MAKE MONEY TELLING STUPID PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR, SRSLY.

[Salty]

In my experience with these things, offering strangers readings for free: People don't want advice, not even the kind they want to hear. People want to be heard. They want to talk your ear off, giving you plenty of material even if cold reading is not your attention. They want someone to say, uh-huh, okay, yeah sure, and mostly keep your clap shut.

Sometimes they have problems that need expert help and you can show them the way to get that help.

That said, I never had the stomach for a career with this shit.

[Bella]

Hi, everybody! I'm back......at least for the moment.

This thread was irresistible.


For exactly 10 years this month, I've been making my living reading tarot cards via a site called keen.com Prior to that, I worked as crisis counselor and victim advocate. The sole reason I switched to reading cards is $$$. I was a single mom making hardly enough money to get by until the switch to reading cards quadrupled my formerly pathetic income.

Do I tell people what they want to hear? Not unless it's really what I see in the cards.
Do I practice cold reading?  No. I have no objection to someone doing cold readings, but it's no way to build a solid base of returning customers.
Do I refer my callers to more traditional sources of help? All the time.
Do I feel bad about charging a shitload of money? Nope.

My conscience bothered me a little until I realized that what the people want is a friendly stranger they can bare their souls to without having to face any repercussions in real life - just like Alty said. They don't want to be told they're spending too much money or calling too often or becoming dependent on their psychic. 

Bella,

Who sleeps on that bed of money next to the Love Stoat.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

foretelling their future, or arming them with information to fix a broken relationship

even if you are right about most things and the information you give helps fix it? guess I'm unethical then.

& how, how may you ask: How do I sleep at night?

ON A BED OF FUCKING MONEY! that's how.  

Moral high-ground. Brilliantly uncrackable.

I'm not talking about actual advice; I'm talking about "psychic" advice that doesn't actually have any bearing on the situation.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My friend, who I will for the sake of conversation call Carolina, has a little-girl voice, but that is simply because of the length of her vocal cords. You know that most people don't have any control over that, right? She's a drama major, and has done significant voice modulation training, but her natural speaking range sounds more like that of a little girl than my 12-year-old does.

I have a fairly deep voice for a woman. I didn't do anything to make it that way.

Some smaller-than-average people have natural squeaky voices. And sure theres some cases where biologically its how they turned out.

And its exactly because people dont have any control over their voices that i can take it as an extra bit of information i can read on them.

I havent observed if deep voices mean anything so far.

Speaking out of the context of this thread: you can get much information just from watching clothing and accesories choices, hairstyle, piercings, voice tone, posture, gait, body movements, facial hair.

But how does the pitch of someone's voice tell you anything about them other than what the pitch of their voice is?

I'm tiny, BTW, and Carolina is quite tall and built like a German farmgirl. Overall physical size is only marginally related to the length of one's vocal cords, which is the main determining factor in vocal frequency.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

But how does the pitch of someone's voice tell you anything about them other than what the pitch of their voice is?

I'm tiny, BTW, and Carolina is quite tall and built like a German farmgirl. Overall physical size is only marginally related to the length of one's vocal cords, which is the main determining factor in vocal frequency.

It can mean arrested development.

Do you really see no correlation at all between voice and character/personality?

Intonation, sure, but not frequency. Some people speak in a forced high voice, but that's entirely different from having extra-short vocal cords, which is what gives you a higher-pitched voice. Carolina's vocal cords are very short, hence she still has the vocal frequency of a girl of around 12, while I and all three of my children have longer vocal cords. My son and younger daughter have had unusually deep voices for their age their whole lives... and they're very different in personality. One of my friend's sons is 14 and has a higher speaking voice than my oldest daughter, who is 12.

I think that you might be confusing behavior with physiology; a woman who talks like a little girl is different from a woman who has the voice of a little girl.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

 

[Lies]

Hi, everybody! I'm back......at least for the moment.

This thread was irresistible.


