RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

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Steve Mills
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RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Steve Mills » August 29th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Very suddenly, I see Ye Olde Magick Blogge has been discontinued.

I enjoyed Andrew's passion and writing. One of the very few blogs worth reading consistently.

Does anyone have any insight here?

Thanks.....
Hell is empty and all of the devils are here. - William Shakespeare

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 29th, 2012, 8:05 pm

What was "Ye Olde Magick Blogge"?
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Joe Pecore
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Joe Pecore » August 29th, 2012, 9:30 pm

A blog by Andrew Musgrave http://sleightly.com/blog/
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pixsmith
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby pixsmith » August 29th, 2012, 10:48 pm

It was quite interesting to read -- I really enjoyed his self challenge last year to post daily -- there were some great thoughts there.

I am sorry to see that he has discontinued it. It's worth searching to see if it was ever archived, too. As I said, some interesting thinking there.

Scott M.
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Scott M. » August 29th, 2012, 11:41 pm

It was a very good blog, and Andrew had put a lot of time in it. Weird to see it abruptly discontinued. Other social network stuff is discontinued too. Hope all is well with him.

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Bill Marquardt
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Bill Marquardt » August 30th, 2012, 12:05 am

I only read one or two of his blogs and I found them rather self serving. Everyone has the right to express his own opinion but his were out of line with mine. I did not like the way he put down other magicians.

Sorry if my opinion is counter to anyone else's.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Ted M » August 30th, 2012, 12:30 am

He had some abrasive opinions, but he backed them up with thoughtful arguments. He put a lot of thought into his writing, much more than is usual on the internet.

I enjoyed it, and I'll miss it. Maybe it will return at some point.

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mrgoat
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby mrgoat » August 30th, 2012, 4:56 am

pixsmith wrote:. It's worth searching to see if it was ever archived,


http://web.archive.org/web/201010230915 ... .com/blog/

R.E.Byrnes
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby R.E.Byrnes » August 30th, 2012, 1:52 pm

He didn't engage in mindless boosterism. Magicians can stand a bit more critical assessment and being "put down," where warranted The blog often identified bad magic and backed up its assessments with facts and logic; not clear what's "self-serving" about that.

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Bill Marquardt
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Bill Marquardt » August 30th, 2012, 11:19 pm

To each is own, as the saying goes.

Personally, I found little of interest in the blogs I read. He was not shy about attacking magicians whom he did not like, including one very close to these forums (fora?)

At any rate, I just didn't dig it. I shall refrain from further comment.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby J-Mac » September 1st, 2012, 11:48 am

Yes, Andrew could be very abrasive at times. I read his blog - not regularly but fairly often. I didn't always agree with him but I did enjoy much of what he wrote there.

This is really surprising. I saw no indication of this coming, and I haven't heard anything about it from anyone else either. He's not the kind to just stop like that without at least getting in some last words.

Jim

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby J-Mac » September 1st, 2012, 12:01 pm

I just took a look at what's left on the site and it appears that he may have gotten hacked - badly. A whole lot of subpages are various porn pages, cracked serials pages, etc.

Here's a link to the site search on Google:

site:http://sleightly.com/

Direct search link: bit.ly/OFQ9Yq

Jim

erlandish
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby erlandish » September 12th, 2012, 10:29 pm

Hi guys, it's Andrew. I'll keep this brief, since I'm basically getting off the internet.

Anybody who needs to know what happened can go here:

http://weeklymagicfailure.blogspot.kr/2 ... ewell.html

There's some discussion further down the page about who might be behind it all. No comment.

The website hack is unrelated. I'd been negligent in keeping track of my security situation. The spam pages go back to 2011, long before the current situation.

