Formal Debate Board

[paulus]

As someone craving sensible discussion over important subjects I'd like to propose a more formal debating procedure more akin to real world committees. As this is the internet and sensible reasoned debate is hard to sustain for more than a few posts, I think a Chair-person & post deletion is a necessary part of the process...


1. Chair starts new thread with the following;

• Subject Up For Debate        - eg: Contentious issue of the month
• Stated Outcomes                 - eg: Will lead to a poll with the choices being determined by the debate
• Debate Finish Time              - eg: 2 weeks from now.

2. Rules of posting;

• You may make any point pertinent to the Subject, whether this be opinion or evidence based.
• You may second any point previously made, but you may not make the same point again in different words. 
• You may add supplementary supporting information to any points previously made.
• Personal statements against specific users or groups of users are not allowed.
• Off subject, aggressive language or "banter" is not allowed (rest of the forum for that)

3. Anyone breaching rules will have their post deleted by the Chair.

4. At the appointed time the Chair will lock the thread & make a final post summarising the points made. Evidence based points will be given more weight, as will those with multiple seconders & supporting info.

5. Admins will take the summary and make final decisions as they see fit - but with some clear & sensible input from the community


I'm suggesting this for the bigger decisions only - but ultimately the community should be able to call for a debate if a subject becomes contentious/important enough. For fairness, the Chair should be rotated amongst a group of sensible volunteers.

[TROWELHEAD]

Bore off zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  

[paulus]

That is kind of the point! To keep shite-talking out of important matters, making it boring & process driven is the only way. I invite further criticism...

[statelyowl]

I'm all for debate and freedom of speech, but I also trust the administrators here to make good decisions.

If they want an opinion I'll give them one for sure but last thing I want is for them to feel pressured or even un-loved, this is their circus and we are along for the ride, if we don't like the ride we get off.

So as long as this is done with some degree of a hat tip to the admins and is just a capturing of opinion then cool, but risk is it becomes an expectation for admins to act on which I'm not sure is fair.

[paulus]

Thanks for the response Justin - I agree with all points. I do believe that when money is being donated there is a decent argument for a more formal process for community input. But do agree that the Admins have done a great job growing to this point and I don't think that delicate balance needs changing - they should decide which subjects need community input and should have final say. It's just allowing input from users that can't deal with wading through 30 pages of flaming, trolling, good points, bad points and even the occasional bits of genuine madness

This was more driven out of frustration of three times missing out on voicing an opinion due to discussion threads being closed after a few days after they descending into standard internet forum rubbish. Not a criticism of the way the site is run or the users on it - it's just how internet forums go

I may be alone in that frustration.

[tastegw]

What is a youser?

[paulus]

A user from Birmingham?* Or a typo. Take your pick.


*this joke will mean nothing to non-UK, but it's pretty good trust me.

[smurfblade88]

I think we need to set up a deliberations section to these forums so we can discuss the merits of adding things like Debate boards.

[paulus]

As criticisms go it's a fairly tired old trope against the "liberal left wing" desire for all views to be heard, not just the loudest. Unfortunately, often it's those with the biggest mouths who hold most sway. And those with the biggest pictures of the biggest mouths

This thread is already an example of it's main point - I suspected it would be