The Genii Forum

Hey, folks--

Just wanted to remind you to send anything you want to get the word out about to us at GeniiOnline. Maybe it's a cool video you saw, an upcoming auction, an interesting item on ebay, your next performance - if you think it's worth knowing, we want to share it with our audience.

Send your tips and news to editor@geniionline.com. You can also use that email to contact me directly with any questions.

Thanks!

Hi Susan

Do you manage the GeniiOnline twitter account ?

If so - You recently tweeted "Congratulations to @ZubrickMagic for being named the Best Family Magic Show by the International Magicians Society."

Are you aware that the International magicians society is considered a joke and that their awards hold zero credence with many people simply "buying" them for marketing purposes ?

Somewhat sad that GeniiOnline is now lending credibility to these 'fake awards' ...

http://magicunlimited.typepad.com/magic ... award.html

CraigMitchell wrote:Hi Susan

Do you manage the GeniiOnline twitter account ?

If so - You recently tweeted "Congratulations to @ZubrickMagic for being named the Best Family Magic Show by the International Magicians Society."

Are you aware that the International magicians society is considered a joke and that their awards hold zero credence with many people simply "buying" them for marketing purposes ?

Somewhat sad that GeniiOnline is now lending credibility to these 'fake awards' ...

http://magicunlimited.typepad.com/magic ... award.html

Hi, Craig--

Our social media manager runs the twitter account (glad to hear you follow it), but to answer your question as to why we published the story, we do our best not to pass judgment on such things. We reported on the award, but the value of that win is up to the reader to decide for themselves. A different example would be Criss Angel doing...well, anything, really. It's not exactly a secret that he's not got many fans in the magic community, but we're not going to pretend he doesn't exist. Our goal with GeniiOnline is to cover everything related to magic and deception, top to bottom, and let the readers decide what stories are relevant for them, as opposed to us deciding for them.

"...we do our best not to pass judgment on such things. We reported on the award, but the value of that win is up to the reader to decide for themselves."

By congratulating the win - GeniiOnline explicitly deemed their "achievement" to be worthy of praise ... that's pretty much a stamp of approval for what it's worth ... and somewhat at odds with your "we'll report on anything but remain neutral" approach.

CraigMitchell wrote:"...we do our best not to pass judgment on such things. We reported on the award, but the value of that win is up to the reader to decide for themselves."

By congratulating the win - GeniiOnline explicitly deemed their "achievement" to be worthy of praise ... that's pretty much a stamp of approval for what it's worth ... and somewhat at odds with your "we'll report on anything but remain neutral" approach.

Ah, ok, we're discussing two different things now: the post itself and the tweet. The post is merely a reporting of the award and some commentary from the winners, while the tweet is more congratulatory. Our social media persona aims for a more conversational tone as well as language that appeals to more than just the hardcore magic audience. If it's too inside baseball, so to speak, it's less likely to resonate with the more casual magic enthusiast. So, yes, you're right, it's more congratulatory, less neutral. I understand where you're coming from, but some of the nuance will always be lost when trying to communicate with a larger audience. So while someone as knowledgable as you says "Pfff, that award is worthless" and moves on, someone less steeped in the magic community might simply say "Oh! I didn't know magicians received awards! That's neat!" or any number of other reactions.

Maybe everybody should just invent their own awards, designate their friends as winners, and send a press release to Genii Online.