Open call for ideas on future debates

Hi gang. Might be around for some judging or debating. Doc gave me a "no-work" order for a friggin WEEK! Major infection (long story) so I'll be around!

reply to post by enjoies05


It'll take at least 2-3 days to hear back, if you made a "suggestion". Try sending one to a super mod directly, as a generalized question.

I'll try too.

reply to post by beezzer


Hope you are feeling better.

Hey, we do have an open debate that we need two more judges to rule on. Here. If you do have some free time, feel free to go and make a ruling.

That'll leave one more vote to be posted. Anyone else?

Originally posted by enjoies05
In an effort to get the Debate Forum going (again) I sent in a suggestion asking if were possible to have "Fighters" open up new debate threads. Just copy and pasting the post Vagabond starts out with. Since there aren't any available moderators to do it. I got no answer.

In hindsight, it appears you CAN make a new thread in this forum. I'm thinking The Vagabond left the permissions open for those of us with fighter status. Hhmmmm, interesting.

My ONLY reservation is creating a debate that I am participating in. Some sort of moral implication there, or something. Again, Hhmmmm.

Ok, I'm over it. It's all in fun anyway.

Well, enjoies05, if you don't have a problem with me creating a thread, I'll do it. Just let me know.

Originally posted by Druid42

Originally posted by enjoies05
In an effort to get the Debate Forum going (again) I sent in a suggestion asking if were possible to have "Fighters" open up new debate threads. Just copy and pasting the post Vagabond starts out with. Since there aren't any available moderators to do it. I got no answer.

In hindsight, it appears you CAN make a new thread in this forum. I'm thinking The Vagabond left the permissions open for those of us with writer status. Hhmmmm, interesting.

Are you sure about that? As memory recalls, when I didn't have "Fighter" status, I could click the "Post reply" button and compose my text (I was responding in this thread to say that I wanted to join the forum) and it was only when I went to actually post it that I got the "You don't have permission to post in this forum" message.

My ONLY reservation is creating a debate that I am participating in. Some sort of moral implication there, or something. Again, Hhmmmm.

If you want, send me a U2U with the title and text of the opening message and I'll create the thread for you.

reply to post by adjensen


Okay, let me compose the u2u, and all you should have to do is cut and paste. Thanks for participating in this little "experiment". Let's see if it works.....

Verified that we can, indeed, create new threads. Woot-woot!

reply to post by adjensen


Thanks for creating that thread! Of course, you do realize you'll get all the flags, since you are the thread creator? (Hint, Hint, to other members, who open threads for other debaters. Not that it's a big flag net, prolly 10-15 per thread average.)

Ok, so back to the debates. Seems that we can get several started back up. Anyone else wanting to debate?

Time to step up to the plate, and state a premise, collect a few judges, and find a volunteer to start the thread for you.

I'm also more than willing to start a new debate for someone else. Just ask.

I know there were several debates proposed back in the thread, so feel free to bump them forward.

Originally posted by Druid42
reply to post by beezzer

 

Hope you are feeling better.

Hey, we do have an open debate that we need two more judges to rule on. Here. If you do have some free time, feel free to go and make a ruling.

That'll leave one more vote to be posted. Anyone else?

Gimme 8 hours and it'll be done. The pain killers are kicking in real quick right now!

reply to post by enjoies05


It is good to be back.

reply to post by Druid42


Thank you glad to be back

I failed a little bit (a lot bit) in my first Socratic question. I apologize, Druid.

reply to post by enjoies05


The debate goes on, aye?

It's always the effort that counts, not the mistakes made.

Originally posted by Druid42
It's always the effort that counts, not the mistakes made.

Mistakes are nothing but opportunities for improvement! I used to ding my wife (who was an HR person) on that, but time has proven her right.

reply to post by adjensen


And in return, you have grown accordingly, aye?

Those women. So wise, so annoying. So necessary.

reply to post by Druid42


Indeed. Were that she was still with me, I'd likely spend my evenings attending to her, rather than attending to the various ignorances on ATS. So some win (or lose, depending on opinion, lol) and only one loses.

Well, with the conclusion of this debate, I can almost conclude that we have a working, automated debate forum. There are a few slim details that may come up, and I honestly don't know what they are yet, but the parameters of having a functional debate forum run by members have been laid out, with one addition.

There is an opening post that the debate "host" needs to present to begin the debate. The one used in the former debate was a cut and paste job, but didn't clarify a member's hosting responsibilities. (It still had the moderator's lingo attached.) We got through the debate, but I became aware of a few responsibilities that need to be placed on the "hosts" shoulders, so in the future, should you desire to "host" a debate thread, be aware of them. They are listed in the new following debate OP:

(Note: This format can be used if the host includes the required information in the appropriate places.)
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The topic for this debate is "xxxxxxxx Premise added here xxxxxxxx.”

/member name/ will be arguing the "Pro" position and begin the debate.
/member name/ will be arguing the "Con" position.

Each debater will have one opening statement each. This will be followed by 3 alternating replies each. There will then be one closing statement each and no rebuttal.

The ATS character limit will limit the length of debate posts. Multiple posts per round are not permitted.

Editing of posts is strictly forbidden. For reasons of time, host edits should not be expected except in critical situations. Requests for critical edits (affecting visibility of post or function of links for example) should be U2U'd to the host who posted this debate thread. The host has the responsibility to make a post within a debate explaining such corrections.

Opening and closing statements must not contain any images and must have no more than 3 references. Video and audio files are NOT allowed.

Excluding both the opening and closing statements, only two images and no more than 5 references can be included for each post. Each individual post may contain up to 10 sentences of external source material, totaled from all external sources. Be cognizant of what you quote as excess sentences will be removed prior to judging by the host in a separate post within this thread. The host will tally from the beginning of the post, and state which sentences are beyond the debate limits.

Links to multiple pages within a single domain count as 1 reference but there is a maximum of 3 individual links per reference, then further links from that domain count as a new reference. Excess quotes and excess links will be removed before judging by the host in a separate post that is edited to exclude the excess. The edited post will be considered to be the debater's original post. The host will notify the “fighter” via u2u of any changes before posting publicly.

The Socratic Debate Rule is in effect. Each debater may ask up to 5 questions in each post, except for in closing statements- no questions are permitted in closing statements. These questions should be clearly labeled as "Question 1, Question 2, etc.

When asked a question, a debater must give a straight forward answer in his next post. Explanations and qualifications to an answer are acceptable, but must be preceded by a direct answer.

There will be no time limit for responding, however if a debater believes he or she will take more than a day or two to respond, it would be courteous to let the opponent know in advance that you still intend to continue when able.

Judging will be done by a panel of three volunteer judges:

Judge #1: /insert member name/
Judge #2: /insert member name/
Judge #3: /insert member name/

The thread host will also accept the responsibility of u2uing the member judges to notify them of a debates conclusion.

All AboveTopSecret.com Terms and Conditions Apply at all times in all debate formats.

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Any inclusions or exclusions to the language of the debate OP will be much appreciated. I'm trying to make this as simple as possible, but I realize there's always room for improvement.

Our three judges are needed

Great debate, Druid. I really enjoyed it.

I think the format with the host worked well. And I was glad the link error was fixed promptly.

responded..

reply to post by enjoies05


It was interesting, to say the least. I for one am also a skeptic, and knew you had the easier position.

However, this debate gave me the opportunity to argue a point contrary to my own, something I needed to do to step outside a simple approach of arguing my own views. It's challenging to debate an opposing view, and from that I gained a lot of insight from our debate.

I wish to sincerely thank you for the opportunity to formally debate such a controversial topic.

reply to post by Druid42


Congratulations on your win.