Anonymous comments are not proof

One of the things that I have been thinking about lately is how much weight one should place on blog and forum comments made by anonymous people. And by "anonymous," I mean people who either openly post as an anonymous (and perhaps unregistered) user, as well as those who use a handle such as "the Golden Dawn avenger"--a handle that actually tells you only that the person behind the handle has a big ego.

There are two reasons why I have been thinking about this.

One, I am in the process of setting up a blog to collect all the book reviews that I have done in various places. I have needed to do this for awhile. It has become more urgent, due to the fact that I am starting to recieve books from some GoodReads drawings that I recently entered (I have recieved the first two books today).

Do I allow comments on the Book Review blog? Or do I just refuse to allow comments through? And does it matter either way? (Please note that my book reviews were called into question earlier this year...by anonymous and faceless people.)

The other reason I have been thinking about anonymous comments is watching the comments being made on one of my blog posts on this very blog. There has been one person who has been pointing out dirt about Robert Zink--provided that you place any stock in comments that direct you to other comments made on another blog by anonymous people.

Personally, I do not need to hear anonymous comments about Zink to have an opinion of the man. After all, I had internet dealings with the man (we are not favorite people of each other); plus, I have done some "exit counseling" with some of his former membership--enourgh to know that I am definitely not suited to be one of his students.

The same holds true of several other people in the Golden Dawn community. Between the grapevine and my own interactions with people, I have a really good idea of who is what type of lunatic without having to read anonymous comments about them. And I am sure that they feel the same way about me--we all know that I am a lunatic with a soapbox.

And honestly, I find that the way that anonymous comments are presented as "proof" painful to watch because of the double standard that is applied to them. Simply put, an anonymous comment is considered to be proof when it supports your stated conclusion, but is considered a falsehood when it does not support your argument. If it is undermining your competition, an anonymous comment is proof and perfectly acceptable because people need to be able to present evidence without fear. But the same comment is it attacks your position must be coming from the political sock puppet of your enemy and is a complete lie, therefore anonymous comments should never be considered proof that you too are special type of lunatic.

Of course, most proof in the occult community tends to be treated the same way. Scholars have a double standard applied to them (if they support your argument, they are a good scholar; if not, they are a fraud who should be kicked out of the academy). Business practices and recruiting techniques are ok when you use them, but fraud when other people use them. A simple statement of a claim of ancient knowledge is accepted point blank by one group's membership while the same type of claims are considered lies when made by another group.

It is enourgh to make one want to declare that everyone is a liar and a fraud. And far more simple too. Of course, I have gotten to the stage where I am just starting to ignore any comment that is made by someone that I do not personally know. But let's be honest, being called a neo-nazi and told outright that it is ok for others to destory one's reputation because you do not belong to the one real Golden Dawn makes one dislike anyone who stands behind "anonymous" or "enemy of all false GD Orders" and calls you names.

So do not expect me to accept blog and forum comments presented by anonymous posters of proof of anything. After all, I know enourgh people who are posting using their real names that I do not need to see evidence that is untraceable. You would not accept my statements as proof if I hid my identity, so why should I trust you when you do the same?

QoD The difference between Golden Dawn and Thelema

This quote is from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn yahoo news/e-zine forum (the more evil non-Griffin one).

"The Golden Dawn's approach to ritual is like that old saw everyone's dad told them growing up: The right tool for the right job.

The A.'. A.'. 's approach to ritual is less subtle. I would say it was, "OMG! BREAK STUFF!" but that would be over-simplifying it a bit."---Frater Amre

Ebay bans fortune tellers and miracle workers

[Update Sept 5th--there is some doubt that eBay has actually made a policy change. This may just be an internet illusion.]

[Additional update Sept 5th--having looked for the information, I can firmly say that this is actually going on...despite the fact that the information was buried deep on Ebay. Added another post with screenshots of the eBay information.]

Yesterday, a fuss started to be made on the blogosphere and Yahoo forums about eBay's recent decision to no longer allow the sale of fortune telling and spell-work. Initially, people were crying that it was a "pagan and Wiccan" ban, but a little research showed that pagan and Wiccan products were still allowed for sale, provided that they were physical items and not just services (good job, David, for spotting that).

Interestingly, the Los Angeles Times article include magic potions in the banned category (wait for it--I will have a few words about that before the end of this post).

Now, living in Denver and having been involved (somewhat--I was the public representative for the ROAM/EOEW at the time) in the fight against Denver's anti-fortune telling regulations, I am positive that it is a service ban and not a product ban. And unfortunately, I can understand eBay's position, just like I can understand the position of Denver's laws on fortune telling.

