Theory 11, where brand loyalty is valued over actual competence. In such places, the number of consistently helpful and competent regulars seldom exceeds single digits, despite having a population of thousands. But once again, moderation is ineffectual at best and most people are kept in line by throwing out minor concessions and fostering a Culture of Nice atmosphere. The result is a bunch of people talking a lot about absolutely nothing.

Part of the problem with this Culture of Nice nonsense that such forums insist on peddling is that it's virtually impossible to dispense real, honest criticism without being branded as the bad guy. This is one of the drawbacks of the 21st century: we're all too sensitive and sheltered. Contrary to what the whining legions of the internet may tell you, criticism is not a dirty word. It is when someone looks you right in the eye and says, "No. What you just did was wrong and here's why."

Think back for a second. When was the last time you ever got feedback like that from an online discussion board? How often have you received it? When was the last time you saw someone else get it? How did they react to getting it?

To answer that last question, they probably reacted pretty badly. They got all whiny and upset, told the critic to be more constructive. And by "constructive" of course they mean "not critical at all." I've given a few people criticism who responded by telling me what I should have said. At best this meant them changing my critique into something so appallingly wussy that I would have had to kick my own ass if I said it out loud. At worst, it became clear they thought I had misinterpreted my own opinion. Yeah.

But this is what these places do to you. They turn you into a thin-skinned child unable to handle the slightest hint of reality. With everyone being so nice to each other all the time, the incentive to actually improve atrophies and eventually dies out. They just keep piling more softball "critiques" and saccharine compliments on one another because of the unspoken expectation that you will receive a butt load of empty praise yourself when the time comes. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of mediocrity and hugs.

By failing to conform to this attitude and openly criticizing people and ideas, you are sending the other members of the board a message that they need your experience/wisdom/outside perspective more than you need their approval. And that is a trespass that they cannot forgive.

"But wait," I hear you say. "Don't places like the Magic Cafe and Theory 11 have a bunch of working pros available for contact?" Yes and no. They can be seen there, but getting ahold of them is a pain and often not worth it. The reason these guys are pros is because they're working full time. The best of them do try to make the time for their fans, but there's only so much that they can do. It's much better to try and flag them down for a quick conversation at a convention or lecture if you can. That's not a guarantee, but at least you can speak to them face-to-face.

But amidst a busy schedule, how many of them do you think really have time to answer all the messages from the hoi-polloi? Most of them will give you an overly simplistic answer, not because they don't like you, but because they can't spare the time to do anything else. Especially at places like the Cafe where they get bombarded by wannabes. Theory 11 may brag about the involvement of their artists with their community, but most of them only log on once in a blue moon. I don't begrudge them that. They have work to think about. But it does present a dilemma in that you aren't really getting the access to them that you thought you had.

That's only the most common scenario though. I've come across a few Old Guard pros at the Cafe in my brief time there who were cranky old codgers largely out of touch with the community and the way the market had changed. Getting a straight answer out of them was like pulling teeth. It became clear they were only going online to push products.

That's not to say that all magic boards are bad. But there is a severe caveat emptor at work here. You have to be aware that the nature of communicating through a text-based enivornment is riddled with problems. The lack of non-verbal communication makes it easy for thoughts to get lost in translation, you don't get enough criticism, virtual friends are typically not as good as real friends... the list goes on!

Do take advantage of this resource where you can find the good stuff, but realize that once you go online you're exploring new territory off the map. Here there be monsters.