A good idea may be this, as forked in twine:
A) Don't make a big, formal, pompous deal about it. No Weekly Debate with special debater awards and formalized structure. Just make a post. What was this last one, "Are magicians seen as nerds?" or something like that? Just make that a post. It would consist of the following:
"Hey guys, are magicians seen as nerds?"
And then you post your viewpoint. The point is, you don't have to tell people the thread is a debate. It becomes a debate when people start debating it. Just get straight to it. I know I for one have never read anything in that initial post EXCEPT for the topic, and then I skip ahead to the next post. So trim the fat.
B) Make better topics. The magic community is thirsty for intellectual debate and discussion, yet its pool is becoming contaminated with the same crappy topics over and over. Search deep inside yourself, and think of something related to magic that is interesting to read, thought-provoking, and rarely heard. A contrary viewpoint to popular opinion, a way of seeing things new to you... something we're not used to. The reason being, we've all been reading the same topics over and over and over and over again for years, and a new idea (much like a brand new effect) will be a welcome relief.
For reference, stay far away from the following concepts:
"Is magic art?"
"Why I think exposure is bad! Here is a link to free tricks on this one exposure site I REALLY hate!"
"Ellusionist is a terrible store and its shoppers worship the devil"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you hate Criss Angel?"
"Youtube sucks, and here's why"
But, hey - even an old topic like, "Is magic art?" can be interesting to talk about if you put some sort of spin on it: how about, instead, you talk about how your particular magic is art? How you present it as such? Do you blend other forms of art with it? How do you drive the artistic point home in your audience?
I'm not anybody important, but I do appreciate the effort you've had for this, despite the slight, probably unintentional arrogance about the whole thing. Try a new topic as above, and it'll probably be welcomed.
Or maybe you'll crash and burn again, I don't know. I'm not too good with mentalism.
A) Don't make a big, formal, pompous deal about it. No Weekly Debate with special debater awards and formalized structure. Just make a post. What was this last one, "Are magicians seen as nerds?" or something like that? Just make that a post. It would consist of the following:
"Hey guys, are magicians seen as nerds?"
And then you post your viewpoint. The point is, you don't have to tell people the thread is a debate. It becomes a debate when people start debating it. Just get straight to it. I know I for one have never read anything in that initial post EXCEPT for the topic, and then I skip ahead to the next post. So trim the fat.
B) Make better topics. The magic community is thirsty for intellectual debate and discussion, yet its pool is becoming contaminated with the same crappy topics over and over. Search deep inside yourself, and think of something related to magic that is interesting to read, thought-provoking, and rarely heard. A contrary viewpoint to popular opinion, a way of seeing things new to you... something we're not used to. The reason being, we've all been reading the same topics over and over and over and over again for years, and a new idea (much like a brand new effect) will be a welcome relief.
For reference, stay far away from the following concepts:
"Is magic art?"
"Why I think exposure is bad! Here is a link to free tricks on this one exposure site I REALLY hate!"
"Ellusionist is a terrible store and its shoppers worship the devil"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you hate Criss Angel?"
"Youtube sucks, and here's why"
But, hey - even an old topic like, "Is magic art?" can be interesting to talk about if you put some sort of spin on it: how about, instead, you talk about how your particular magic is art? How you present it as such? Do you blend other forms of art with it? How do you drive the artistic point home in your audience?
I'm not anybody important, but I do appreciate the effort you've had for this, despite the slight, probably unintentional arrogance about the whole thing. Try a new topic as above, and it'll probably be welcomed.
Or maybe you'll crash and burn again, I don't know. I'm not too good with mentalism.
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