Originally published at: How psychics and tarot readers use software to fight online scams - Boing Boing
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OK, I’ll bite. What does the non-scammy version of tarot readers and psychics look like?
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I’m not sure what they mean by it, but for me, it’s when it’s worth the entertainment value. Like if I give a strange woman $20 and then have a delightful and deeply weird conversation for 15 minutes, that’s entertainment! I wasn’t scammed and she got her $20, for being enjoyable and providing an out of the ordinary experience.
My limit for wasting money like this is $20, though, definitely not any more. And, never for real issues or life advice, but it can be fun.
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I think the scammy part comes in when it’s not being presented as mere entertainment.
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As it always has been and forever shall be.
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“credibility”…Im sorry, but… 
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this comment too small to fit in margins
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I actually like Tarot. I have several decks, and my favorite is the Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot. Given the times, I think it’s a fantastic deck!
I’ve always thought of Tarot as medieval psychotherapy. Drawing the cards and reading their meanings gives me something to think about. It may or may not have anything to do with anything I’m going through at the time, but it always gives me food for thought.
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The problem is that you run into these enterprises where they have the small print that the service is for entertainment purposes only (winkwinknudgenudge). Even if they are well intentioned, ultimately the service their are providing isn’t based on honesty. And from what i’ve listened to in a podcast that deals with a lot of these folks (Oh No Ross & Carrie), a lot of these industries rely on upselling scam tactics, preying on people who are vulnerable, and at times you might run into people who aren’t even doing anything and they just rely on AI or a premade template to fake that they are giving a reading if it is done remotely/online.
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I also like tarot and other related sets. I don’t have many, maybe 4 different ones. More so because conceptually its fascinating and i like the artistic design behind them, but that’s as far as i go with it.
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Next time you have a tarot reading, ask them to do it again straight away, because it should be the same, right? They will give an answer like “ah, but the future is always changing…” .
In which case, what’s the point of doing a reading in the gd first place?
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Beyond categorizations of “scam” and “entertainment”, I’ve once or twice wondered if there has ever been a tarot reader (a true believer or not) who on occasion decided to ignore whatever ‘common’ interpretations could be squeezed from the cards and – compelled to offer truly needed advice – speak directly to the client’s issues. Something along the lines of, "Take the kids… get out of the house… call the cops… get a lawyer… now!" Something like that; you know what I mean.
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are a legitimate business providing spiritual services, rather than, ya know, a con artist using the guise of spiritual services to scam people out of money
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In the 90s, I worked at a call center for a software company. Among the plethora of other software we produced, there were programs for astrology, tarot card readings and other garbage. Those were usually sold out of the bargain bin containers for $10.
The number of times I talked to a “psychic” who was relying on our crappy, bug-ridden software to provide readings to their customers was ridiculous. I had to seriously fight not to laugh like a maniac every time one of them found out the software had corrupted the entered user database and would have to be deleted and reinstalled.
Oh yeah… that’s the stuff that’ll surely tell you your future.
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The future was so unknowable it borked the computer. That means it works!
/s
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