For exactly 10 years this month, I've been making my living reading tarot cards via a site called keen.com Prior to that, I worked as crisis counselor and victim advocate. The sole reason I switched to reading cards is $$$. I was a single mom making hardly enough money to get by until the switch to reading cards quadrupled my formerly pathetic income.

Do I tell people what they want to hear? Not unless it's really what I see in the cards.
Do I practice cold reading?  No. I have no objection to someone doing cold readings, but it's no way to build a solid base of returning customers.
Do I refer my callers to more traditional sources of help? All the time.
Do I feel bad about charging a shitload of money? Nope.

My conscience bothered me a little until I realized that what the people want is a friendly stranger they can bare their souls to without having to face any repercussions in real life - just like Alty said. They don't want to be told they're spending too much money or calling too often or becoming dependent on their psychic.  

Bella,

Who sleeps on that bed of money next to the Love Stoat.

Bella, while you may be thinking you aren't telling people anything but what the cards tell you, and that you're not doing cold reading, I disagree.

Having researched and tried all different sorts of divination techniques and having a keen interest in psychic abilities and how things can *seem* psychic but are not (this is me doing some "psychic" entertainment http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGoodRevFelix#p/a/u/1/7OSDTotEHIQ) and knowing that to most people can't tell the difference between "genuine" psychics and charlatans like myself, I believe that pretty much all diviners who think they're legit have just convinced themselves that what they are doing is real, but really, you're just using cold reading and feeding the people what they want to hear, even if you think you're not.

I've met a few 'psychics' in my time who claim not to use cold reading, yet when I get them to show me what they can do, it all amounts to cold reading, they just don't "label" it as such in their minds.
The only difference between what I do (or any professional mentalist) and what they do is, I can get better results then them because I actually understand the process, where as they are just just really guessing and using barnum statements without knowing what constitutes as a barnum statement.

Please though, don't get me wrong, while I do have my doubts as to your "authenticity", it's interesting to see what one such as yourself would have to say about the practice, and I heartily encourage such mindfuckery.

Who knows, maybe there really is such a thing as psychic ability. I know your cat believes in it, Bella

[The Johnny]

Lysergic:

MY CRYSTAL BALLS SAY THAT EVEN DO YOU AIM TO RIP PEOPLE OFF OF THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY THAT COULD GO TO THEIR CHILDREN (BY ERIS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!) THAT DEEP DOWN YOU ARE JUST RESENTED AND HAVE A REPRESSED LOVE FOR YOUR MOM AND WANT TO KILL YOUR FATHER, ALSO THAT YOU HAVE A LATENT HOMOSEXUALITY THAT IS EVIDENCED THRU YOUR REJECTAL OF A BED FULL OF GREEN MONEYS AND NAKED BELLA (AND BY ERIS! WHAT IS HOTTER THAN A GIRL WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE MISTRESS OF A SPARKLY VAMPIRE!)

THIS ALL SHALL PASS WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON WHEN YOU RUN BY CHANCE INTO AN OLD FRIEND YOU HAVENT SEEN IN A LOT OF YEARS AND HAVE A BREAKTHROUGH WITH YOUR DREAMS, BUT YOUR DREAMS CAN ONLY STAY ALIVE THRU HOPE, BECAUSE IF YOU DONT HAVE DREAMS AND YOU DONT HAVE HOPES, YOU DONT HAVE HAPPINESS, AND IF YOU DONT HAVE HAPPINESS, LIFE POSES NO MEANING, AND IF THERES NO MEANING TO YOUR DREAMS THEN YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HOPE!!!

I VISUALIZE YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS THIS WEEK ARE 69-11-7-666

Now pay me, fucker.

-JohNyx,
  doesnt make psychic readings,
  but for sure makes pseudo-psychological ones.