Thanks for your time. That's it.
Last edited by erlandish on January 27th, 2014, 11:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 12th, 2012, 10:58 pm

Andrew, never let the schmucks get the better of you. The fact that you're being harrassed and threatened in this particular way could be a violation of federal law. The FBI has a way of tracking down morons like this. False accusations of pedophilia are probably an actionable offense. You should sick the feds on the guy.
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Justin Wheatley
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Justin Wheatley » September 14th, 2012, 11:38 pm

I'll just leave this here.

http://www.stevenyouell.com/Apology.html

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 14th, 2012, 11:48 pm

Just plain bizarre.
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mrgoat
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby mrgoat » September 15th, 2012, 5:28 am

Justin Wheatley wrote:I'll just leave this here.

http://www.stevenyouell.com/Apology.html


He's deleted it...

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mrgoat
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby mrgoat » September 15th, 2012, 5:37 am


uhrenschmied
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby uhrenschmied » September 15th, 2012, 5:48 am

The internet rarely forgets:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... ology.html

Regards,

Steve Mills
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Steve Mills » September 15th, 2012, 5:13 pm

I'll miss Andrew. There's so little magic discussion available on the web. e.g. we very seldom actually discuss magic here and, from prior posts, I appear to be one of the few missing it. So be it.

His series on "Favourite Effects" was terrific. It brought Ripped and Fryed to my attention and made me reconsider several other items and choices. A brilliant series of articles. Maybe he has it archived for use in the future. I hope so.

From my perspective, I found the subjects of his vitriol worthy targets.

I hope the fallout from this bizarre mess has no lasting consequences. He truly doesn't deserve it.
Hell is empty and all of the devils are here. - William Shakespeare

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 15th, 2012, 5:21 pm

I wish there was more discussion of magic here!
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby J-Mac » September 20th, 2012, 1:33 am

One last post here from Steve Youell. Bit of a shocker.

http://www.stevenyouell.com/musgrave.html

Jim

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Tom Stone
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Stone » September 20th, 2012, 2:31 am

J-Mac wrote:One last post here from Steve Youell. Bit of a shocker.

http://www.stevenyouell.com/musgrave.html

Good for him to get this out. I wish he had told people earlier and not waited 4 years, because it is easier to keep friends and contacts when they are aware.
Mental illness is not the social stigma it once was. If Youell is troubled by making bad decisions, he should know that this revelation wasn't one of them.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby El Mystico » September 20th, 2012, 2:42 am

Yes; mental illness is not the social stigma it once was - and in part that is due to brave people being honest about it.
Kudos to Steven.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby mrgoat » September 20th, 2012, 8:14 am

And suddenly everything makes sense.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Gilbert » September 20th, 2012, 9:54 am

I had a friend that was bipolar. It a very tough illness on friends (that were able to stick it out), and on the person
with the disease.
Kudos to Steven for his honesty.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 20th, 2012, 12:35 pm

I have had some run-ins with Youell as well. Thought he was just a jerk. But kudos to him, and now all is understood.
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R.E.Byrnes
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby R.E.Byrnes » September 20th, 2012, 3:37 pm

Good for him; if only more people had the courage to do the same. I had a few strange run-ins with him, but am now filled with nothing but respect and admiration. Here's hoping this creates some understanding and helps him repair things. He's a talented guy, and it's apparent now that he means well.

Steve Mills
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Steve Mills » September 20th, 2012, 3:50 pm

Fellers,

Pardon my totally non PC take on this, but I just don't buy it. He may or may not have some pills, but at some point there has to be some level of responsibility. This was written by Fearless Leader 9/1/2005:

"Mr. Youell's behavior has been unstable for a long time....."

His litany of excuses seems endless and I, for one, am without compassion in this case. He needlessly harmed a young man that didn't deserve it and now he's the victim?

Way too much history. Way too much.
Hell is empty and all of the devils are here. - William Shakespeare

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Roger M. » September 20th, 2012, 4:13 pm

Perhaps you didn't get the part where Youell stated that he wasn't blaming his bi-polar issues for his bad behavior, nor was he looking for forgiveness for his actions simply because he was mentally ill.

He accepted responsibility for what he's done, and he offered some context as to why he did it.
It's really just simple honesty he demonstrated.

