Talk:Zig Zag Girl

This is the text from the original article: [1]. I redirected and merged into this one. I place the text here for archiving.

The Zig Zag illusion (originally Zig Zag Girl) is a famous and well-known stage grand illusion.

In this illusion, a person is placed inside a cabinet divided into three boxes, with their head, both hands, and a foot visible. Metal sheet blades are inserted in the two gaps between the boxes, and the middle box is then moved to one side, creating the effect of the person having been sliced into three independantly movable pieces. To reinforce this impression, their face and left hand are visible in the top box, their right hand (often waving a silk or flag) in the middle box, and their left foot in the bottom box. The boxes are then reassembled and the person revealed unharmed.

Because of the manner in which the illusion is achieved, it is generally performed with a female assistant, and there are limitations on her height and weight. Some of these issues are overcome in Modern Art, an illusion created by Jim Steinmeyer.

The method of this trick was exposed by the Masked Magician, Valentino, as part of Fox TV series called Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed. --Muchosucko 18:16, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Please see talk page before blanking

Please go here before blanking again. There's been a lot of talk about this. Please respect that. Talk:Sawing_a_woman_in_half --Muchosucko 21:03, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I can't seem to find any discussion about this topic that resolves things one way or the other. The reason not to give away magic secrets are numerous:

- It is not considered ethical behavior. It is damaging to the craft of magic to divulge secrets that are known by "insiders" because it devalues the craft and kills the impetus to perform. For example, divulging the secret to the zig-zag makes it that much more likely that we won't see it performed in the future, something I can't believe any magic fan would want.
- Regardless of the actual legal implications of various copyright/patent/trademark restrictions, it is immoral to divulge secrets to inventions created by others. Simply put, the secret to this illusion is not ours to give away.
- No other general-knowledge encyclopedia gives away magic secrets. By not following a principle followed in other encyclopedias, a core principle of Wikipedia is being violated. --Mattsnyder 21:14, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - Matt, it's a better idea to read and post your thoughts here: Talk:Out_of_This_World_(card_trick). More people will see it and you will have a better discussion. I am probably the only person looking at this page now. Most of the points you raise have already been raised and addressed at that page - if not, you should put it there, not here - We need to centralize and organize our discussion. There may be a resolution reached soon. With enough interest, the WikiProject on magic might establish some offical guidlines Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Magic#Disagreeing. --Muchosucko 21:20, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    - Muchosucko, I've read through all of the discussions and I've found nothing conclusive on them except on the "Disagreeing" page which said "exposure should be limited to only the most basic magic effects." The zig-zag is certainly not one of the most basic effects in magic. One of the most popular, certainly, but that hardly qualifies it for "basic" status. So after reading all of that, I still conclude it is wrong to divulge magic secrets on this page, and the secret should be removed. As reluctant as I am to continue this discussion on this page, I guess I can only ask this: why would anyone want to divulge these secrets? What is the point? It has always been considered immoral to divulge magic secrets...how has Wikipedia changed that?--Mattsnyder 21:30, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]