From 1950 to 2000, it was illegal to perform fortune telling in the city of Denver. The law was part of the anti-gypsy laws. (Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination.) There was a whole set of laws that were designed for the sole purpose of keeping gypsies from being able to make a living in the city of Denver. Violating the law could result in jail time. And then, it became legal to be a fortune teller, provided that you paid a fifty dollar a day license fee (which may still be on the books--I am not sure).

The law was only periodically enforced. The last time, the Denver Police Department decided to enforce it was 1999/2000. The Police Chief actually used the term "gateway crime" to describe fortune telling. Among the Wiccans who decided to fight the law, the joke was that obviously fortune telling led to drug abuse, prostitution, and urinating in public.

(The Wiccans managed to get the illegality of fortune telling overturned, but I am not sure about the license fee.)

But when you look at some of the bad fortune tellers out there (and occasionally, they make national news), fortune telling is a gateway crime. It is the hook to a bigger scam. "The reason why your life generally s***s rocks on toast is the fact that you have been cursed. For a thousand dollars and all your jewelry, I can lift that pesky curse off of you."

There are also things like Divination Addiction that helps make fortune telling a cash cow for those who do readings. Well, a cash cow for the dishonest readers.

And those are the fortune tellers that eBay is really targeting. Unfortunately to get rid of them, they have to get rid of everyone else who is offering such a service or variation thereof. Because of they leave any door open, the slimy con-artists will find it.

This ban is on ALL spiritual advisors and healers--there are a ton of Christian fortune tellers and miracle workers who are also affected by this ban.

(Kinda reminds of the little problem that is ongoing in the erotica market--the Forbidden Four sell, and some people are weasels who keep finding ways to continue writing about yucky themes.)

Now, let's look at from the viewpoint of Golden Dawn. One of the things that people talk about is how some Orders collect dues and provide astral initiations...and because you cannot prove that the officers involved are not sitting around drinking beer, they must be frauds. This is what eBay is targeting. How do we know that Reiki treatements are actually being done? How do we know that spellwork is actually being done? EBay doesn't know how to tell, and might be too lazy to check, therefore everyone selling a spiritual service is banned.

(On a sidenote: I have been told that astral initiation are a scam; self-initiations are a scam; books about the occult are a scam; products made by Golden Dawn members are a scam; and I have argued that memberships in Orders are a product, and have heard people argue that they are also a scam--in fact, I have been told that any Order collecting dues or any monies at all is running a scam. Basically, if you are charging for anything in the esoteric field, there is someone out there who is going to scream that you are running a scam. I tend to ignore the screams of fraud because everyone is accused, and a lot of the people doing the screaming are cheap-skates or sworn enemies of the people they are accusing. It is just easier to presume that everyone is a fraud, and ask yourself, despite that fact, if you find value in the product and/or service that someone is offering.)

Now, one of the loopholes that the frauds will try to use with eBay is the physical product loophole. But eBay is already going after the loophole with the ban on "magic potions." In other words, if the primary selling point is not the product, but its magical power, then it is banned. On the other hand, selling essence oil mixtures will still be acceptable provided that you make no claims about its spiritual and magical virtues (beyond the standard statement "Traditionally, this oil was used for XYZ magic").

So--do I agree with eBay's banning of spiritual advisors and miracle workers? No. Do I understand why they are doing it? Yes.

Golden Dawn Market Bouncing Member Edition

An example of how different the membership numbers of a forum can be given a different location on the site.

As many of my regular readers know, one of my ongoing quests is to come up with a ballpark figure for the size of the Golden Dawn market. In the past, one of the yardsticks I talked about using is the memberships figures for the various forums, including the ones hosted by Yahoo. And as I have previously mentioned, the membership figures of the various forums have to be taken with a grain of salt, thanks to people having multiple accounts, sock puppets, and the habit of some forum owners to send out lots of invitations to people just barely interested in Golden Dawn to boost their forum membership numbers.

I discovered a new wrinkle and problem with using the Yahoo forum numbers for this task the other day.

I was visiting one of the many forums that I belong to. (Translation--I was avoiding studying for my Chinese Religion and Philosophy exam.) And on the front page of the forum, the little box with the forum information said that the membership was 9696 members. Now, I probably would not have noticed this if someone recently had not been bragging about how large their forum was. Because of that I have became acutely aware of my habit of glancing at the membership numbers of the forums that I visit...as a working writer, I am looking out for possible places to advertise my ebooks.

