Participants Needed! First ATS Debate Tournament for 2007

I'm very pleased with all the interest. I can't wait to get another tournament running.
It's great that we suddenly have so many debaters.

Two comments on this debate tournament. I would have loved to be in it, on condition that I could pick my topic and also my side of it. I don't enjoy insincere discourse, and for me to defend a position I don't agree with isn't interesting to me.
That said, two topics debated this year were ones I have long studied, and therefore have much to share about them. The Jesus' kids one, and the ancient non-human advanced civilizations.
I read the debates and was very dissapointed. It is my strong belief that had I been debating the topics, from the side which I find most plausible, the result would have been much more informative to readers.
Too bad that looks like it won't happen. If I am allowed to, I will be glad to give evidence supporting my views on either topic in a future contest.
As an incentive to get approval for that, I make this challenge: I say that I predict I will win, in whichever one of those two debates I am involved in.

If you can find somebody to argue against you on one of those topics that would be fine for a one on one match after the tournament.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
That said, two topics debated this year were ones I have long studied, and therefore have much to share about them. The Jesus' kids one, and the ancient non-human advanced civilizations.
I read the debates and was very dissapointed.

Yeah, those were the two that were disappointing. One, because Hikix could not continue, and the other...well... just because.

In that vein:

POINT OF ORDER?

The Vagabond,

Several commenters have already expressed an interest in taking part in the next debate. Question: Are their names being jotted down? Or will the next debate be "first come, first served" like all the previous debates?

I think, at this juncture, it's important for would-be next tournament contenders to know that before they pre-maturely think that they have a spot saved for them.

I'm going to run through this thread when its time for the next one and U2U those who are interested to give them a heads up on the next one.

Also, if interest is as high as it appears to be for the next one, it would be possible to have 24 members involved.

24? Don't ya mean 16? Or 32? Unless you wanna give several debaters a "bye" for doing especially well. (Ny, I'm looking in yer direction....)

But, seriously, keep in mind that each additional round will run the risk of increasing "debate fatique" exponentially. We don't wanna have a single tournament run from, say, Independence Day to Halloween.

The shorter and more often the tournaments, the better, I think, for all who wanna get in on the action.

Better to have a three-rounder every four months than to have a six-rounder once a year, imho.

Edit. Dang typos..

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Tuning Spork]

Originally posted by The Vagabond
If you can find somebody to argue against you on one of those topics that would be fine for a one on one match after the tournament.

I can surely find someone, as there are many members who refute my points in the threads on the subjects I mentioned. I need to decide whether to ask one of them whose views I see as poorly supported, or one who does well at supporting their claims. The debate tournament format you have created is a good one, if your aim is to present debate for the purpose of improving members skills at debating, or debate for the sake of debate. Maybe you could start a debate contest with a goal of showing the two most informed members on a topic, who disagree, discuss their views. It is my feeling that debating because one wants to win is not reason enough for me to debate. I debate in order to learn and share, and don't care who wins.

Originally posted by Tuning Spork
24? Don't ya mean 16? Or 32? Unless you wanna give several debaters a "bye" for doing especially well. (Ny, I'm looking in yer direction....)

Precisely the way it would be done, if it were to be done. If we had so many interested people that we could get 24 good participants, we'd give the 8 most experienced debaters a bye, so you'd have 16 participants in the first round, and 8 more awaiting the winners in the second round.

But that and other ideas will need to be discussed after this tournament just to make sure that we keep a structure that people want to participate in. One thing that we should talk about in terms of keeping things speedy is the possibility of cutting debates down to 3 or 4 posts, with increased word counts to compensate. But again, that would be after this tournament- we obviously should conduct this one under the rules we started with.

reply to post by The Vagabond


Who won TheBorg vs Semperfortis debate? Did I miss the results being posted here?

We will know tonight...

On a side note, jsobecky, you need to get in on this....

Semper

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
Two comments on this debate tournament. I would have loved to be in it, on condition that I could pick my topic and also my side of it. I don't enjoy insincere discourse, and for me to defend a position I don't agree with isn't interesting to me.

Even though I fully agree with BlackGuard here, I still like the fact that you are given a random topic because in a sense, it makes you step in the other side's shoes. Plus you get learned a thing or three. Research, research...

Hello.. Love to debate any issue that comes along , glad to take either side even the one I don't agree with.. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on my knowledge base ... Paul R. Mays

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
[Maybe you could start a debate contest with a goal of showing the two most informed members on a topic, who disagree, discuss their views.

I don't mean to offend you here, Blackguard, but I think that by doing this it would create a sense of elitism on the part of some members as well as simply giving some the opportunity to 'grandstand' and simply show off how much they think they know.

I feel that an open tournament works best as it really does allow people to learn as they go and have fun doing it. If you want to do it head to head with another member, great but I really think that allowing people to claim themselves to be 'the most well informed' is a bad idea.

As I said, there is no offence intended here, it's just my view, for what it's worth.

Blackguard's idea isn't a bad one, it's just that we wouldn't want to impose that on a tournament. It would be great to get some of our most active members on a given topic to duke it out one on one- we just can't shape a whole tournament bracket around their one match.

The new topics are up. They will be unlocked monday and response windows will begin, unless we have unanimous demand for them to be opened early.

jso,

Just so that you know, my staunch opponent, semperfortis, took the match. He did a splendid job tearing the topic to shreds, just like I would have done had I been on his side. I even mentioned earlier in this thread how I was in a tough spot, what with debating a topic that was very ambiguous, as well as my being on the side of defense.

I found myself trying to play on the fanciful nature of what COULD be, rather than what was, since there was nothing to support any kind of evidence either way. However, I will admit here that I had my reservations throughout the debate because I was having trouble justifying the stuff that I was saying, based on the very few facts that we have on element 115. All I know was that it was incredibly difficult to play up that side of the question.

But that's ok. I'll be back soon. Now though, I'm going to go try and finish this OP/ED I'm working on. It's gonna be a long one too...

Oh, and Semper, next time buddy, next time...

TheBorg

[Edited for content.]

[edit on 18-8-2007 by TheBorg]

TheBorg,

You are a wonderful opponent and tested me to the limit both times I have debated you...

I fully concede it was the luck of the draw here. Had I been tasked with debating your side of the issue, I am positive the results would have been completely different...

We shall have another go in the future my friend... Of this I am sure...

Semper

That really was a rough one. What is the general feeling on the new topics? Do they seem a bit more even this time around?

Echo

[edit on 18-8-2007 by The Vagabond]

Looking forward to all of them. I only read two of the 1st round ones, mine and semper's being one of them. This round though, I'll be reading all of them most likely.

TheBorg