[Lies]

Lysergic:

MY CRYSTAL BALLS SAY THAT EVEN DO YOU AIM TO RIP PEOPLE OFF OF THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY THAT COULD GO TO THEIR CHILDREN (BY ERIS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!) THAT DEEP DOWN YOU ARE JUST RESENTED AND HAVE A REPRESSED LOVE FOR YOUR MOM AND WANT TO KILL YOUR FATHER, ALSO THAT YOU HAVE A LATENT HOMOSEXUALITY THAT IS EVIDENCED THRU YOUR REJECTAL OF A BED FULL OF GREEN MONEYS AND NAKED BELLA (AND BY ERIS! WHAT IS HOTTER THAN A GIRL WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE MISTRESS OF A SPARKLY VAMPIRE!)

THIS ALL SHALL PASS WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON WHEN YOU RUN BY CHANCE INTO AN OLD FRIEND YOU HAVENT SEEN IN A LOT OF YEARS AND HAVE A BREAKTHROUGH WITH YOUR DREAMS, BUT YOUR DREAMS CAN ONLY STAY ALIVE THRU HOPE, BECAUSE IF YOU DONT HAVE DREAMS AND YOU DONT HAVE HOPES, YOU DONT HAVE HAPPINESS, AND IF YOU DONT HAVE HAPPINESS, LIFE POSES NO MEANING, AND IF THERES NO MEANING TO YOUR DREAMS THEN YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HOPE!!!

I VISUALIZE YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS THIS WEEK ARE 69-11-7-666

Now pay me, fucker.

-JohNyx,
  doesnt make psychic readings,
  but for sure makes pseudo-psychological ones.

OMG GET OUT OF MY HEAD 

[Lies]

lol cat I seewhatudidthar.

I'm stating, once more for the record that your confusing psychic with fortune teller, and cold reading with actual telling.

aaanyways this should be funny. All I'm saying is Scottish play Act 1. Scene V. enjoy.

Most people do confuse all those things too.

I realize there is a difference, and I still stand by what I said.

[Lies]

ps to note edit.

Edit noted, still standing by what I've said.

Reading tarot cards is no different from cold reading, it's just a different way of doing it.

[Lies]

Actually, I do have one thing to change about what I've just said- include 'Speaking as a magician/mentalist'.

Sometimes I do wonder if there is such a thing as real ESP/psychics, but I haven't met anyone ever who's convinced me of this.

Also, Amazing Randi's million dollar challenge. Still waiting for *anyone* to claim that million.

[Lies]

Lys: does saying to Randi "Hey Randi, dude, I KNOW FOR A FACT you are not going to give me this million, as I predicted it with my powers" net you a million or does Randi's head assplode?

Dunno man, but I wanna try it now and see.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

However, there is nothing about the psychic industry which isn't based upon knowingly perpetuating lies which lower the average intelligence of our species.

How exactly does "perpetuating lies" lower the average intelligence of our species?

In the specific instance of the psychic industry, it is peddling fairy tales rather than education.  It is encouraging a belief in magical thinking, you know - the sort where everybody ends up believing that God/the universe/gaia/Simon Cowell favours them uniquely ahead of the rest of the pack.  The easy-fix mentality which kept Billy Mays bathed in cocaine and hookers, $19.95* sized chunks at a time.

You can call it a placebo, which helps and comforts desperate people in times of need, I call it a poison.

Yes, it's absolutely brutal and unethical to utilize a person's life long worldview (that they never will change) in order to profit and provide them comfort.

There's no ethical problem with placebos unless it is administered as a cure, or otherwise prevents people from seeking medical help for a serious medical issue. I highly doubt that people call psychics for any sort of medical advice.

You also have offered no evidence about how simply telling a person a lie lowers everyone's intelligence. In fact, I'd say your claim is a lie and that instead of lowering people's intelligence you are provoking the truth to smack you in the face, for all to see.

I can cite several studies that demonstrate telling lies, can actually measurably raise people's performance on tests of intelligence.

Placebos, by definition, cause actual beneficial effects. You calling that poison merely demonstrates just how much you're talking out of your ass.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Also, Amazing Randi's million dollar challenge. Still waiting for *anyone* to claim that million.

Try the other one