Now, I hop over to the message index. And my eyes wander over to the information box...and I see that the membership numbers are only 5120 according to this page of the forum. That is only 53 percent of what the front page of the forum claimed. In round terms, this means that the front page claims about ten thousand members while the actual number is closer to five thousand.

At first, I thought maybe it was a Yahoo bug. So I went to a few other forums and saw the same pattern; the front page membership number was higher than the number of members that the message index page said. And the front page number matches the number of members that the Yahoo forum search page shows.

I managed to figure out what was causing the difference between the two numbers by going to one of the Yahoo forums that I set up ages ago. Going into the management pages, I realized that the difference had to be the result of bouncing members, those people who had abandoned their email addresses or were having trouble recieving emails from Yahoo. In the case of the forum that I first noticed this on, either they have 4576 members having email problems...or they have close to 4576 members who should not be in my market estimates.



The number of bouncing members is exactly the difference between the two membership figures for the forum.

Looking around, I saw that Robert Zink's old relatively dead forum has 8612 members according to the front page, and 6753 members according to the message index page (78 percent still able to recieve emails). Pat Zalewski and Martin's forum has 1391 members on front page, and 936 members on the message index page (67 percent). [The picture at the start of this post is snapshots of Zink's forum membership numbers.]

What this means business-wise for me as a writer is that I have to remember to dig deeper than just the front pages or the search index results when trying to figure out where to aim my marketing efforts. It also means that when people start bragging about the number of people subscribed to their forum, I have to ask them what page they are looking at to figure out their numbers...because there is a large difference of figures in most of the fourms that I looked at.

How big is the Golden Dawn market part 2

One of the things that I did not touch upon in the previous part was how difficult it was to nail down a number for the Golden Dawn market size. (I ignored the issue because I lacked the time to address the issue.) A lot of my readers pointed out how using the forum membership numbers was an unreliable method.

Let's be honest here---all methods of figuring out the potential Golden Dawn market are unreliable.

Having both management and self-employment experience, I am not surprised by this. In fact, it is expected. There is an old saying that most statistics are made up. That includes estimates about the potential market for products.

The worst estimate I know of involving the Golden Dawn market does not even have to do with the Golden Dawn itself. A decade ago (or has it been longer?) someone decided to figure out the size of the Wiccan community.

(My smarter readers are already shaking their heads over the "Oy vey" that is coming.)

So how do you do this?

The Wiccan community shares many of the same characteristics that makes figuring out the size of the Golden Dawn community so hard. One is that most Wiccans do not openly reveal their membership. They are a hidden sector of the population. Part of this is done for simple economic and social survival issues---after all, there are a few Christians who believe that Wiccans are Satanists and need to be "cured" of their religion.

What the researcher did was to take a survey of Wiccans who were willing to admit that they were Wiccans. In this survey, they were asked multiple questions, including the question "Do you own a copy of Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn?"

Oy.

From this answer, the researcher extrapolated an estimate for the total Wiccan population using the total number of copies sold of Regardie's book.

Oy vey.

There are a few problems with this method.

First, not everyone who buys a copy of Regardie's Golden Dawn is a Wiccan. In fact, I suspect that there are more Christian buyers of Regardie's book than Wiccans. Even using an actual Wiccan book would not have worked---for instance, a book by Scott Cunningham (for I have seen Christians buy these to learn more about "the enemy").

(The things you learn behind the counter of book stores and occult shops.)

Second, the way that the figure was calculated totally ignores the nature of the overall book market.

(At this point in time, one needs to remember that I used to be involved in the used book market. I started out as a collector, and then spent several years as a specialized dealer.)

For instance, the statistican ignored the collector market. There are some collectors out there who collect every edition from select authors. So out there someplace is someone who has every edition that Regardie ever published.

(I own three different editions...)

Also ignored are those people who actually used the book. Some of these people are not the ideal book collector. Their copies are dog-eared, stuffed with bookmarks, and have wax dripped on them; the covers of the book may be falling off. Some of these people have brought additional copies of the book to replace their worn-out copies.

(...in various stages of disrepair.)

Now, looking at my estimate based on Yahoo forum membership, one should note some of my assumptions.

First assumption, there are some members who are members of multiple forums. In fact, some members are probably members of every Golden Dawn forum that they stumble upon. (I am not quite that bad.)

Second assumption, there are actually non-Golden Dawn parties who are members of Golden Dawn forums. In fact, I know one forum owner who invited a whole bunch of people from Thelemic, Wiccan and pagan forums to their GD forum---all to boost their GD forum membership numbers; it wouldn't be so bad, except that they generally do not approve of Golden Dawn posts from "rivals"---one sees a lot of posts that have absolutely nothing to do with Golden Dawn on their forum.

