Suggestion Thread.

Hello my fellow cardslingers (and lurkers).

Two and a half years ago I posted a thread asking for suggestions for infusing some enthusiasm in to the tarot board.

Well, here I am again

We received the good news that SF is staying open, now it's up to us to make this area active.

What would members like to participate in here?

Would people who are just embarking on the tarot journey like a thread on learning the cards? learning spreads and connecting the dots between the cards?

Using tarot to plan? to manifest?

Should we resurrect the tarot games?

Give me suggestions folks. I'd love to see our little tarot space become something that makes other people want to join us.

[tealily]

Where my head goes is to try and figure out who is currently here and what they need - can we do a poll? Even if to get a sense of "beginner" vs "curious onlooker" vs "serious practicer" vs "advanced", as we may all have different needs :)

One thing I do like from the reddit forums is their "Weekly Interpretation Help" thread - it's like the Barefoot Investor's version of the 'Golden Retriever Space' where anyone - usually a beginner - can post up a reading they've done for themselves or others, post up their interpretation, and get some feedback. It's a slightly less-intimidating way to get feedback without necessarily needing to whip up a whole new thread; I've always wondered if there are more people who want to post, but don't feel like it's "their" space, eg a number of the more frequent posters are at a different stage of their tarot journey. We certainly don't want to discourage people from posting, so maybe we need more 'spaces'? (eg tarot subforums or regular beginner-friendly threads) :)

In terms of attracting more folks - particularly to assist SF in getting enough people to join some kind of annual subscription fee to help with covering overheads - I would be curious if we need to go full-on 'That Other Forum That Started With "A" with subforums for Kipper/Lenormand/Oracle etc (and associated Practice Readings/Games threads), or work on at least getting some sort of internal Reading Request/Practice reading subforum and maybe a separate games subforum.

I appreciate the recent sticky requesting in-thread tarot discussion - although my interpretation of the tarot subforum is the whole thing is discussion so maybe looking more into subforums/a subforum restructure may be more appropriate :)

Oh, one other biggie: From an educational point of view, a huuuugggeee obstacle to open education discussion is an inability to link to any 'commercial' online resources (defined as any other website that charges money), even if I cite sources. For example, I've been unable to name 'The Other Forum That Started with "A" ' - similarly, I am unable to link to specific blog posts from The Tarot Lady / various Tarot Deck creators / any other incredibly useful blog post that may have a minor monetisation component (eg even if that blogger has a small section of their website where they sell an online self-help book). I am a huge supporter of 'no spam' / 'no unsolicited advertising' in tarot forums - but for the SF tarot community to grow, I think this is an SF ruling that needs to change.

The good news is that we aren't in breach of copyright (ever) by simply linking to another website that sells product or service for profit - I have always been confused as to why that is apparently the reason why we can't link to "commercial" websites (because all this really is, is free advertising/SEO backlink to that particular page).

To be in breach of intellectual property, you would need to copy and paste (without citing sources AND claiming the text as yours) a large portion of someone else's text into SF. A simple link to someone else's blog post, product, or service is not a breach of copyright :) (again, this is actually just free advertising/a free SEO backlink - which those authors and websites usually desperately desire!).

Hi tealily
I've missed seeing you around.
I agree, being able to link to credible resources makes it tricky. I can't even have a link to my blog because I have a page on it that re-direct to my online store.

Maybe, for a small monthly subscription (say, $5 usd) we could have a place in the members only section where all members with small soul centred businesses could post their links.
There is so much info for budding readers, so many excellent free resources out there.

I know the site doesn't condone commercial links and those large commercial sites (thinking of a specific 'tarot' one that is mostly a vehicle to market the owners extremely expensive courses) get plenty of visibility on Internet searches, however, the world has changed greatly and small biz owners (specifically spiritually orientated) are struggling to stay visible and viable.
I'd be happy to pay a monthly sub so members could go and read my rambles and see what I offer, no hard sell, no obligation, they can come back here and ask for a free reading if that's what they want to do.
I'm sure it would be possible to submit the links for approval prior to subscribing and Lynn could have control over the type of online businesses deemed acceptable and bring in some revenue for upgrading the site.

[tealily]

ah, I agree, a "advertise my site" (aeclectic-style) subforum would be a good draw for paid subscription.

Aeclectic (which I can now name because it no longer has a paid membership subscription) did it well: Everyone was allowed to post an ad, but only once a month in a paid-membership-only subforum. This prevents advertising anywhere else within the forum whilst still encouraging advanced/professional readers to contribute and be active members of the community. If we're playing fair, even the website beginning with "B" should be allowed to post :) (though I don't think they will. They have bigger fish to fry!)

Reddit also does it well: most tarot subforums allow advertising "in-flair" (the little bit of text under our usernames) but otherwise only permit advertisements within a designated monthly thread. This prevents advertising anywhere else within the forum whilst still encouraging advanced/professional readers to contribute and be active members of the community.

With respect to direct linking to monetised blog posts/websites/web links etc, My suggestion would be that the owner/administrative team (annonafox + admin/mod team which includes Lynn and Clover) change or re-clarify their stance on linking to any sites that may have any kind of relationship to monetisation. I'm cool if they stick with the current ruling, but a) the ability to direct link may actually greatly assist in preventing breaches of intellectual property/copyright (as we will be able to direct link, and not be forced to either paraphrase or be tempted to cut and paste web copy), and b) it may remove limitation to discussion.

