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Topics - xela

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The Conversation Parlor / The 2013 Board Layout + Future of the forums

« on: December 23, 2012, 07:26:57 PM »

As promised in an earlier thread, I've done away with sub-boards except Feedback & Support (it rarely ever gets posts, and when it does it's usually just for me or a staff member to see).

I also rearranged some of the boards. STISO's is now on the main page to encourage more selling and trading. Magical Cardistry Bonanza is now above everything else, not only to increase its visibility just a bit, but also because it's the most "general" board related to magic and cards in that category.

Moving into the new year, you guys can expect a new logo up top (finally), perhaps a few mods (I'm still looking for active and participating members that do so on a consistent basis).

I may also consider renaming the forum, and having Aethercards.com redirect to the new URL (you will see no change, and won't have to change your bookmarks or anything).

That's all for now. Let me know what you guys think.

Playing Card Plethora / MOVED: December 14 2012 ( Tragedy )

« on: December 14, 2012, 06:47:01 PM »

This topic has been moved to The Talk Park.

http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=3794.0

Playing Card Plethora / MOVED: Designing a Deck - Check it out.

« on: November 29, 2012, 05:55:30 PM »

This topic has been moved to Design & Development.

http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=3737.0

Playing Card Plethora / MOVED: Pip Squeek Poll ?

« on: November 08, 2012, 03:47:55 PM »

This topic has been moved to The Talk Park.

http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=3626.0

Playing Card Plethora / What purchase do you regret making the most?

« on: October 26, 2012, 06:29:22 PM »

Some of us are quite the enthusiasts here. Many of us went through the "OMGIMUSTHAVEITALL" stage when we started collecting.

My biggest regret has to be the D&D IAOCP books I bought for the decks. I adore the cards, but when I bought the books I figured somewhere out there in the world would be 12 people who would want them. Turns out I was wrong. I had never had such a difficult time getting rid of a product. It seems D&D have the same issue, since their "extremely limited" run of these books is still in stock in their store.

What's your story?

The Conversation Parlor / You guys baffle me

« on: October 23, 2012, 10:18:17 PM »

How you managed to keep posting when our site was having 90% downtime is beyond me. Kudos you card loving fanatics.

The Conversation Parlor / Upcoming board restructuring

« on: October 14, 2012, 07:11:51 PM »

So from the launch of this forum last year, I made one thing clear: I was moving away from "branding" it and moving towards an extremely simple place to chat about cards and literally anything else - no moderation outside of structuring and spam prevention.

Weeeellll it's time to keep moving there.

I will be merging the OAC board into Feedback & Support, and archiving it so no more new posts can be made (all the posts there can easily be posted in F+S or The Talk Park anyway). Furthermore it will be renamed from OAC to "Archives" and merged with the trash can board in the staff boards. I will be changing the top category from "AetherCards & Social Media" to "Off Topic Chat". The new set up will look like this:

Off Topic Chat
- Introduce Yourself
- The Talk Park (The Lol-A-Query-Um)
- Feedback & Support (Archives)

Playing Cards Chat
- Design & Development
- Playing Card Plethora (STISO's)
- Deck Reviews!
- Magical Cardistry Bonanza

This is the biggest restructuring we've done since launch so I am giving you guys a heads up. Also, sometime in 2013, I will be removing sub-boards from the forums, so the Lolaq and STISO's will be their own boards. If activity picks up even slightly, I'll be on the lookout for new moderators as well (Deck Reviews for example is feeling rather lonely) so PM me if that's something you are interested in.

Playing Card Plethora / So the pizza guy saw my decks yesterday...

« on: October 13, 2012, 04:57:50 PM »

My collection is displayed on a giant shelf readily visible from our front door. Anyway, the pizza guy sees them and starts going nuts.

"Holy crap man, you have a lot of decks. Where do you get them? How old are they?" He stood there for a good 10 minutes talking with me about cards, and how he had never seen someone collect those. Apparently he has seen a lot of weird shit in people's homes while doing deliveries. Some guy had a taxidermy collection, and his whole home smelled like death and defecation.