(By Golden Dawn parties, I mean people are actually interested in Golden Dawn.)

Third assumption, there are "sellers and dealers" mixed into the membership, those people who join forums just to send other members spam, who are just there to sell product. (Also see next point.)

Fourth assumption, people do not cancel their membership when they leave a forum, and some people have either lost their original account and created new ones, or have created sock-puppet accounts. Therefore, there are actually a bunch of dead and empty memberships floating in the overall figure.

Due to these assumptions, I mistrust all the membership figures of the Yahoo forums. Therefore, I took none of the membership figures at face-value (with one exception).

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of one's difficulties that one faces trying to estimate the potential Golden Dawn market size.

How big is the Golden Dawn market part 1

One of the problems with being a businessman and a writer is that occasionally one asks a business related question about something that you are not supposed to ask a business question about. I am guilty of doing such nonsense, despite knowing that I shouldn't. It is one of the reasons that I am barred from ever being a true Golden Dawn leader.

So one of my ongoing questions is "How big is the market for Golden Dawn?" In other words, how many potential buyers are there for Golden Dawn articles and books? Perhaps membership in the Orders also? (That last question is really not a concern of mine because...well, can you picture yourself joining an Order that I might have significant voice in?)

One of the yardsticks that I am using to try to gauge this potential market are the membership numbers of the various Yahoo groups. Now note that I am just posting the numbers today; I am not going to talk about how fuzzy the numbers are (I was, but my wife just changed the schedule---I am also kicking the second part of my Ouija ponderings to another day---sorry).

I have put the following list in order from highest membership number to the lowest---this is for convenience only; it is not a statement about the relative merits of the yahoo forum in question or the amount of activity that the forum generates (trust me, at least one person does not want to hear my rant about numbers and churn not being a true indication of a group's worth).

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: International Golden Dawn Forum "operated ny the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha at Omega" [David Griffin]---membership, as of this afternoon, 9527.

Golden Dawn Forum World Wide: Golden Dawn Mystical and Magical Study "provided as a service of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn" [Robert Zink]---membership 8655.

Magical Working Group: Golden Dawn Magick and Self Initiation "a forum for the teaching and dissemination of the concepts of the Golden Dawn Tradition and Self-Initiation of Magic as revealed by Israel Regardie and the Ciceros" [base textbook is Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition by Chic and Tabitha Cicero]---membership 2097.

Golden Dawn Group: O.G.D. "public forum of Pat Zalewski and the Horus Temple of the Order of the Golden Dawn" [Martin Thibeault]---membership 1357.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn [underscores between words] "a free magazine dedicated to the Western Esoteric Tradition" [discussions are strictly limited; it is mainly an announcement list for upcoming books, articles and events]---membership 955.

Golden Dawn Fr [French]: l'Ordre Hermetique de l'Aube Doree [a Golden Dawn forum for those people who speak French]---membership 339.

Secret Sanctuary of Golden Dawn---membership 297.

Inner Order Group "extension of the [public forum] of Pat Zalewwski, yet is restricted to the members of various Inner Orders worldwide"---membership 27.

For those who want my quick ballpark estimate, I am guessing based on these membership figures that the potential Golden Dawn market is only a thousand people. As I said, I will go into my reasoning and distrust of the higher numbers later. And if you only want to sell to verified Inner Order members, the market is only about 25 people worldwide.

Mathers made a mess of things

The Secret Chiefs are not amused

There are some things that one does not do on the blogosphere and the forums if one does not want to be accused of being a flaming troll. One of which is to point out that certain people made a royal mess of the system. This list includes MacGregor Mathers, Moina Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Wynn Westcott, and Paul Foster Case.

Call any of these people less than perfect, and you find yourself met with a mob armed with pitchforks and flaming torches. Each one of these people have been enshrined in the Hall of Perfect Adepts, and no lesser mortal is allowed to point out that their product could be improved upon.

Given that fact, the most that you can do is edge up and hint at the fact that product improvement could happen. And even that will get you a "Shut up! You are just trying to destory the Orders built upon their work."

So I felt a certain amount of amusement...and a certain amount of anger...when I saw today who admitted that Mathers screwed some things up. Yes, they have been part of the mob of angry villagers. I guess it is ok for them to say it, but not the rest of us.

They are not revealing anything by stating this fact. They are not the first to say this. They have merely trained the rest of us to avoid the subject like the plague when it comes up in the public sphere.

