Preserved Topic: Who would like to start a "formal" debate? (Page 1 of 2)

All right folks, I would like to issue a challenge of sorts.

Every now and then a thread gets started about religion and folks come out of the woodwork with a wide variety of thoughts and opinions. All those posts tend to get tangled up some and it?s hard to make clear sense of any particular arguement.

So, in the interest of intellectual fun and excitement I am issuing a challenge. I would like to start a formal debate, complete with ?rules,? on some facet of religion.

To keep the debate unmuddled and streamlined, I would like to propose the following:

Debate will consist of five people.

Two people will be on one side of the arguement (team A) and two people will be on the other side (team B).

One person will act as impartial moderator.

These five people will be the only ones to post in the debate thread. A companion thread may be started for folks who want to comment on what is going on, though.

The debate topic should be clear and the participants should make every effort to stick to the topic. Any digressions should have a purpose relevant to the topic.

The participants should commit themselves to seeing the debate through to the end. However, time allowances should be made for real-life interventions. (I would love to participate in the debate, but can?t guarantee I will be stopping in every day.)

My purpose for bringing up this whole formal debate idea comes from my reading of other online debates. I frequent a few atheist boards and I have stopped in on some religion boards where debates are taking place. They are interesting to read, but one side of the arguement always has the ?home-field advantage.? I think the asylum is a great place to host a formal debate of this type because of the neutral territory. It?s obvious there are plenty of people here with differing beliefs, and I think it would be interesting to see how folks back up their beliefs.

So, I would like to see who is interested in debating, what topics folks would like to see debated, and some ideas for more rules and guidlines (what is the format for the debate ... how long will the debate go ... etc.)

I think this could be a fun mental exercise! Any takers?

I'm in...I want to debate! Bring on the challengers...(oh wait, according to the rules, I need a debate partner...who's up to debating on my team?) How 'bout you, suho?

C'mon Bugs, you've got some great talents for debate...I'd love to debate against you...

But then, maybe you should moderate...

Great idea BeeKay!



[This message has been edited by WebShaman (edited 05-24-2002).]

I can moderate if need be.

I must say that this is the Asylum and I'm unsure how something so formal will work but the Peanut gallery should be interesting!!

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Bring on the losers...uh, I mean, opponents...

I might be interested in giving it a try. I'm not quite sure about the formality of it because one of the reasons I come here is to escape formality and some of the conforming pressures of everyday life. I think I could be a good moderator and a good participant depending on the topic being debated.

. . : newThing

I prefer mass debating much more fun imho

reminds me of the monty python
argument with idle and cleese

mass debating?--ha?

let the game begin

the <big>BIG</big> question is

who is impartial enough to moderate?

then

choose a <i>particular</i>topic so those with any expertise can step forward

`~

Well, sounds like an interesting idea, but how would you enforce the "only debaters and moderator can post" rule? As Emps said, this being the Asylum and all, I'm not sure how something this formal would work out.

That being said, I suppose I might be up for something like that, but not quite yet. From this weekend to around the end of next week I'm going to be pretty busy. Once June gets underway I should have some more time, though. I'll stop in every now and then to see how things are going.




Cell 270

7 is supposed to be a magic or divine number

(depending on how one veiws numbers)

i will suggest 3 (another "magic" number) on each team

1 (yet another "divine" number) on each team to moderate the team

and give the final summation

`~

quote:

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quote:

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flashtongue, I think Emperor has some good moderating qualities. I nominate him.

have we not tryed this b4 and failed???? I am here to encourage!

Have we? When?

That was a question based on my faulty memory...

quote:

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brain cells grow back right???

---

I had always heard they don't. Treat them well

. . : slicePuzzle

i have a idea~
MSN s net meeting is a good way
...how can we select 5 numbers?(i think 5 is too small number,but to avoid tangle situation,it is necessary)

a selection constitution should be drafted

i suggest that we can use the msn at one time that every body is free ...
the debate history can be post in alysum by the poser after the debation history.


i love beatles

I think the idea was to have the debate here. And I'm not sure if I would trust five inmates to leave the Asylum on their own anyway...


Cell 270

Bumping this back up again... has interest died out on this, or are there still people around who would want to do this? I would be up for something like this, now that my thesis is done.

OH MY GOD!!!! HOW DID I MISS THIS THREAD!!!!

COUNT ME IN!!!!!!

