signing up for the magic cafe

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Matt Sedlak
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signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Matt Sedlak » April 29th, 2011, 12:04 am

So I feel like (as expected from that site) I've run into literally one of the stupidest things I've seen. I want to sign up for a magic cafe account but it won't accept any email address because its from a free site. I'm not even sure I know anybody who doesn't use a gmail/yahoo/hotmail account unless they have their own website or use a school/work account. Since I don't, does anybody know a site that will work for them? I really don't know why they keep that guy around that takes care of their technical work. I know 5th graders who could do a better job...

Ian Kendall
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Ian Kendall » April 29th, 2011, 5:25 am

Buy a domain such as learntodoyourjob.com or yourtechnicalsupportsucks.com and register using an email address from there...

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Joe Pecore
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Joe Pecore » April 29th, 2011, 6:44 am

I'd bet the reason they are having to do that is because they ban so many people and are tired of the banned people just registering under new different names so easily.
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Matt Sedlak
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Matt Sedlak » April 29th, 2011, 12:21 pm

I just honestly have no good reason to buy a domain at this time. It just seems to me that it is another indicator that they care very little about the people who actually use their forums.

Chris Aguilar
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Chris Aguilar » April 29th, 2011, 1:17 pm

Anyone who pays for internet access likely has an e-mail address from that provider that they can use. (comcast, att, etc.) Heck, with my basic ATT dsl I can create several valid e-mail addresses.

I'm sure they'd also accept a student or work e-mail addresses. That being said, one can have a domain for about 5 bucks a year and use e-mail based off that. Or have someone you know who has a domain create a valid e-mail address for you and then forward it to your freebie e-mail. Easy.

I'm sure it has more to do with not wanting to have to continually boot idiots who insist on signing up with multiple pseudos than it does with technical issues.

Look at how annoying the spam is when it hits these forums. Having a sensible e-mail policy like that here might cut down on some of the crap.

I'm not a huge fan of the cafe, but it's no big deal.

Kent Gunn
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Kent Gunn » April 29th, 2011, 2:17 pm

Any impediment to logging onto the Cafe is a good thing. The Cafe an energy sink. Be grateful the universe is conspiring to keep you away from there.

KG

Jim Maloney
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Jim Maloney » April 29th, 2011, 2:20 pm

Chris Aguilar wrote:Look at how annoying the spam is when it hits these forums. Having a sensible e-mail policy like that here might cut down on some of the crap.


Yeah, I'd say about 99% of the spam we get here comes from people with addresses from a free provider. Considering the Cafe gets a far greater number of users than we do, I can certainly understand (though don't necessarily agree) with the policy.

That said, I don't think it's necessary here. While we do get some spammers who work around the CAPTCHA, we generally boot them pretty quickly and clean up the few posts that they made in a reasonable time frame. And, as Matt points out, there's a lot of people who use free e-mail addresses regularly. No sense throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

-Jim
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 29th, 2011, 2:29 pm

What Jim said.
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Scott M.
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Scott M. » April 29th, 2011, 5:20 pm

It is a ridiculous overreach, I think. I have a Gmail account and so does everyone I know. I can't remember what email account I used to register. Probably a work related one. Worse comes to worse, borrow a friend's account. You only need it to register at which point you can log in and create your own discrete password.

Chris Aguilar
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Chris Aguilar » April 29th, 2011, 7:19 pm

My point is that most people who insist on free e-mail addresses also have pretty easy access to a non anonymous address. (through their job, school, ISP, etc.) And even if one doesn't want to use that valid address, it can generally be easily forwarded to one's free e-mail address with little fuss.

If the cafe (or any forum for that reason) is provided at no charge, I don't see it as a huge price to pay for access (because generally it doesn't cost anything at all). Even on my tiny little board, bogus signups (people impersonating others by using anonymous e-mail addresses) has been an issue.

While I see Jim and Richard's point for these forums, I'd say that a policy like the cafe's might cut down on people like Mark Lewis constantly re-joining under different e-mail addresses. Aside from him, it seems like there are a fair share of "sock puppets" here which I think is a shame.

Overall, I'm not terribly sympathetic toward those who can't be arsed to provide something as simple as a non anonymous e-mail address.

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Joe Pecore
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Joe Pecore » April 29th, 2011, 9:12 pm

You could join the new Magic Bistro instead http://www.magicbistro.com :)
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 29th, 2011, 9:40 pm

Munton! I bet Mark Lewis is on there.
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Matt Sedlak
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Matt Sedlak » April 29th, 2011, 9:44 pm

I just checked out that site and saw you guys had a contests forum. It reminded me of this weekly magic trivia contest that some site used to run years ago in a chatroom. I want to say it was Penguin but I don't remember. It was associated with some dealer because the prizes used to be pretty good. I remember winning the Shoot Ogawa Ninja Rings and some other stuff. Eventually they changed it so you couldn't win more than once a month though :(

Stuff like that was fun though!

James Munton
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby James Munton » April 30th, 2011, 2:07 am

Joe,

Thank you for the shout out. We are one week old and I have been rather impressed with the level of discourse so far.

Mother is indeed part of the new site, but he has his own room and is not allowed to annoy people on other parts of the forum. So far he has been on his best behavior.

I plan to have regular competitions and other fun happenings. There is also an Articles & Routines section which I plan to expand. Most of the members are working professionals and the conversations tend to reflect this. But everyone is welcome at the Bistro.

There are many restaurants and bars I enjoy visiting, each with their own atmosphere and regular crowd. The same is true of the virtual world. I am looking forward to seeing how the Magic Bistro evolves over the next few weeks.

I hope you'll all stop by and say hi!

Best,
James
--
James Munton
www.jamesmunton.com

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Barefoot Boy
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Barefoot Boy » April 30th, 2011, 7:07 pm

The new site is a lot of fun and James has put a lot of work into it.

I would personally like to invite more mentalists to the site to "share their thoughts" with the patrons of The Bistro in the mentalism section.

Congratulations once again James for a successful launch! :cool:

Happy Thoughts,
Paul Pacific
Outward sunshine; Inward joy,
Blessings on thee, Barefoot Boy.
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James Munton
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby James Munton » May 1st, 2011, 7:50 pm

Thanks, Paul.

I really didn't do very much - my new friend Maheep in India did most of the work!
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James Munton
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Steve Mills
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Steve Mills » May 3rd, 2011, 1:04 pm

If I recall correctly, the current email policy was instituted when the Magic Circle Jerk ran his "most boring post on the magic cafe" contest. It drove Brooks and crew crazy. Still one of the great pranks of all time!

Unfortunately, it seems the majority of posters on the cafe still think the contest is running......

Bill McFadden
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Re: signing up for the magic cafe

Postby Bill McFadden » May 3rd, 2011, 1:39 pm

I really miss "Andy."


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