The rest of us only talk about this fact in private. One of my instructors has several lessons that are designed to help the Adept Minor realize that perhaps Mathers' work is not up to par. And the members of my own lodge have heard me state several times that there are problems with the Mathers' material.

Of course, my opinion cannot be stated out loud in public because I do not have the sanction of the Third Order. If I would have said this, I would have sensative body parts nailed to the wall.

I am annoyed; I am pissed; and I wonder how one gets the right to blackmail the rest of the community to shut up, so that one can be the first to say something publically that the rest of us have been saying in private for a long time.

(Oh, I am not being completely truthful here. An unholy trio have been calling Mathers "a masonic loon" publically for some time because of the mess he made of the system. I guess not everyone cares if they are set on fire by an angry mob.)

Pagan Meme Survey

Over on Adventures in Witchery, Veles posted his response to one of those pagan surveys that we get asked to full out in the forums when we join. I tend not to fill them out. Mainly, because like Veles, I find some of the questions to be sub-par (ok, idiotic). Fortunately, I have not ran into the Golden Dawn/ceremonial magic version (though I suspect that there is one out there someplace).

So here are my responses to the same pagan survey...I might not be a nice person.

Basics

Do you have a magical/Pagan name? No, what I have is a pen name and a motto. The second motto I took in Golden Dawn was Morgana Draconis, and I used a variation of it for my pen name. Over my magical career, I have adopted a dozon mottos (each new Order requires a new motto, go figure), but I have never taken on a magical name...unless Smart-A** counts.

What does it mean? It means that if I am going to be called an evil person, then I am going to be the best evil person that I can be.

How did you find Paganism? I think that it found me.

How long have you been practicing? I have been a Witch since 1979, and a card-carrying member of Golden Dawn since 1992.

Solitary or group practitioner? What day of the week is it? And what am I working on?

What is your path? The Viking path of you didn't bolt down your Egyptian gods and goddesses, an equal opportunity path of theft and misappropriation disguised as mercantilism and Victorian pragmatism.

Are you out of the broom closet? Yes, since 1979. It made my mother sad.

Deity

Who is your patron God? What day of the week is it? What am I working on?

Who is your patron Goddess? Bast, and whoever else decides to show up today.

What Gods do you worship? What day of the week is it? What am I working on?

Do you fear darkly aspected Gods/Goddesses? Or do you respect them? Hail Sekmet! Hail Odin! Hail Loki! Hail the Baron! My gods and goddesses eat fluff bunnies and new agers for breakfast.

Do you worship the Christian God? Isn't he the jealous one? Or is he the Gnostic?

Do you ever worship animals? Of course, I am owned by cats.

Or plants? Chocolate, cafferine, sugar beets, sugar cane, and corn.

Nature

Do you regularly commune in nature? Does talking to a friend while working in my herb garden count?

Ever walked barefoot in the woods? No. Isn't that dangerous?

Taken a camping trip just to talk to nature? Camping?! You are kidding, right?! Camping is for drinking and shooting.

Describe the moment that you felt closest to Mother Earth? I think that would be the time I fell off a roof.

Do you have a familiar? No. I am owned by cats, and pets are forbidden by them.

Have you ever called upon the power of an animal in ritual? Kitty, I am trying to mediate here---quit kneading my lap.

Or a plant? There is not enourgh mugwort in the incense burner if you can see the person on the other side of the room.

Do you hug trees? Only if I am about to vomit.

Give them gifts? Water and compost. And thanks when I harvest them.

What is your favorite flower to work with? Marigolds for honoring the dead.

What is your favorite tree to work with? Plum trees makes great wands.

Wheel of the Year

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween.

What is your least favorite holiday? How can you dislike holidays?

Have you ever held a ritual on a holiday? Yes.

Have you ever taken a day off to celebrate a Pagan holiday? No, but I have taken days off to recover from them.

Do you celebrate Yule on December 21st rather than the 25th? I celebrate both.

Have you ever felt the veil thin? Which one? Yes on many of them.

Ever danced the Maypole? Yes. Passerbys looked at us strangely.

Know what the Maypole symbolizes? *giggle*

How do you usually celebrate the Pagan holidays? With laughter.

Divination

Do you use the Tarot? Tarot is not just for divination anymore.

Do you use runes? Runes are not just for divination anymore.

Do you use a pendulum? Only when my Advanced Adept Advisor insists that I use it.

Do you use dowsing rods? You mean that coat hanger I cut up?

