Mr Bombastic

I've been to at least two websites where they have structured debates. This is where one person creates a debate topic and invites someone to debate the other side. There is a limit on how many characters you can use for each round of debate, set by the challenger. The debate can be anywhere from 3-5 rounds. Each side is responsible for presenting their arguments in a polite and rational manner and providing credible sources for everything he says. To be more precise, the one who starts the debate goes first, presenting his opening argument. His opponent goes next. Next round, they expand on their opening arguments and include any sources for their arguments. Then you have rebuttals and the closing argument for both sides. After the debate is concluded, the rest of the people on the site can vote on the winner. They would grade the opponents on things like sources used, how polite they are, and a few other things.

I would love to see something like this on OPP. How about you? Let's make some noise. Contact admin and let them know about this.

Weewillynobeerspilly Loc: North central Texas

how many people do you have on your ignore list?

Mr Bombastic

About a dozen or so. Why?

Weewillynobeerspilly Loc: North central Texas

that kinda cuts down on the debate when you do that....like minded people rarely debate.

Mr Bombastic

The ones I have on my list would not be capable of engaging in a structured debate, so I'm not missing anything. And there are plenty of people I disagree with who are not on my list.

Wolf counselor Loc: Heart of Texas

OPP has already been ruined with the ignore option and invite only.

When I first joined OPP , it was an open forum with few restrictions.

Now it has become a safe space for thin skinned, wussified sheeple.

I "love" verbal warfare and no matter how vulgar or profane my opponents may be, I never stoop to their level of language.

And I can stand toe to toe and face to face with the worst of them and never, ever back down or use the ignore option.

Don't change OPP, it's already becoming a plantation for wussified weaklings.

Mr Bombastic

We still have open debate. We simply have the option to block certain people who are obnoxious, clueless, and generally someone we would not in any way associate with. If that makes me a wuss, then so be it. I don't care what others think of me. Some people belong on my ignore list. That's a fact. Here's a question for you. Do you think anyone should be allowed to comment on any thread, no matter what? Do you think I should be forced to allow someone to spew hatred and lies on MY threads? I think not. I had a previous account on here. I had to delete it and make another because someone was stalking my posts and being as obnoxious as possible. I complained to admin and they did nothing. I put them on ignore, but they followed me to other peoples threads and gave me grief on a daily basis. I would even say that the ignore list doesn't go far enough. If I ignore someone I want nothing to do with them. But they can reply to me on another thread created by someone else. A ban should be universal. Otherwise, it's useless. There is another political forum that handles it pretty well. When you ignore someone it doesn't affect their ability to reply on any thread. What it does is hide all of their posts and replies from the one who ignored them. I contacted the OPP admin and suggested they do something similar. Well, we already know that admin doesn't care what we think, so it went nowhere. I'm getting pretty disgusted with them.

pafret Loc: Northeast

You are quite correct in that statement. Most of my ignore list isn't housebroken. There are plenty of people who will give you an argument even after ignoring the useless ones.

Wolf counselor Loc: Heart of Texas

I will ignore nothing and no one.

The worst of those we speak of are the very ones I am here to confront.

None of them would ever dare to stalk me because I am quite capable of silencing them and send them packing to a less fierceful adversary.

Have you not noticed that ?

I'm here for the sole purpose of doing battle with these demons.

I eat demons for breakfast and put the living fear of God in their hearts.

pafret Loc: Northeast

I have found that too much demon in my diet causes diarrhea. In the interest of avoiding dehydration I use ignore to limit my intake of the salmonella infestation on this forum. Demons are too stupid and devious to fear anything.

Mr Bombastic

For the most part, I'm here to have fun. If someone spoils my fun they get ignored. Simple as that. I'm not here to save them. They are beyond redemption, IMHO.

Admin

I thought about it a while back, and I actually implemented this into the forum software. But it would take at least two people with opposing views who both can clearly define and agree on a topic of discussion and agree to stay within the topic and be able to eloquently defend their positions without resorting to one-liner insults. Otherwise, nobody is going to follow such topic for more than a few minutes.

pafret Loc: Northeast

If it is already implemented why not publish how it works for a limited trial? Bombastic is interested, I would give it a try and if successful you could turn it on permanently. If there is no other interest it could easily be turned off. I might even unblock some of those I have blocked to be sure we get real opposing opinions. Even when posters are in general agreement, they often differ in the specifics and this might be worth exploring.

Admin

OK, let's try it.

The whole thing works like Invite-Only section, but in the scope of a topic.

I would need to create a topic and give two people access to post in it. And nobody else would be able to post there.

So find a sparring partner, decide on the title for the topic and PM me the opening statements from both people. Those statements should outline your basic positions regarding the topic of the debate and your respective conclusions.

I'll create the topic and quote those opening statements in the first post. After that, only two people would be able to post in that topic.

So you can then argue and debate over how you got to those conclusions that you submitted in the opening post and look for flaws in the opponent's thinking.

You would also need to agree on the terms, such as "if one person doesn't reply for three days" then the debate ends. The specifics are up to you, but you need to agree on something solid ahead of time.

And I'll sticky that topic in the digest for the duration of the debate.

This was on my to-do list since the time I upgraded the forum software, but I never got around to it. So I guess now might be as good time as any to try it.

If this works out, then I'll create a separate section for it and assign a moderator to create such topics when needed.

pafret Loc: Northeast

Ok Bombastic, admin has responded favorably. Do you want to make this an open call via PM to suitable paricipants like Loki, Ve'hoe, Wolf Counselor and others of their caliber? You got your wish now let us know what you want to debate or issue a call for topics. Sounds like Admin is going to run this as a classic collegiate debate. Time for wishing has ended, now is the time for doing.