Saru Posted April 26, 2004 #1 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Unexplained Mysteries Debates Board This is an idea that has been briefly touched upon before, but has never been done on the site in any formal manner. By definition, a 'debate' is a public discussion in which opposing arguements are presented, and that will be the purpose of this forum section. How it will work A 'debate organiser' will begin by selecting a topic for debate and selecting two members from a list of willing debate partipants, assigning each of them a side of the arguement that they will need to argue for during the debate. A thread will be started for the debate, and only those involved in that particular debate will be allowed to post there. The participants will be allowed a specified number of posts in that thread in order to put their views forward, take on opposing views from their oponent, and make their own side of the arguement the most persuasive. Once the debate is over, the arguements of both participants will be assessed, and the winner announced. General Rules Participants in a debate will need to adhere to the usual forum rules and guidelines. Bad language, personal insults and other such behaviour will not be permitted. Copying material from another site or source is only allowed in moderation; i.e you cannot make up an arguement entirely out of quoted material. Participants will not be allowed to edit their own posts in a debate thread, returning to a previous post and editing something out for example could result in you being disqualified. Frequently Asked Questions Q. What if i don't share the view i have been asked to argue for ? A. Whether you personally believe you're own arguement or not is not relevant, your aim will be to try and make everyone else belief that what you are saying is the case. If the debate was to argue for the existance of the Yeti for example, and you were asked to argue for it's existance when you don't believe it does exist, then what better testament to your ability to put forward a logical and persuasive arguement than to manage to persuade everyone else that the creature does indeed exist when you yourself believe the contrary. Q. Can more than 2 people participate in a debate ? A. Not at the moment, though this will be supported at a later time. Q. Can everyone else watch a debate as it happens ? A. Yes, all debates will be open for public viewing. Q. What is the time scale for posting to a debate ? A. It is not necessary for a debate to happen 'live', participants will be allowed to take up to a day to formulate their next response and post it to the debate. If a participant fails to post anything in the debate for an extended period of time however, the debate may be automatically won by the remaining participant. Q. Can I start a debate thread of my own ? A. No, only debate organisers are permitted to start debate threads. Q. How are the debates judged ? A. A debate will be judged by a panel of members who will assign points depending on how persuasive each side of the arguement is. These points will then be totted up and the participant with the highest score wins the debate. A scoreboard of past debates and results will be made available to show who the top debaters are. Q. I'd like to take part, where do i register my interest ? A. Visit This Thread If anyone has additional questions regarding debates, please feel free to post them in this thread. This post will be updated to include any other commonly asked questions that crop up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althalus Posted April 26, 2004 #2 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Who you got in mind for the debate organisers, and how'll it work with them and Mods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Universal Absurdity Posted April 26, 2004 #3 Share Posted April 26, 2004 (edited) *found the proper place to post my interest in participating. Debaters Thread in case anyone decides to post their interest here Edited April 26, 2004 by UniversalAbsurdity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted April 26, 2004 Author #4 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Who you got in mind for the debate organisers, and how'll it work with them and Mods? Initially while this is still in it's early stages i'll organise the first couple of debates, but i'm quite happy for you or any of the mods to act as debate organisers at any point if you'd like to do that. The title 'debate organiser' is really just a general reference to anyone who is willing and able to organise and assign debaters to a debate and moderate it until it's finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althalus Posted April 26, 2004 #5 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Well, I'll certainly do it as my time at work permits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Druidus Posted April 26, 2004 #6 Share Posted April 26, 2004 What if I make a grammatical error? Am I allowed to edit that? Cause I sometimes make spelling and grammar errors and I like to have my posts perfectly written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted April 27, 2004 Author #7 Share Posted April 27, 2004 The best way around that problem is to write you're debate posts in wordpad or other text editor and then paste it in once it's all written and checked. This might be a good idea in any case, since if you're computer crashes before you've finished writing for example, you won't have to start all over again. If you have a text editor with a spell checker than all the better. On saying that however you will not be penalised for spelling or grammar in any of the debates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpius Posted April 30, 2004 #8 Share Posted April 30, 2004 Will there be a specific thread, where members can post suggestions for a debate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novo Posted May 1, 2004 #9 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Wonderful Idea Saruman! I see a Future here for the little anarchist known as S&L.. would it not make a wonderful debate though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted May 1, 2004 Author #10 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Will there be a specific thread, where members can post suggestions for a debate? Sounds like a good idea, i'll get onto that in just a moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted May 3, 2004 Author #11 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Open Debates There will now be 'open' debates being posted aswell, which are the same as ordinary debates except that debaters can volunteer to take part in them rather than being chosen by a debate organiser. This should give more people an opportunity to take part, and allow debaters more of a choice in which topics of debate they get to participate in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man_in_mudboots Posted May 15, 2004 #12 Share Posted May 15, 2004 this is so kick-ass awesome....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
