Tab and myself have just concluded our Debate in the Chamber of Debate, an excellent, but not often enough used Forum. By agreement of the parties, we have decided to let the people decide who the winner of the Debate is, so please go to the following thread:
And read the Debate and choose a winner if you are so inclined.
The only Rules for voting are as follows:
1.) Your vote must be in the form of a post, and clearly state who you believe won the Debate. Commentary having to do with why you made your decision is strongly encouraged, but optional.
2.) For your vote to count, you must have made at least 100 posts as of this, October 3, 2010.
3.) Voting will conclude at 11:59 EST on Sunday, October 10th, 2010, at which time this thread will be deleted.
[size=150]Please do not reply to this thread as this thread will be deleted on October 10, 2010, and any such replies would cease to count towards your post count at that time.[/size]
Thank you very much!
By the way, if you have any questions or comments for either (or both) of the participants, they may be posted in the thread linked above regardless of whether or not you choose to vote on a winner.
I really cannot see the necessity of a specialized forum within another forum. All that tells us is that the first-string players or A-team need the protection of rules that should apply to all players and that in the democracy of all voices heard there cannot be a voice that is able to cut through the crap of ad hominems and personal agendas in order to express good philosophical or religious insights.
It has nothing to do with the A-Team or anything like that. I appreciate the semi-unintended compliment that I am amongst the A-Team, though!
The Forum simply exists as a specialty Forum for people to be assigned to go head-to-head, or you can do teams, and for the Debate to be judged by a third-party, or third-parties. In addition to that, a Debate in the Chamber tends to be more focused than a normal thread, not because of ad homs or personal agendas or anything, but because the participants have to stick strictly to the subject at hand to have any chance of winning. In addition to that, unlike a thread, the Format of a Debate is agreed upon beforehand and strictly adhered to.
Again, I’d like to re-emphasize that anyone can participate in the Chamber. All one needs to do is find an opponent, a subject and agree upon some rules and find some Judges. (or have it open for Judging)
But the rules of The Chamber of Debate shouldn’t “apply to all players” in all forums. The rules of the debate forum limit who can post there when, which is not something that would improve the other forums on the site. There are no requirements of quality or tenure (c.f. the cross-sitedebates, where the posts of non-members were copied verbatim from another site). The debate forum is run differently because it is designed to host a very different kind of discussion.
I think Brevel_Monkey’s post hints at the deeper issue: residual resentment for a forum that was as you describe. But as is indicated in the forum rules,
And the emphasis is in the original, to directly address potential criticisms like those you voice before they were voiced.
Given the fact that both the nature of a specific Forum and an ILP rule have been brought up in this thread, I am hesitant to delete it altogether, so I will move it to Help & Suggestions.
I changed it to a ‘normal’ thread. If that was too soon, you can change it back, but since voting is closed I assumed it no longer needed to be announced.
Eh, Ierrellus’s beef is a classic “there shouldn’t be football pitches” gaff. Because somehow a specific area to host a certain kind of game tramples on the toes of those who just like to play keepy-uppy.