Do you use astrology? Astrology is not just for divination anymore.

Any other form of divination? Is your form of divination bolted down?

Spells

What was the first spell that you did? Invisible friend.

What was the latest? Ask me again in ten minutes.

Ever done a love spell? Yes. Though it was more of a "Find someone willing to put up with my insanity" spell.

A job spell? In this economy? You are kidding, right? And does using a "Find new employee" spell count as a job spell?

A healing spell? I am not sure if I would call it a spell.

What was the most powerful spell you have ever performed? This is a very badly worded question. Are we measuring this by EKP? Or results? Or the number of people annoyed?

What deities do you usually call on? What day of the week is it? What am I working on?

Cryptozoology

Do you believe in Vampires? What type? And do CEOs count?

Werewolves? Maybe.

Shapeshifters? Define shapeshifting.

Elves? Cookies!!!!

Fairies? Yes.

Dragons? What nationality?

Nymphs? I once dated a nymph.

Sprites? Ain't they fairies?

Mermaids? Am I going on an ocean journey?

Satyrs? Ain't they fairies also?

Ever "seen" any of the above? Why would I want to admit that I have seen things without the liberal use of drugs?

Ever talked to any of the above? Only when they keep hiding my stuff, tangling my hair, and untying my shoes.

Ever used any of the above in magic? I now have a rule about inviting them into my workspace.

Do you have one of them as a personal guardian? Do I look like a trusting soul?

Random

Do you see a rabbit, man or woman in the moon? Only the aliens that crashlanded on it.

Own a cat? No. Several cats own me.

When you meditate, what does your happy place look like? What day is it? What am I working on?

Do you work with Charkas? What day is it? What am I working on?

Do you believe in past lives? Yes.

If so, describe a few briefly. Nameless scribe, ancient Egypt. Been in several wars. Low profile stuff.

Do you believe in soul mates? Those would be the "lifetime sentence" people, right?

Do you have a spirit guide? What day is it? What am I working on?

Is it always love and light? What day is it? What am I working on?

Should you use your motto in public?

On one of the Golden Dawn forums recently, I saw someone state that they had been advised not to use their motto on the public forums. I have mixed opinions about whether this advice is sound or not.

The idea behind not using one's motto on the public forums can be traced to two ideas.

The first is that by tradition, we are supposed to keep our membership in the Orders a secret. This includes the motto by which we are known in the lodges. Today, this is largely ignored.

The second reason that is cited for not using your motto in a public setting is the idea that by revealing your motto, you weaken the energetic seal around yourself. Essentially, some consider someone knowing your motto to be a pathway that negative energies can be sent into your aura and into the body of the Order which you belong.

Against these ideas, we have a number of initiates using their motto, or a variation of it, in their public activities. The most famous example of this (or at least the one that pops first to the surface of my mind) is Dion Fortune. Violet Mary Firth's penname was based on her family's motto "Deo, non fortuna" ("By God, not fate") which she used as her Order's motto.

Of course, against this example we can place Pat Zalewski's "I am just Pat."

I also tend to be "just Morgan"; though in my own case, Morgan Drake is actually a variation of one of the many mottos I have taken in my magical career. The reason that I use Morgan Drake is that it became my penname (with the addition of my actual last name), due to familial concern that my writing about the occult would reflect badly on the family's reputation. There is also the issue that for a long while I really hated my legal birthname.

Going back to the first reason, there are some people who actually consider it better to use a motto than to have one's real identity connected with the work (for example, elementary school teachers). One of the things that I stress about the oath is that one should never "out" any member of the tradition; this is especially true if their job is one where dabbling in the occult will get you fired (as per my example of school teachers).

(In my case, I have been "outted" in the sense that several members of the magical community decided to openly state what my real position was in the Order that I am a member of. Fortunately, I had already prepared for that particular "revealing/unmasking of the truth"; therefore no real damage was done.)

And it is not just the revealing of one's own membership that can be dangerous. For instance, I know someone who would get in big trouble if they are ever publicly connected with their spouse who is a member of the tradition.

Now there are some people whose membership is a matter of public record. Most of these people are either authors or heads of their respective Orders. It is to these people that you look at to see what the custom of public motto use is in their particular Order. Ironically, the person that noted that they advised not to use their motto on the public forums (provided that my information is correct) is a member of an Order whose Chief openly uses their motto in public activities all the time.

And on that note (the things that me go "Hmm"), I end this entry. As always, feel free to post your opinions of whether one should or should not use mottos on the public forums (and elsewhere) in the comment section (remembering that I moderate comments to keep the worst of the riff-raff at bay).

