As someone who performs mostly as a close up magician I thought I would ask this question to other close up performers based on something Dave over at PropDog said:

As there are a lot of new effects have misleading trailers which of the two would your prefer dealers to do

A/ should the trailer be an unedited full performance so that you and the public can see the effect from start to finish as it is done in the real world

B/ Should the trailer show a full performance followed be exposing the secret so that you can and the public can see exactly how its done

No need for reasons just a simple A or B reply would be nice

A.

A.

A

Given only those two choices, I would choose A. But I do think that there are many effects in which we're paying more for the unique or original presentation, than for the method itself. In those cases, I'd say the presentation -is- the secret, and an unedited full performance might be unfair to the seller, since the video gives it away for free.

A

I would agree with this - just look at some of Scott Alexander's products such as cards across & paper tear.
Also, I don't think that the choices are as binary as A or B - the determined lay person will probably be able to search out the secret of the product from a mix of magic shops, YouTube and forums...

Puggo/Keith, as always I respect what you say and obviously by limiting the choices you would think people would and should choose option A if they have ethics. The point of the question is that Dave over at PropDog thinks that customers would rather have a video that explains the secret out in the open for all to see including the general public rather than a video which gives an untrue representation of the effect.

Now whilst I agree partly with what he's saying ie magicians would rather see a true video that shows what they are buying I don't think they actually would want the method exposed for anybody that happens to stumble across it to see especially given the price of magic effects these days.

My argument is that if Dave feels so strongly about the untrue video's surely he could just show unedited videos that show a full performance rather than an exposure video, I'm not saying every dealer should do it and I know that's not always the best solution but I really believe it's a better option than exposing the method for those that haven't paid for the effect and the general public to see.

It's been brought to my attention that these videos are not easy to find however they can be found especially when the effect is being performed on YouTube by other magicians and giving a shout out to where the effect can be purchased as is the case with his latest effect.

Now just to be clear it's Dave's effect and he can do what he wants with it but obviously by doing the exposure type sell your always going to get comments off old school magicians such as myself. This is not a slur on Dave's company as I know from personal experience that PropDog offer a great service and do everything in their power to look after their customers, I just don't believe exposure is the answer and from the responses I've seen on here I believe that most magicians given the choice would rather see an unedited performance over an exposure video that the general public can see.

I'm sorry I thought these were the parameters. Are we discussing now?

Not really discussing I just thought I would clarify why I went for a simple A or B answer

However feel free to discuss amongst yourselves though.

Very true, A

A.

Of course ... A

The secret is part of what you're buying so it cannot be B.