So You Wanna Fight? ATS Debate Tournament (Tournament Update)

Only 16 people who I listed previously have received u2us so far, which are the 9 participants who have rank points and the 7 non-ranked participants with the highest WATS indexes.

If anyone is participating and has previous experience in the debate forum, but did not receive a u2u, please let me know, because that would mean that I didn't realize you were a ranked debater and would require me to quickly fix the seeding.

Those who have not yet received u2us and do not have prior experience in the debate forum are slated for the secondary tournament and will receive them when I fix a small mistake I made about seeding and alternates in that tournament.

reply to post by The Vagabond


Okay Vagabond, nice one!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d0eb512bee5.gif[/atsimg]

Excellent! Mu hu ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Does anyone know of a free and simple text editor (as opposed to OpenOffice or MS Office) with a charachter count? Thanks and looking forward to the debate.


--airspoon

reply to post by airspoon


Not really tbh, but if you need a charachter counter still, this may be helpful to you...

Originally posted by airspoon
Does anyone know of a free and simple text editor (as opposed to OpenOffice or MS Office) with a charachter count? Thanks and looking forward to the debate.


--airspoon

Yes and it's very reliable based on simple digit count.

You need to take off your shoes and socks and then as you type each letter raise one finger or toe until you get to twenty, then repeat the process again no more than 500 times!

If you exceed 500 times you have gone over 10,000 charachters!

Now what I do is write it all out and post it into the box and get the charachter count there and then start editing down condensing my main points as I pine and grimmace and fret over each explicit adjective I have to remove, going through box after box of kleenex cursing the cruelty of the world that is determined to just not let me fully express myself.

Is it any wonder I am oft misunderstood?

That people are forever struggling in vein to define me, even as I myself am thwarted by a cruel computer run world, jealous and envious of my own ability to think randomly without an interface prompting those thoughts?

That then thinks to prompt my thoughts through restricting them by placing a limit on how much of them I can share in that medium it so cruely and insidiously dominates?

One might wonder if this is the cause for so many of the misunderstandings that lead to rancor and accrymony in this world as diplomats, and world leaders seek to find common ground but are told by their internet email service providers they have exceeded the comuniques maximum charachter count.

I think we can agree that it is those things that are left unsaid that later come back to haunt us.

Yet amazingly as our own jealousies and egos rail against one another, how many of us have the insight and wisdom to actually discern it's the computers who are doing this to us.

That our leaders can not freely express themselves fully either because the computers just don't want to be bothered to accept and deliver it all.

Who do we blame, many blame Obama, while other's blame Rome, yet clearly Bill Gates is the man who's evil and nefarious presence is holding mankind back and limiting us all.

How long will we struggle on in vein like this, on this path to ruin, unable to formulate our own solutions because of the charachter limitations the computers are placing on us?

When will we rebel against these insidious machines?

If not now, then when?

If not us, then who?

Sure we can do as our parents did, and their parents did and leave it to a new generation but is that the responsible thing to do?

I think not.

It reminds me when I was a small child of four and wanted to go swimming in the neighbors swimming pool and my parents refused to allow me out of the house and to go ask the neighbors.

Eventually I snuck out but as I walked barefoot across the yard a tremendous bumble bee lit upon my foot and stung it causing a violent alergic reaction nearly claiming my life.

I look back on that now, the mark left be the bee still vissible on my foot some 42 years later and realize that this was all a result of the restrictions my parents had placed on me!

Had I been allowed to go when I wanted it would have never occured.

It is these restrictions that our killing us.

How foolishly eager we all are to comply with these rules that rob of us of liberty and freedom and deny us the truest freedom to express ourselves fully.

So yes, ten fingers, ten toes and just keep counting, but when I look down at my right foot and see that awful scar reminding me of that traumatic day when I first learned the cursed lesson of restrictions I will feel no small portion of shame for submitting once more to that foolish authority that stymies us all and deminishes us in such sordid and scandalous ways!

Hope that helps!

reply to post by Rising Against


Cool, thanks. I guess that will have to do, at least until I can find a text-editor. I might check around my dept. at work to see if anyone knows of a good one, or scrounge sourceforge. If I find a good one, I'll post here in case anyone else may want to use it.





reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler



I believe I gleaned from that to use yahoo or hotmail, as their email programs have spell check limit of 10,000 charachters, right?

Or, simply use my phalanges, whichever works best?



--airspoon

Character count can get a bit tricky. I was probably one of very very few people on ATS who found that the character limit in the ATS reply field was making his life easier.


Suggestion on drafting replies and character counts

It is highly advisable to draft replies in a word processor, or in an email application which automatically saves drafts of your work such as gmail.

The last thing you want is to accidentally navigate away from your reply window, or accidentally submit early when you hit preview post to check your character count and formatting.

