Are we plateauing?

[prudence]

Hyper-sensitivity, yes, that is one major bugaboo that pops up here in some of the most unexpected places. I mean, I love tarot, love my decks, but sometimes I am floored by how utterly seriously some of us take this subject. It's hard to want to join discussions when making what feels like a very practical statement can somehow cause other members to lose their shit completely....

If one cannot make a statement about let's say a tarot deck being left completely unattended at a public event, and how doing so may leave your deck open to anyone coming up and having a look (or swiping it outright, just as might happen if it were a wallet or cellphone), and that if I had done such a thing that I'd really have no one to blame but myself for having left it unattended in public, I was told that this opinion was the same as blaming a rape victim for wearing too short a skirt. Having a very personal knowledge of rape and all it entails, this comment was to me, so incredibly over the top and uncalled for...and we were merely talking about an unattended tarot deck getting looked through at a public event. Hyper-sensitivity has no place in civil conversations about matters that do not pertain to life and death, and it tends to kill off any desire to engage in any topic being discussed.

 

[GryffinSong]

...because most of the people seem to have such different opinions and backgrounds than me...

I run into this a lot myself. And yet I think that any time one of us is feeling like an alien with different views, we are not alone. When I've dared to dip my toe into a discussion with a differing viewpoint, someone else always seems to chime in that they feel the same. We're a huge forum, and a diverse one. I hope that others will continue to chime in with differing viewpoints. It keeps things interesting, and reminds me to continue to voice my own truth too. If we don't speak out, how will anyone know that there are different opinions and backgrounds?

So, my opinion? Dive in.

 

[gregory]

I do have to say that the search feature here is abominable. It's not the fault of anyone---it's the software. I've been here a long time and even though I've figured out how to use it fairly well for certain kinds of questions, I don't blame newcomers who just give up and ask a question that's been asked a bijillion times before.

The advanced search with google works pretty well... But I just putr a suggestion in the ideas thread - I will put it here too:

I just had a brilliant idea !!!

When you go for search – is there perhaps a way to add links to the index threads set up in the various forums, so that you think – Oh, maybe look at those first ? Or maybe if they could come up as stickies at the top of EVERY search result ? I’m all for new threads etc – but if people are genuinely searching for something, it could help.

I think this is like the old saying, "if you want to have a friend, be a friend". If we want the forum not to plateau, then we have to put our minds to figuring out how to keep it from that. And I don't mean just trying to think of more stimulating topics to post or better questions to ask. That's putting the problem out for someone else to solve, it's not actually a remedy. We're bored so we want to ask stimulating questions to make others say things that will be more interesting to us. Do you see what I mean?

Yes - and many of us tried to do that the last time this came up...

Hyper-sensitivity, yes, that is one major bugaboo that pops up here in some of the most unexpected places. I mean, I love tarot, love my decks, but sometimes I am floored by how utterly seriously some of us take this subject. It's hard to want to join discussions when making what feels like a very practical statement can somehow cause other members to lose their shit completely....

If one cannot make a statement about let's say a tarot deck being left completely unattended at a public event, and how doing so may leave your deck open to anyone coming up and having a look (or swiping it outright, just as might happen if it were a wallet or cellphone), and that if I had done such a thing that I'd really have no one to blame but myself for having left it unattended in public, I was told that this opinion was the same as blaming a rape victim for wearing too short a skirt. Having a very personal knowledge of rape and all it entails, this comment was to me, so incredibly over the top and uncalled for...and we were merely talking about an unattended tarot deck getting looked through at a public event. Hyper-sensitivity has no place in civil conversations about matters that do not pertain to life and death, and it tends to kill off any desire to engage in any topic being discussed.

YES YES YES YES.

I speak as one who was once told to f*** off in a thread here - posted in such a way that it stayed up there for 24 hours. I was amused. We need to be able to be amused by stuff like that rather than taking a snit ! OK - not necessarily amused - but at least not to get our knickers twisted. (I remember that thread. It was insane. Luckily I wasn't hit that hard when I was blasted for saying it was up for grabs if it was left lying there, but still.)

 

[vee]

If one cannot make a statement about let's say a tarot deck being left completely unattended at a public event, and how doing so may leave your deck open to anyone coming up and having a look (or swiping it outright, just as might happen if it were a wallet or cellphone), and that if I had done such a thing that I'd really have no one to blame but myself for having left it unattended in public, I was told that this opinion was the same as blaming a rape victim for wearing too short a skirt. Having a very personal knowledge of rape and all it entails, this comment was to me, so incredibly over the top and uncalled for...and we were merely talking about an unattended tarot deck getting looked through at a public event. Hyper-sensitivity has no place in civil conversations about matters that do not pertain to life and death, and it tends to kill off any desire to engage in any topic being discussed.

As another person with a very personal knowledge of rape, I would not react well to that at all, wow.

We're a huge forum, and a diverse one. I hope that others will continue to chime in with differing viewpoints. It keeps things interesting, and reminds me to continue to voice my own truth too. If we don't speak out, how will anyone know that there are different opinions and backgrounds?

So, my opinion? Dive in.

I agree with you, it's just my personal insecurities I'm trying to combat. I will definitely try.

 

[kabang]

This is an interesting thread. I've popped in and out of AT over the years, but never really been a "part" of it. I lurk and read a lot, but I don't post much. I think I get nervous over things exactly like this: what are the people actually interested in, what discussions are no-nos, do these people who've been reading cards for decades and have over 10,000 posts here *really* care about what some flaky girl has to say. I guess I have social anxiety, even online. Not that anyone is mean, it's just intimidating, especially because most of the people seem to have such different opinions and backgrounds than me.