I didn't mention I designed my own deck... usually when I do (back when I had boxes piled to the ceiling near the door) I'd give them a few decks and they just wouldn't understand what it was. "So...you design decks for the casinos here?" I wish. But seriously, card collecting is so out there to people.

The pizza guy said he never thought about collecting decks before, but that "it makes sense, I don't know why more people don't do it."

I have to agree with him. Of all the weird and whacky collectors out there, deck collectors seem to have some of the most tangible goods. I mean, you can use the decks for so many things, the decks are also art work, and often times history as well. Yet it's such a surprisingly small niche hobby. Bottlecap collectors have larger communities than we do.

Magical Cardistry Bonanza / David Blaine is doing a Reddit AMA! Ask him ANYTHING

« on: October 04, 2012, 01:31:34 PM »

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10xuwy/i_am_david_blaine_and_new_to_reddit/

That's the link. If you're new to Reddit, just sign up and post a question and there is a chance he will answer you. If you're too lazy, or don't like playing the lottery, you can always just read his answers. The AMA is only an hour old so I don't think there are any answers up yet.

A Cellar of Fine Vintages / What classifies as vintage, antique, etc?

« on: September 25, 2012, 01:14:42 PM »

The question is in the title!

Playing Card Plethora / Where do you see your collection going after you die?

« on: September 21, 2012, 08:24:05 PM »

Heavy question, kind of, but do you have any ideas?

Anyone here planning on pushing the hobby on their kids? Selling off the collection and giving the money to next of kin? Donating it? Destroying it? Giving it away to other enthusiasts?

I'm curious because I have no idea where my collection will be in several years, decades, or after I am gone. One thing I am definitely doing though is informing loved ones of how much it costs so that if they need the money they don't sell a deck of Jerry's for two dollars at a garage sale.

Playing Card Plethora / MOVED: Hard to Find Cards For Sale!

« on: September 18, 2012, 09:28:48 PM »

This topic has been moved to Sales, Trades & ISOs.

http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=3401.0

Introduce Yourself / MOVED: ...

« on: August 17, 2012, 08:11:16 PM »

This topic has been moved to The Lol-A-Query-Um .

http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=3142.0

The Conversation Parlor / Coming up is our one year anniversary

« on: August 16, 2012, 05:17:14 PM »

Yay!

But moreover I want to point out that one of the most difficult to attain badges, "MVP Member," requires a post count of 3.0 per day or more for an entire year. If you were one of the folks who registered in 2011, these next few months will be the only chance to grab that badge until the following year.

It's also the coolest looking badge, and I personally just want to see it in profiles more often:

So, who here is going for that award? I know I'll get it, but that's the perks of being an admin and more or less being forced into posting 3+ times a day.

Playing Card Plethora / So let's say I restarted my channel...

« on: August 12, 2012, 04:48:40 PM »

Is there even a point to reviewing new decks anymore? I mean, design is so subjective, and it seems inappropriate to review an objectively bad design (why bother if it's that terrible?) and everyone is already aware of how awesome amazing designs are (do you need a reviewer to tell you that the Seasons deck looks sexy?)

Handling is identical across all the decks. There is occassional variation because of funky decks, different cuts, and of course Bee vs. Bike stock, Magic vs. Air-Cushion and Smooth vs. Dimpled, but that's it.

As far as showing off the features go, a lot of other reviews do that very well already. As far as showing how the cards look in a performance, you have reviewers doing that as well, way better than I ever could.

So what's left? Reviewing "out-there" decks. Relatively undiscovered decks that are worth discussing, but would you guys watch a video on, say, the Las Vegas Club decks? For example, they're known for their bad fans, but a lesser known fact is the fans become perfect after hours of working them in with faros and shuffles.

I'd also be injecting more humor into the videos, because it seems something like my "Worst Playing Cards In the World" video was well received. And who knows, maybe I could snag some interviews with the folks who work at USPCC for you guys.

I'd also expand the channel to include really important current event awareness. For example, if I was producing videos during the SOPA/PIPA situation, I'd make a video on that.

It would also be fun to feature different people, from YouTubers to sellers to cardists and magicians that I think are awesome.

