|
 In the wake of recent discussions in the Libertarian thread, My PM box, Eripsa's lunatic threads and forum luminary IronKnuckle's racist blog I've come to the opinion that one thing that might benefit the Debate and Discussion forums could be the establishment of a Debate thread. Specifically a thread where people can not only discuss positions, but actually debate them in a formal, or semi-formal manner. Why do I think this is a good idea? Mostly because I like arguing and I frequently have too much time on my hands. In all seriousness, I was part of Canada's greatest debate program for much of my childhood, being taught by one of the pre-eminent debaters in the world, John Baty. This program did a lot to instill in me the idea that a structured debate is a lot more than a simple argument, and that adding a more serious tone to a discussion, even slightly, can do a lot to improve the quality of discourse, the exchange of ideas and the ability to inform those who view it. One of the big problems that sometimes happens on the forums is that contrary voices can get shouted down by sheer weight. Someone like Jrodefeld might be wrong about almost everything, but if someone is arguing in good faith it almost feels cruel that we don't have any format with which to argue against them in a way that isn't a dogpile. What this thread is: Well, really it is whatever people make it. Personally I envision it as one people can use to set up video/audio or text based debates with other posters on the thread that can then be enjoyed by others. A good example of this was a Google hangout chat run by Eripsa of all people. A handful of posters joined in and spent an hour discussing his ideas and what did or did not work about them in a way that was ultimately far more insightful than reading much of his threads. Ideally I think it might be interested to have a monthly/bimonthly/quarterly/whateverly goon debate where a topic is selected by popular discussion and a couple of goons are picked to give the pro's and cons. But that is probably pie in the sky dreaming. What this thread is not: Other threads. This is not the Islam/Palestine thread, or the Gunchat thread or anything else. If the thread sees use at all instead of dropping into archives immediately it would be best if it were used for its intended purpose, rather than serving as some weird proxy battleground thread.
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2015 03:17
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 15:58 |
|
|
Lustful Man Hugs posted:Is there some sort of IRC being used as a metathread for this thread? It seems like something that would be useful for setting up guidelines, protocol, etc. I do think this is a wonderful idea if it works, though. Definitely willing to set up something like this. I've left it out of the main post because frankly I am sick as a dog right now but I am going to go back and discuss some of the various forms of debate, with particular emphasis on Parli and Oxford styles since they are the ones I think we'd probably see the most success with in a thread like this.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2015 03:53
|
|
|
Helsing posted:I like the idea behind behind what you're saying but I think that you're at least a couple years too late. The age of D&Ders making serious posts or conducting extended debates is mostly a thing of the past. Just because something is a thing of the past doesn't mean it can't be something of the future. I'll be updating the thread with a more in depth OP tomorrow, and hopefully the thread can trend slightly away from Goku Vs Superman. Though in fairness it'd be an interesting debate. That Goku should totally win.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2015 03:37
|
|
|
My Imaginary GF posted:Logically, there is only one method to eliminate islamist insurgents: eliminate islam. Well, now we have at least one topic for an outright debate that isn't Goku Vs Superman. Not sure genocide would have been my first choice, but hey... whatever gets the thread in motion.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2015 07:26
|
|