I want to be brilliant

Warning: Do not assume that I am talking about you. I have a laundry list of people who this post might apply to, and you may not actually be on it. And I suspect that the worst offender is probably the person...well if you can't figure it out by the end of the post, then perhaps you are on my laundry list of offenders.

At least once a week, I see someone on the forums, or the lists, or the blogosphere, or in the local pagan community, or on the quad (you get the idea), become upset and accuse someone of being mean to them. This is often after being told that their latest brain storm is not really that great and might even be completely and utterly wrong.

The sad part is that often they are trying to be smarter than Crowley, Mathers, the professor, the President, their spouse (you get the idea), and they are falling far short of the mark. It is believing that you are an A student, when you are only capable of doing B work and only willing to put in C amount of effort.

I understand this problem. At least once a day, I have an attack of this particular mental disease. I open my mouth, and my Advanced Adept Advisor, my professor, my friend, my spouse (you get the idea), tells me that I do not understand the entire situation and am sadly mistaken. Sometimes I even listen...provided that four cats are sitting in Grand Cross formation.

Yes, I want to be brilliant. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the right crowd to tell me how wonderful I am. Damn it, where are my worshipful minions?!

And if you have worshipful minions, please leave a note in the comment section about where you found them; how much you have to bribe them; and how soon you think it will be before they revolt against you.

Internet postings are forever

Occasionally, I get requests (emails) asking me to delete old postings of mine. The latest was from someone concerned that the posts were going to be indexed by search engines, and that their employer and friends were going to discover their religion. Of course, they did not indicate what postings I mentioned them in, or the site or forum, or even what the postings were about. Given the fact that I have been involved on the internet for ten years now (I think), and average several posts and comments a week, that is a lot of posts that I would have to go though if I was even remotely inclined to delete things.

There was also the little fact that I did not recognize the name or email address of the person making the request. So without more information, I have no idea where (or how far back) to even start looking.

And this is assuming that I even have the authority to delete the postings that this person is concerned about in the first place. Often on forums, the only people who have the authority to delete anything are the list owners. So both I and this party would have to ask for the posts to be removed...and if they do not give them any more information than they did me...well, there is an new old saying "Things you say and do on the internet are forever."

This is something I think a lot of people forget. The things that you post on internet forums, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are forever. Between internet caches, system backups, saved emails and files, and the occasional hard-copy printout, your activity on the internet has the potential to be around much longer than you might think it does.

(This is one of the hidden reasons that we will never see the various Golden Dawn groups clean up their internet past. It is a lot of work for very little gain considering that someone could come along and create a new website and put it all back up online shortly after they do their cleanup.)

Before you start posting on the internet, especially if you are doing and saying things that might cost you a job or a relationship later, you need to decide what you are willing and unwilling to deal with. What are you willing to have be public knowledge for the rest of your life and beyond? Know your limits and stay in your limits...and don't change your mind (because it is really hard to change your mind later).

And don't plan on getting a lot of help from people like me who have busy lives either if you change your mind later. Between my college homework and being a freelance writer I do not have time for a fishing trip to locate an unknown post. Remember you are responsible for your own internet reputation: Don't post anything that you don't want your boss, lover or grandmother to read.

If you are going to get burned…

Earlier this week on one of the forums, I got to watch (read) another episode of When GDers Attack! I wish I could say that I am surprised at what happened, but I am not.

For a long time, I have been watching the community break into various camps. It is natural. Get three human beings together and you get politics.

At this point in time, it has not hit the point where I would label it politics, but it is getting there.

Basically, what I am seeing is the up-and-comers not living up to the standards of the old guard, and the old guard saying it openly and loudly. The up-and-comers believe that the old guard is outdated, and have not a clue. And both sides are dragging out documents to prove it.

Now, I will admit that when I saw what the member of the old guard was complaining about that I agreed with the old guard. This time the up-and-coming member had fallen far from the mark.

If I was to give the up-and-coming some advice it would be: If you are going to get burned, go for broke! Push the envelope!

The worst that can happen is that you end up looking like a fool.

(Think about it using both ways of reading that sentence. Do you want to risk either? If so, go for broke!)

If you do not want to get burned in the Golden Dawn community, you keep your mouth shut. Anyone who opens their mouth is leaving themselves open to gasoline and matches; or rather venom and criticism…gasoline and matches would actually be easier to deal with.

The old guard is being attacked for being respected and in a position of authority. Every young punk with a copy of Regardie is trying to prove themselves smarter than the old guard (or Crowley, Mathers and Westcott if they think the living old guard amounts to nothing).