about Posted May 21, 2004 #13 Share Posted May 21, 2004 coooooooooooooool So unfair though, I'm in a debate about life after death and I have to prove there ISN'T a life after death and I so believe there is one! Oh well. Saruman, I noticed the debaters thread is closed. Does this mean that a person who isn't a debater can't become one now? Also, for the debaters where it says Member, Moderator, Administrator, Debate organiser, etc... , can they have Debater instead of a boring and simple Member tag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted May 21, 2004 Author #14 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Saruman, I noticed the debaters thread is closed. Does this mean that a person who isn't a debater can't become one now? What we've done is stopped new signups for the moment so that the 20 or so debaters that we do have can compete against one another until we have a debate champion for this 'group'. Once the winner is found, we can open the debates again to another group of debaters, and so on and so forth. I don't have specific details just yet, but for the moment we have enough debaters to be going on with, though there will be a chance in the near future for other members to take part aswell. Also, for the debaters where it says Member, Moderator, Administrator, Debate organiser, etc... , can they have Debater instead of a boring and simple Member tag? I'll get back to you on that one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnSide Posted May 21, 2004 #15 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Galor, i'm still waiting for your response bud. And to your comment that it's unfair that you have to debate that there ISN'T life after death, well, i don't believe there is a life after death, but i have to debate that there IS one! Same with my Loch Ness Monster debate, i don't believe there is one, but i have to debate that there is one hahah. Saruman, in the future would it be possible to choose what you would like to debate for? Although in saying that it is actually interesting to debate against what you actually believe, it gives you a nice different viewpoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnSide Posted May 21, 2004 #16 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Nevermind Galor, i see you did post. And another damn good one too. I thought i had you with my first body post there but you blew that out of the water, damnit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted May 22, 2004 #17 Share Posted May 22, 2004 I realize that the 'Debaters List' has been compiled, is there any way to still get involved? if there are any no shows or drop-outs I would like to join in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saucy Posted May 22, 2004 #18 Share Posted May 22, 2004 well, we have the final list of 20 debaters and once the reg. season is done, we're gonna go into the playoff mode and we'll chose eight winners to go into that. Once the debate champion is crowned, I believe me and Saruman will pick a few who didn't take this board seriously off the list, opening up the door for many new prospects. Since you applied before hand, we'll keep you in mind Chauncy and you'll be the first one added to any new spots. Just gotta wait awhile until the playoffs are over. For right now, we're not accepting any more debaters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted May 22, 2004 #19 Share Posted May 22, 2004 Thats great Saucy thanks Dude!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man_in_mudboots Posted May 30, 2004 #20 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Saruman, in the future would it be possible to choose what you would like to debate for? no, no, no, thats what makes it fun. although i think somebody who is forced to debate for an opinion they dont have should automatically get one point, or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saucy Posted May 30, 2004 #21 Share Posted May 30, 2004 well, that's the way I put everything together. I would like to thank my brilliance in putting together debates. I book them better than anyone thus far, but I'm not cocky so i'll stop bragging I sort of know what everyone has in opinions to certain things and if you're against life after death, you'll probably end up debating for life after death. I'm just that evil. Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaha (breath) hahahahahahahahahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted June 8, 2004 #22 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Saruman - If someone wins a debate, does that make them a Master Debater? XD sorry couldn't help that one.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Universal Absurdity Posted June 8, 2004 #23 Share Posted June 8, 2004 I would like to thank my brilliance in putting together debates. I book them better than anyone thus far, but I'm not cocky so i'll stop bragging Personally, i liked when SaRuMaN set up debates a bit better than the ones that you organized. Choosing who gets what side should have been done with the flip of a coin, thats how it was done in the beginning. Also, your debate openers are a bit...leading, which i did not appreciate.For example: A debate on violence in in media affecting real life violence or not should not have any examples in the opener for the debaters to start with. It looks like you were just a bit over-enthusiastic about the debates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scar Posted June 8, 2004 #24 Share Posted June 8, 2004 I'd Like to Second that Also your tactfulness in PM's were a bit off I.e. 1)Rememeber your in a debate, Post Soon 2)Please Post 3)Gonnae post Now 4)Why haven't you posted yet ? Etc. If you continue in your role it might be nice to add , "How you doing ?" , "Just a reminder........" "Noticed you hadn't replied in a while" to list a few its nice to be nice , sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted June 8, 2004 Author #25 Share Posted June 8, 2004 There is actually going to be an overhaul of the way in which the debates are organised and run in the near future, the current system has worked to an extent, but too many debates have remained unfinished, and some even unstarted. All the debates will be moved to an archive subforum soon, and then we'll see about starting over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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