I wouldn't hold anymore contests, but I would occasionally do a give away at the end of some videos.

I'd upload 1-2 videos a month because that's how I roll, idk. I think people that upload several new videos a week with little to no content are crazy! Where do you find the time?

But yeah, my biggest fear is coming back and getting no viewership since I was absent for a year. When CardsRFun returned his channel was relatively dead, and he had 3x the subs I did.

I don't know, you guys have been really active in the YT scene and I haven't been for a year now - what's your opinions? Is there still room for a card channel? Are things oversaturated?

Playing Card Plethora / Ink to stock ratio: It's not a thing.

« on: August 06, 2012, 08:17:12 PM »

I always face palm when I hear someone talking about this imaginary thing as if it is something that matters.

As of today, there is no proof of any kind that heavy ink saturation affects handling, durability, softness or performance.

The ink that is put on a deck is microscopic. I've heard people say that heavy ink saturation increases deck thickness, which is insane, because ink doesn't sit on top of the stock. It bleeds into the paper, which is why it doesn't rub off. Does it bleed all the way through, modifying the actual stock of the cards? No!

Now the fact is, if you drench a piece of printer paper in black ink, that paper will feel completely different than an unsaturated one. The difference is almost negligible, but it's there. However, paper is significantly less thick than playing card paste board.

So when someone tells you that the Tendril handles worse because of all the black ink, please, tell that person they have no idea what they are talking about.

What you should take away from this: Ink saturation has never been proven, it has never been a fact, it has never been tested in any capacity other than random observational anecdotes. Can ink saturation affect handling? Certainly, there is a possibility that it can, as with any unproven hypothesis. However, in the worst case scenario, the effect that it has is entirely negligible for anyone performing with the cards. There is also zero correlation between ink and durability. Durability has entirely to do with how you handle the deck, your hands, storage, humidity, card stock, coating, dimpling; ink is insignificant, especially since it is put on the cards before the coating is. Heavy saturation of a deck can affect deck weight by a fraction of an amount, but this has still never been tested, because no one has printed two decks where one is covered in only black ink and the other containing no ink at all. Heavy ink to stock ratio can make a deck feel slightly differently, but again it's not a better or worse sort of thing, it's just slightly different. We're talking a barely noticeable difference that is entirely nonexistent when it comes to performance.

If you still want to believe ink saturation has an affect on handling, know that you are basing your thoughts 100% on anecdotal evidence that did not undergo any type of legitimate testing.

And if it's anecdotal evidence you want, then listen to me, I own hundreds of decks. I use and abuse a lot of them. The fully saturated black decks don't start clumping any faster than the white ones.

My theory is innocent until proven guilty. In this case, judging a deck based on ink saturation is just nonsensical. This is coming from a guy who produced a deck that was lauded for its low saturation. I tossed one of my Tendril decks into the trash after I used it to the point of no return. It took me about two weeks. I toss a Vortex deck into the trash every two weeks as well, after it's used beyond acceptability.

That is all.

Playing Card Plethora / Your user profile just became 1000x more awesome

« on: August 06, 2012, 06:22:37 AM »

So with v3 the first thing rolled out was clean profile URLs, so that you can link people to your profile here easily: http://aethercards.com/discourse/profile/USERNAME

Now you can do so much more. The limits are endless, and I'd be curious to see who can use the new profile to the maximum output.

To edit your new profile, go to Profile -> Modify Profile -> Ultimate Profile

Then, begin editing!

I'll list the new things you can add below:

Buddy list: You can add friends to your list, just visit their profile and look under "Contact Me." You can also edit your profile so that buddies gain certain permissions in your profile that other users don't have!

Commenting: You can leave any comments you want on profiles now! This is especially awesome for leaving feedback for trading partners and such, or just saying hello.

Picture Gallery: You can upload your photos and images straight to the site, just go to your profile summary, click "Pictures" and click "Add Picture."

About Me: Share your bio with the world!

Media Gallery: You can embed literally anything in here, try it! Use HTML to make your media gallery sexy. Have videos to share? Artwork? You can put them in this section and create your own public media gallery.