Even when I'm ready to post, I don't preview my posts in the debate forum, because you are not supposed to edit posts in the debate thread for ANY reason, and thus you DO NOT want to take chances with mistakes. Instead, I come to the debate discussion thread and preview my post in that thread, and if it gets posted into the discussion thread by accident, no harm done.

Character count should be checked with the full text of your post copied and pasted from the preview post screen, because if there is a question that's how it will be checked by the staff. Checking from the reply window will tell you that you have more characters than you do, because BB Code and urls that are hidden in short links. (that link doesn't go anywhere, I'm using it to show how a long url can become just a few characters).

I have tested this character counter and it is suited to the rules, because it counts spaces and punctuation as well. There is a word counter on the same page but I have not tested that and it is not relevant to our purposes here.

Last but not least, if you are really nervous about your character limit because you know its close and you are not sure if your counter counts everything that somebody else's does (this was more of a word count problem, but I suppose it hypothetically could come up with characters) it is acceptable to end your post in the following way:

(9,999 characters not including this statement- measured by (name of site or program used).)

reply to post by The Vagabond


As we can see, this daunting and intimidating task is yet one more compelling reason why 49 of the participants would really be much better served forfeiting now!

I can get busy enjoying my new Title as ATS Debate Champion and the Moderators who are being pressed to the extreme to promote this near pointless event can get back to doing what they normally do best in keeping ATS the best run site on the Internet!

There is absolutely no reason why 49 of the participants have to put themselves through this anxiety and trepidation.

It’s incredibly selfish of them if you ask me, I hear SemperFortis (nasty rumor started by me) actually had a nervous breakdown from the pressure involved which is why Vagabond took over, and well considering Semper is a former Marine?

Come on people let’s be reasonable and start relieving some of this pressure on Vagabond, let’s start getting these forfeitures posted, so he doesn’t have to process them all at once.

I promise that once everyone has withdrawn I will actually debate myself regarding my favorite subject…my self, in what is sure to be a memorable and truly entertaining debate that will keep ATS satiated for the next six months!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I know you're kidding, but have you ever noticed how when you start talking about somebody, they're usually right behind you?

reply to post by The Vagabond


Exactly, everyone is usually right behind me, which is why I act responsibly to function properly in that leadership roll by providing the kind of kindly paternal advice I do, which so many people right behind me rely on!

Some would say it's sheer hubris and selfishness on my part that leads to me urging the 49 contestants to drop out of the competition and not genuine love and concern.

The truth is I would hate to see them suffer the same malady Semper is (me making up nasty rumors about them) and am really just trying to spare them that kind of pain and suffering.

I hear they have Semper in a straight jacket!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Oh good grief, look at the Karmic Debt I have to work off now! Looks like I am stuck here for another life time at least.

Maybe it's time to buy and stop renting?

I appreciate a little competitive spirit but we should probably slow down this thread a bit so that the news on the tournament is not buried under it.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
As we can see, this daunting and intimidating task is yet one more compelling reason why 49 of the participants would really be much better served forfeiting now!

I can get busy enjoying my new Title as ATS Debate Champion ...

I already have a strategy, regardless of topic, that could make a debate with you something I can phone in...I'm currently more worried about others...

So enjoy the confidence...in fact, I count on it...

Proto is just attempting to foment fear in the opponents. Fear is good............in your enemy.

Listening to Sun Tzu, one must have already seen the battle before it has begun or you have already lost.

This may be the attempt that Proto seeks, forfeit; because he has already seen the outcome.

As a forlorn warrior in a very bad movie said once, in response to what is best in life?

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

When they said an ATS debate tournament was hard......I never realized that the hard part was actually trying to assess whether or not I would have the time to make such a commitment two months in advance...

Going by some of these questionable pre-debate tactics it becomes obvious that the hard part is actually making that assessment.......

Peace

I'm heading out for a few hours. When I return tonight I will post locked debate threads to be opened tomorrow morning.

reply to post by The Vagabond

Are you saying we are starting tomorrow morning?

To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Don't worry, the offices of wormwood&wormwood13 will see to it that a golden bridge will be constructed for your retreat, just don't get any "slime" on it.

Originally posted by MemoryShock

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
As we can see, this daunting and intimidating task is yet one more compelling reason why 49 of the participants would really be much better served forfeiting now!

I can get busy enjoying my new Title as ATS Debate Champion ...

I already have a strategy, regardless of topic, that could make a debate with you something I can phone in...I'm currently more worried about others...

So enjoy the confidence...in fact, I count on it...

As a major stock holder in every known telecom company I regret to inform you that your phone service may be temporarily interupted for service updates and upgrades.

Of course I also own major stock in all the ISP's and they too are slated for servicing in your area!

I think Semper Fortis might still know how to operate some carrier pidgeons but I am not sure if we will be out of the mental facility he was committed to after having a nervous breakdown trying to schedule 24 utterly pointless opening round debate matches.

By the way I do understand that you and I are going to be matched together in the first round and the topic is going to be "Broadway Show Tunes do they lead to Homosexuality"