Hi,
Beside the fact that the Magic Café is much more active, can someone please tell me the fundamental differences between the Magic Café and the Genii forums.
Thank You.
Ed

Forums are simply collective gathering of users that interact under specific forum topics.

The differences are:

The topical sections - what information is discussed
The people involved - who is there to contribute
The degree of censorship of the forum - the freedom to express and not be censored due to favoritism

These differences apply to all forums - the Café, genii.com, magictalk.com etc...

It is usually helpful to be involved with all the forums, and find one or two you feel at home with. That can only be done on your own since we all connect to others in different ways.

The one big difference is who runs the place. Here Steve is in charge and has final say on what happens. On the Genii forums, I think the people who create the Genii magazine are in charge (I'm guessing because I don't go there a lot).

Just visit forums that sound interesting to you and eventually you'll find one or more that feel comfortable to stick around.

As far as the people on the forums, I think the average age is a bit a higher on Genii forums. This is supported by data from Alexa.com as well.

Richard Kaufman runs the Genii forum, and he is the publisher of Genii magazine. Another difference is that this forum is green and that forum is not. Also, some different people post over there that don't post here, and vice versa.

Do the posters seem to be more professional in either forum?
collectors? beginners? sellers? nicer? meaner? more helpful?

I can only speak for the Café. There are a great deal of professionals around here. If I need to contact a magician, this is the first place I look. I find people generally helpful around here, but since I don't visit the Genii forums, I have nothing to compare it to.

I have only been here for a short time I have researched before but only became a member recently. I have done almost the same at Genii. I find both to be very helpful all the people that I have communicated with have had very insightful replies nice folks at both places. Both are very similar just minute rules seem to be the difference which as mentioned above is governed by who runs it.

I find this forum more attractive because of the way it organizes it's topics of discussion. They are very well categorized and subdivided into various sections. It's very easy to roam about without getting lost. Another experience I have is that there are more opportunities to buy great stuff from many great magicians. I very much prefer this place. Just my opinion.

Francis

I agree with you, francisngkl, I feel that this forum is really about the art of magic. With the Genii forum I think there are too many politics and not enough magic,

Just want to echo the same sentiment that Magic Café is much more user friendly in format and with members. Magic Café also welcomes magicians of ALL skill levels, from delusional hacks to current legends. A hobbyist may be intimidated to enter the Genii forum just because it has that air of the grown up table. And since this word has not been mentioned, Magic Café I think gives a better feeling of Community. Of course it has it's share of snarky ignorant self important characters - but what forum doesn't.

I do know that Steve and the moderators here do all they can to allow open and even "intense" conversations, while also trying to keep the trolls off the board.

I have seen posts on the other boards by some who were banned from the Café, and there they were surrounded and welcomed by others of like mind. The "mind" being "Steve's a jerk! Let's all resign into the Café and tear the place up!" Kind of internet vandalism.

For myself, I choose not to frequent a community that allows that kind of mind to breed and ferment.

Ed

I've known Steve Brooks personally for a great many years and I can tell you that hardly a nicer or better person exists in magic. He's a great guy and to get kicked off this forum you have to really screw up in some form or manner.

One of the nice things about the Café is that though discussions can get heated at times they are not let devolve into name calling, etc. It's a nice place with mostly really nice folks who want to talk about magic and help each other move forward.

I have nothing against Genii Forum by the way except that I find it by comparison quite a bit harder to get around on and to keep track of where I am and have been. I never had much of a learning curve with the Café.

Best,

I feel that here, the sense of community is stonger then at Genii. We all help each other and are not afriad to ask for help.

-Teed

Just avoid politics here. And avoid the fact that not everyone *does* avoid politics, and the response can be a bit arbitrary on what does or doesn't get taken down.

To be fair to the mods, its reasonable to want to avoid particularly troll-heavy unrelated topics. and the line between what is and isn't a political statement is a pretty fuzzy one. (The same goes for religion.)

P.S. I havent been to the Genii forums, but I can't imagina nicer, more welcoming group over-all then the folks here. We have a healthy mix of everything from serious pros to serious amateurs to absolute beginners , and the only requirement to be treated with respect is to show respect for others in return.

I am a member of the Genii forum and I rarely ever go there. The ego's that rule that place are to much for me to handle. They all believe that their $#*@ doesn't stink and that they're the masters of the universe.

You're not taken seriously over there unless you're a "name" in magic and I just find that line of thought very sad.

I know that I'm infamous over here at blasting people but truth be told, I always do it with the best interest of our craft in mind. That's not the case over there...

I don't think that any forum is without faults, but I think the MC is by far the best place for the open discussion of magic on the web.

FWIW,

Christopher

Well said!

I've been on a few other forums, some magic and others not and I can say without question the Café is by far the best ran and best organized forum I've seen. For that I'm extremely grateful to Steve Brooks.

I am a member of the Genii forum also and one aspect I have come to understand is that the folks at Genii encourage people to talk in detail about methodology openly... no holds barred. The use of acronyms is often met with ambiguity so the use of asterisks and other symbols to hide letters within name of sleights/principles, etc. is not necessary.

It's true that the folks at Genii are older (perhaps set in their ways) but there are many younger members also. There is a wealth of knowledge there to be gleaned and I encourage others to check them out.

Cardamagically,
Dom

You should be here because I'm here, and not there. Also, they have egos