The up-and-comers are attacked in return. The up-and-comers are supposed to be the next generation of leaders and experts. And if they ever hope to have any real authority, they need to learn to push the envelope and not be happy with the standard that is currently in play.

Full disclosure: Did you notice that I did not mention any names? The reason for that was it was different set of people last week, and it will be another set of people next week. No matter when you read this post, it will remain current if I do not mention any actual names.

How are Forums moderated?

Last month, Servitor Lucem posted the following question about someone who might be a poser (in my comment section): On moderated fora, why do such posts get to the list? Now there is a mystery.

And while I do not know the specifics of that particular case, I do know something about the moderation of internet forums. After all, I have done that myself on occasion. So exactly how and why are internet forums moderated?

The how is that the owner, and sometimes a couple of other people they appoint, chose to approve posts before they are "published" on the internet.

There are various levels of moderation which makes it hard sometimes to figure out who the moderators are. For instance, on the Golden Dawn Forum, which is moderated by VH Frater CN (Martin), Pat Zalewski is on the "automatically approved" setting; his posts go though as soon as he hits "post". Due to this, new members often think that he is one of the moderators; he is not; it is just that his posts are preapproved.

There are a couple of forums where my own membership is on auto-accept for my posts. I am not a moderator, but I have gained the trust of the forum owners so my posts just go though without having to wait for a moderator to approve them manually.

Conversely, some people have annoyed the moderators of various groups so much that none of their posts get approved. The most infamous example of this is Enochian Chess Steve. Given his style of arguing and the fact that he does so much advertising, most Golden Dawn forums are not letting his posts though at all.

In between these two states are all the rest of the members. The very fact that some posts make it to the boards without moderation makes it hard to tell if your own posts are getting though. There are a couple of forums where occasionally it can take a couple of days for a post to be approved. Sometimes you can even tell when someone thought that their post was rejected because they rewrite it and try again, and end up with a couple of posts on the same subject (one complete with an apology for the rejected post that actually ended up being approved).

To understand why certain posts get approved and others rejected, we must understand the why of moderation.

At one time on the internet, moderation was not even possible. Yes, back in the first pixel age, everybody's posts were automatically accepted. It was a happy time, then some unhappy people invented flames and spam; they ruined it for the rest of us.

When I first started running forums, I did not use moderation. I thought that there was better uses for my time.

Then I had a forum go down in flames. Within a forty-eight hour period, there was so much mud slinging and setting fire to people that I was forced to put the forum on moderation. The forum never recovered.

Since then, my forums are either private (invite only) or automatically moderated. The latest one that I am kicking around ideas for, Rocky Mountain Golden Dawn (I might be changing the name of it), is already set for all posts to be moderated. The doors have not even been opened yet (though you could join if you want to), and I am presuming that trouble could happen if I am not careful.

If it wasn't for flames and spam, none of us would go though the trouble of moderating posts; it is a time consuming task; it also involves checking you email on a regular basis, a pain if you are busy with other projects.

So how do I personally chose what posts are allowed to go though (the same holds true for the comment section of my blogs)?

First off, I have a short list of people that I trust. As long as they do not spam the group to death (the occasional ad is fine, but you better be contributing a lot more than just that), I just let their posts though. Some people will never get on this list: spammers, flamers, and politicians (do not tell me your Order is better than mine).

After that, I will admit that it is based on whim and my mood. On a day, I am feeling good, I will let things though that on a bad day, I would reject automatically. Then there is the fun-filled, let's feed the sharks moments.

Like the recent might be a poser, his posts are just the type I might let though because I am curious to see the reactions of the other members. It is like throwing a bloody pig into a shark tank; it is amusing to see the feeding frenzy.

(I never claimed to be a nice person, have I?)

Now, one of the big things that the leaders of the Big Name Orders would like to see is the automatic rejection of anoymous attacks. Now, I have rejected several attempts to post links to smear sites in my comment section here. Personally, I reject such things because they are not what I want to read. And I have no desire to create them myself ( I believe that the best Orders will succeed based on what they have to offer to their membership; nothing else matters).

But I am not sure that it will become standard policy of moderated forums. And there are always the rogue forums that crop up (typically called "watchdog"). But that is a subject for another day. So there you have it: it is sadistic whim that allows the posts of possible posers though; someone wanted to be amused by watching the sharks feed.

(By the way, I am innocent; I am not a member of that particular forum's staff. As always when talking about the workings of other group, this is only my opinion; I could be wrong.)