This. I'm a chronic lurker, and I don't post much. I certainly don't start many threads these days. Why? I worry about the constant refrain of, "Oh, that's been answered before, do a search," or the moving of misplaced threads. It IS intimidating. I think I'm afraid of putting my foot in my mouth or inadvertently starting a flame war.

Honestly, the "Do a search," answer drives me friggin' nuts. Unless it's been answered in the past two weeks, isn't it possible that people's answers have changed? We all learn and grow and do things differently over time, and I think we can assume that our answers to some of the basic questions change.

On the other hand, I'm a lurker and not much of an answerer, and I do get tired of reading the same old questions.

 

[MareSaturni]

EDITED: A mod let me know that I was getting off-topic, so I am deleting this post. I apologize.

 

[prudence]

A lot was discussed about the privacy invasion that it could represent to walk towards someone else's table and grabbing their deck, and about the very actions on accusing someone of being a 'con' based on the amount of cards in their deck - with many different opinions on this.

The interesting thing is that hyper-sensitivity has two sides - the person who answered your post may not have known about your personal knowledge of rape (or I am sure they would have never used such example), and said that he/she considered it offensive that someone would invade your space and blame you for 'leaving it open for invasion'. They may have not thought they were being hyper-sensitive. But they may have thought you were. So, it's a bit complicated, when opposite opinions come into play, but that is part of the whole 'discussion' thing.

If we cannot discuss a subject as ...I'll call it benign, as benign as someone looking through an unattended deck at a public event without it coming to exchanges in which it is compared to blaming a rape victim, then we really cannot have a civil, mature discussion on any topic. I would think we all know that as far as subjects of discussion are concerned, that rape is pretty effing serious, whereas touching someone's deck without permission is....not so much. I am sure we can agree on that. These kinds of over the top reactions will cause those of us who do not enjoy being personally attacked for sharing an opinion to pretty much hold back from any kind of participation.

And honestly, private things that are so utterly precious to the owner do not belong at public events unattended. Private things should stay private, and that way there is no easy access to invading someone's privacy. I should not have to point out that not all tarot readers consider their decks private, obviously as we see in this forum, some do, some see their decks as sacred, but I would bet those who share that particular trait would never dream of walking away from their deck left out in the open, un-boxed, in a busy place.

 

[MareSaturni]

If we cannot discuss a subject as ...I'll call it benign, as benign as someone looking through an unattended deck at a public event without it coming to exchanges in which it is compared to blaming a rape victim, then we really cannot have a civil, mature discussion on any topic. I would think we all know that as far as subjects of discussion are concerned, that rape is pretty effing serious, whereas touching someone's deck without permission is....not so much. I am sure we can agree on that. These kinds of over the top reactions will cause those of us who do not enjoy being personally attacked for sharing an opinion to pretty much hold back from any kind of participation.

And honestly, private things that are so utterly precious to the owner do not belong at public events unattended. Private things should stay private, and that way there is no easy access to invading someone's privacy. I should not have to point out that not all tarot readers consider their decks private, obviously as we see in this forum, some do, some see their decks as sacred, but I would bet those who share that particular trait would never dream of walking away from their deck left out in the open, un-boxed, in a busy place.

I will not answer to this directly, because we'd be in the risk of going off-topic. What I was saying that hyper-sensitivity, like opinion, has always two sides. So sadly we will never really reach a perfect balance on this matter, but that should not be a reason not to discuss and enrich our tarot practice and ideas.

The most heated discussion, including the ones in which I had to apologize for going over-the-top, helped me to overcome my own "tarot plateaus" many times. They got the blood moving, they made me reconsider some of my opinion and prejudices... and they made me more sure about certain aspects of my practice. I know I have always left many of these discussions having found a 'middle ground' for myself. Keeping some of the ideas I had, toning down the extreme ones, enriching myself with visions offered by other people... the exchange was a good medicine for the 'stuck' feeling I had concerning my tarot studies.

I remember I was one of the people who was against grabbing the deck just like that, but I was specially against the harsh judgement that was made about the unknown reader, simply because she left her deck around (and because it was missing cards). But this does not pertain to the topic, I think.

 

[Baroli]

personally, I think its the lack of humour these days in most of the threads. It can be a bit over-serious and this just doesnt work with me at all. I have to laugh as well as learn.

And, I think over the last 10 years of tarot and my time here and I can see how we have moved and out-grown the trends of tarot. Whilst we have all lusted after the next amazing deck on the market, those of us who have done it for a while know that the 'must have deck' will be soon replaced with another 'must have deck', every thread about MRP says how wonderful the decks are but moan about how Karen runs it (Karen, I personally think you do an amazing job).

It all gets a bit, old hat... and so 'old timers' lose that initial love and thirst, or get busy with their lives. I dont think AT has stagnated, but that the oldtimers might want to try to reclaim their initial feelings of tarot which they associate with AT... and of course it is AT that has changed, and not they themselves that have stagnated?

As an oldtimer, I haven't gotten stagnant, nor have any of the other "oldtimers." We have seen things come and go and come back. Doesn't bother us. We've just moved on. Most of us are on Facebook and having a blast.

 

[MareSaturni]

As an oldtimer, I haven't gotten stagnant, nor have any of the other "oldtimers." We have seen things come and go and come back. Doesn't bother us. We've just moved on. Most of us are on Facebook and having a blast.

Hey, where is the "old-timers" party happening now?