Profile Customization: You can use HTML and CSS to give your profile a unique look.

As time goes on, I will be changing the graphics and display styles on the profile pages to make them look even sleeker.

Coming next: Embedding videos into your posts... from any video site, not just YouTube.

Playing Card Plethora / What was your first deck of playing cards?

« on: August 05, 2012, 05:44:36 PM »

What's the first deck you ever bought?
Why did you buy it?

We're talking about specialty decks here of course, not brand name Bicycle decks from stores.

For me it was a Shadow Masters from Ellusionist. While looking up magic on YouTube, I realized I couldn't do things like fans and faro shuffles because of my deck (it was a cheap souvenir deck). I looked up playing cards for magic and found some awful review on the Shadow Masters and Black Tigers deck. I shat myself - a black deck?! I had never seen anything like it and despite its high price I bought one... then I bought another two... then I bought half of the decks that Ellusionist sells and discovered CardsRFun shortly thereafter. He gave a glowing review for the Texan Palmettos, and I had recently been enjoying a trick that required edge reading. I thought the Palmettos were perfect for this from the review but my god, they were terrible, both handling wise and for edge reading.

After that, I got an Absolut Vodka deck and some Virginia Slims and a Fournier 605 deck from Lee Asher.

And then I binged and bought hundreds of decks.

So that's my story - what's yours?

Playing Card Plethora / When I sell off my collection next month, would anyone be interested in this?

« on: August 02, 2012, 09:19:20 PM »

I have several hundred decks I want to get rid of.

Some decks are opened, most are sealed, and the opened ones are barely used at all (some only taken out of the box once).

I'm not interested in leaving a sales thread open for months getting rid of all my stock. What ends up happening is I get orders during times I can't complete them, or I get orders without even knowing that I got them.

Would you guys instead be interested in a first-come-first-serve super sale every week?

I'm thinking taking like three bricks each week and selling them off at insanely low prices.You can buy as many as you want while the supply lasts.

I'm talking huge discounts, too. For example, let's say an Artifice deck costs $7 on the aftermarket. Well, I'll sell them for $4 and then offer additional discounts for each deck purchased. So let's say you buy a brick, that's $44 now plus shipping. (These are just hypothetical numbers, I have no clue what Artifice costs right now).

I may also do something like a gamble option. You add $2 to your order, and you get a random opened deck. These can range from something like an open Blue Ribbon to something as terrible as open Bike. Maybe to get rid of decks faster, I'll do something like order 12 gambled decks, and get them for $15.

Let me know your thoughts! (And for those curious, shipping times will be much faster than Vortex lol).

The Conversation Parlor / New features in the new skin

« on: August 01, 2012, 04:26:40 AM »

Here is a quick reference for you guys for current features as well as upcoming ones:

New Features in v3:

- New visuals
- URLs are now very clean. For example, you can link to your profile like this: "http://aethercards.com/discourse/profile/USERNAME/"
- Ranks are back!
- Karma modified to more accurately depict post quality of users
- Important news will now display on the main page
- Social links (Facebook, etc.) are now displayed as icons under the logo instead of as boards
- Increased attachment max file size (previous 1mb, now 5mb)
- Increased attachment thumbnail sizes
- Added new file types you can upload: pdf,wmv,wma,psd,mp3,mp4,mpg

Upcoming Features:

- YouTube embedding
- Friends lists
- Profile commenting
- Badges come back! (Much less obtrusively...MUCH less...)
- More updated visuals for certain graphics

Playing Card Plethora / The deck review board is here

« on: July 28, 2012, 10:12:58 PM »

It's on the main page, if you didn't notice.

Please submit all your reviews over there now. Reviews of magical effects and cardistry still belong in MCB. Unboxings without first impressions or a full-length deck review do not belong in that board (feel free to still post those here).

The first page of reviews has tentative star ratings assigned to the posts. You may change the rating to more accurately reflect what your review stated if you so desire.

For those of you who have submitted reviews in the past, please go through the three pages and edit your reviews with star ratings, tags, and a proper title. Thank you.

That is all.