He was simply sharing a "truth" about his life.

I've always felt that blaming mentally ill folks for their inappropriate actions was clearly wrong, whereas trying to change the environment in which they undertook those inappropriate actions was extremely appropriate.

Clearly the magic forums on the internet are the WRONG place for Youell to be, something he'll hopefully realize sooner than later.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 20th, 2012, 4:16 pm

Indeed, Mr. Youell has been unstable for a long long time. I had to ban him from here. I hope his meds help!
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Tom Stone
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Stone » September 20th, 2012, 4:22 pm

Steve Mills wrote:Pardon my totally non PC take on this, but I just don't buy it.

You are not required to "buy" it. It is what it is, regardless.
He may or may not have some pills, but at some point there has to be some level of responsibility.

...and those who can't run because they've got broken bones, they are just lazy.
And people who are allergic to nuts are just picky, so give them plenty of nuts?

It is what it is, Steve.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby mrgoat » September 20th, 2012, 5:04 pm

Steve Mills wrote:Fellers,

Pardon my totally non PC take on this, but I just don't buy it. He may or may not have some pills, but at some point there has to be some level of responsibility.


It seems to me you are lucky enough not to have been directly effected by someone close to you being bi-polar. You should be grateful for that, but not let your ignorance of the illness lead to postings like you made.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Gilbert » September 20th, 2012, 7:03 pm

Well said Mr. Stone and Mr. Goat.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Pilling » September 20th, 2012, 7:51 pm

Yes. Sensitivity towards mental illness is not political correctness, it is simply human compassion. Bipolar used to be called manic depression; anyone who has lived with this knows the misery and desperation it brings with it, both for the sufferer and family.

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Tom Stone
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Stone » September 20th, 2012, 8:46 pm

Wikipedia is (for once) fairly accurate on the subject.

Tom Pilling
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Pilling » September 20th, 2012, 8:53 pm

It is indeed. Suicide rates are higher in those suffering with this, as I know. The key is to understand 'spectrum'. Everybody is unique, even identical twins.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Smurf » September 21st, 2012, 1:15 am

Somewhat along with Steve, I'm a bit reserved in coming to the same level of acceptance as others here have reached - and I'm just a long-distance, barely-know-what's-happened observer. I have had very little interaction with Mr. Youell (only on the Cafe) but it was all positive. I even ordered some of his material.

I read that there were some internet battles that had gone on, but I didn't observe them nor did I care to investigate.

Richard said that one time "Thought he was just a jerk." So, now the question in my mind is, Is Mr. Youell a nice guy who has this disorder which in some fashion contributed to behavior which led people to assume he was a jerk, or is Mr. Youell a jerk who has this disorder which only amplified what was already there?

As I stated, my limited interaction with him is positive so I don't have any history that might lead me to disparage his character. I have enjoyed many of his comments on magic and his videos. But I can understand others who came through the flame wars wanting to pull out the yellow caution/slow down flag at this time rather than offering unchecked support.

John

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Tom Stone
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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Stone » September 21st, 2012, 3:18 am

Smurf wrote:Richard said that one time "Thought he was just a jerk." So, now the question in my mind is, Is Mr. Youell a nice guy who has this disorder which in some fashion contributed to behavior which led people to assume he was a jerk, or is Mr. Youell a jerk who has this disorder which only amplified what was already there?


It is both. Or neither. Or yes but only half the time. Who knows?
It is impossible to tell, and it makes little difference. When he's a jerk, he is a jerk. When he's not, he is not.
Both stages are basically self-contained, like different persons. Steve said before that there has to be some responsibility, and yes of course - it is great if one can make him take responsibility for stage A, during stage A. But once he's in stage B, it is pointless to take it further. It's a different person then.

Those who knew Youell in his early teens can tell you what the baseline is. He's the same person now as then, and any deviation from that would be the illness.

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Re: RIP - Ye Olde Magick Blogge

Postby Tom Pilling » September 21st, 2012, 4:44 am

Wise words.


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