From the sticky it kind of sounds like someone said "take down my link immediately!", which is weird - I can only assume it's web copy that was also posted, and this is what was required to be removed (ie intellectual property breach). Actual linking of a website is legally permitted. Maybe once upon a time there was a really really crazy person who wrote to SF and said "how dare you allow someone to post www.(insertnameofwebsitehere).com on your website, take that domain link down immediately", but they're not actually allowed to do that :) EDIT: The more I think about this, the more I wonder why someone hasn't brought this up with the admin/mod team. I know there are some big discussions at the moment, maybe I'll mention something in appropriate subforum tomorrow after I sleep :)

For example, I don't have a personal interest in linking to my own external blogs/sites etc, but I WOULD be interested in posts direct linking to new tarot artworks, comics, jokes, kickstarter campaigns about new decks, new tarot books etc... (most of which have a site monetisation component, sensibly, to be financially self-sufficient) and at this time, my understanding is that we can't direct link to any of that at the moment because... the sites have a monetisation component. I'm actually really supportive of SF to bring on a formalised monetisation component itself (ie paid premium membership) so it's financially self-sufficient too :)

It is 1000x times easier for me to type out "oh hey, this link answers your question really well" rather than type out paragraphs of original text paraphrasing someone else's work (and if this paraphrasing isn't "original" enough, then yes, the author can claim a copyright infringement... again, one more argument to permit direct links to be posted here :) ). I think it's nice to always show respect to original authors/creators/teachers, so anytime I reference someone else's words or work, I like to provide a direct link to the original source rather than try to paraphrase too much - but since SF doesn't allow me to do that, I usually end up taking the conversation elsewhere (typing out "I'm not allowed to provide the link here, but if you Google ______ it should be within the top 5 pages" got old fast).

This could require a wee bit more active modding to weed out any unsolicited in-forum advertising - but it would permit more sharing of, and respectful acknowledgement of, original sources - both small and well-known :)

-------

Back on topic though - tarot games are always fun! I would just recommend these are done sustainably - maybe a new thread every month rather than every week.

Opening up the floor to other contributers. C'mon, it's definitely not only 55degrees and me in here

[Clover]

Originally Posted by tealily

Opening up the floor to other contributers. C'mon, it's definitely not only 55degrees and me in here

love you guys Sorry, let me think of ideas/Something

[Clover]

I apologize I haven't contributed, I just need time to let it all soak in, I need to read your posts a couple times too later when I get the chance, I do sometimes have trouble focusing on content and being brash ( ADHD--at least my doctor says LOL). I am a little busy, atm, but, your voices are being heard.

For me, its baby steps. We have had this system for 13 years, so its going to take time to adjust to new ideas. Myself included. I am still wired to how I moderate around the original founded rules. My hopeful wish for now at this moment, if it's possible, is to have our very own section. Right now we are filed under the category "Divination", so if its possible, i do hope we get a new category for tarot, that itself would be a huge milestone for us and the forum



@55Degreess-- I have dozens tarot decks, I love the idea of a tarot review section of decks. I mean, its such an easy conversation starter too. However, I want to be careful with self promotions, if it can be done without making it seem like its an advertisement. Again, I understand this falls under what Tealily was explaining about not intentionally wanting to 'promote'. I got to think about it with my team, get their opinion when the time is right ( we are overwhelmed with the 're opening' and messages at the moment). Most of the tarot groups I follow online, particularly Facebook do not allow sales or paid psychics, they get banned too, however, they also are more lenient when it comes to sharing resources. I get that.

We'll see, baby steps. I welcome your opinions/voices very much :)

Thanks,

Cloves

[Lynn]

Hello

We are working on it. Tarot is huge now with more and more turning to it as a valued "Tool" to use for guidance.

I agree we make baby steps going forwards.

Lynn
SF Admin

[FairyCrystal]

Using sites that happen to also sell... The way I sorted that on my own spiritual forum at the time was WHY these were linked.
If it was CONTEXTUAL and to ADD to a conversation, it was fine.
If it was only to SELL I'd delete it.

NEVER had a problem with it. It was crystal clear, and only a handful newbies over the 6 years I ran my forum who tried to do so anyway. Easily sorted. It wasn't like suddenly loads of people abused it.
If I'd start another forum -hypothetically speaking- I would do the EXACT same thing. For the sheer reason it is almost impossible to have decent content on your forum without this.
Plus, it takes lots of time for mods and admin to check out every frigging link now.
With 'my' way of doing it back then you can already tell by
- context
- who posted it. Someone only trying to sell usually only had 1-2 messages.

It truly is a very easy way and it would enhance the quality of these forums tremendously, the value of the info for others would increase.

Definitely a review section.
Not 'pretty pictures' but a real review of card quality, shuffle-ability (I know, it's not a real word, I've just made a word ). Read-ability. How much info does the guidebook offer, does it give the artists vision/method/insights (useful) or is it just basic keywords (useless). Does it read well for specific subject areas. Traditional or non traditional.

[Clover]

Quick update: The Tarot section just got it's new category. It's titled, Tarot and Oracle Cards. We are no longer a subcategory!! Great Success!

Many thanks, Lynn & AnnonaFox.




I'll catch up in the morning with some more feedback from the previous comments. It's been a hectic day for me and I need sleep. Stay safe everyone.