Ok, scratch MSN, we can do this like PS Pong, only more complicated since this is an *intelligent* forum compared to some others, since beekay came up with this, I nominate him, btu if he can't i nominate emps, but if he can't I will try, but I would like to participate in the debate.

Ok, we first elect a mod, then the people that want to be in the debate (I think 5 is fine really, 7 can get out of hand) can post that they want to and the mod randomly selects em...

Bla Bla Bla the mod picks a topic and then sais pick a number 1-10, and closest pair to get it goes first, then after both teams have replied, the mod declares the winner, there should be an odd numbenr of rounds, lets just say 7 for now, and the pair with the most wins, then the winners, choose the next 4 people, and the mod chooses the next mod, or if no one wants to mod then he can keep the position

this is a great idea...

emps since you have the most votes for mod right now, how about you go ahead and pick the topic and we will get started, unless anyone else wants to add on to the ground rules...

edit: i dont care if people post in the debate thread that arent participating, as long as they keep their opinions to themselves untill they play

[This message has been edited by InSiDeR (edited 06-07-2002).]

Hmmm...'k then. I'll debate for you, but I must ask...how are we going to do the MSN thing? Cuase if I live around the other side of the wortld, it's gonna be damn hard to find a time when we're all free. I like hte idea of having it in an Asylum thread.

Koan 63, written on the wall of cell number 250:
Those who Believe
Can
Those who Try
Do
Those who Love
Live

Whoa, slow down InSiDeR! I think BeeKay outlined the rules at the top, but nothing ever came of this. I'm not even sure if anyone is still interested (well, except you and Skaarj), so why don't we try to drum up some support before we start?

Last time around WebShaman and Bugimus expressed interest in debating, and Emperor did say he would be willing to moderate. As for the MSN thing, that was something that vanvanta just threw out as an idea, but I think we would probably stick to making it an Asylum thread.

I think it would be interesting if people could comment on the debate itself, but the whole idea of having a formal debate is that there is some sort of order to it. If everyone was commenting in the same thread, I think it would become just another Philosophy/Silliness thread. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if that's what we want then we don't need to go through all the trouble of setting up a debate. I think BeeKay originally suggested that comments be kept to another thread (which can be linked to from the debate thread), and I think that's a good idea. It wouldn't be like we were censoring people, after all, just trying to keep a little order.

OK, those are my thoughts. Anyone else want to chime in?

(Oh, and I think it would be a good idea for BeeKay to act as organizer. He seems to be good at that sort of thing.)

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 06-07-2002).]

Well I'm up for it, if there's a spot left. I'm sure WebShamen would just lurve to carve me skull

njuice42
icq 957255

im lookin foward to a good debate against bugs, im just dying to do that...

nj: Well, I don't think we've chosen teams yet, but I like the idea of pairs. If we have enough interest we could make up a number of teams and have a little debate tourney. I'm not exactly sure how something like that would work, but I'm sure we could figure something out. I think it will just be a matter of time before everyone figures out that the subject is alive again, and with the interest expressed so far we should be able to get something going.

*looks around anxiously, hoping Beekay will show up*

You know how when you go to the supermarket and you're in line and your wife (or husband, or brother, or whoever is with you) says, "Oh, I forgot something!" And then they run off and as you get closer and closer to the register you try to figure out if you should let the people behind you go or if you should start ringing things up and hope they get back in time! Well, anyway, I kind of feel like that now.

I suppose it's my own fault for bumping this thing back up to the top.

well i would like to be counted in if there is a free slot

Nine times out of ten she doesn't return in time, and I end up standing there smiling politely and goin' "Yup... so... these savings, wow..." While people behind me plot out where they'd dump my body.

And it's always for something like cat food, or laundry detergent. Or salmon.

njuice42
icq 957255

Well, as far as I know all of the slots are still free; nothing is set yet. Here are the people who have expressed interest.

WebShaman
Bugimus
Suho1004
InSiDeR
Skaarjj
njuice42
tomeaglescz

Also, Emperor has expressed a willingness to moderate.

If we had one more person willing to debate that would make four teams of two, which would allow us to have a little tourney. Now, I'm not sure how formal debates work, but I'm sure when Beekay shows up (*crosses fingers*) he'll have some ideas. InSiDeR also posted some ideas up above, too.

We need some confirmation on some of the people above (especially Emps), and we need an official organizer, and then I think we can start the ball rolling.

[Edit: Thanks for the encouragement, nj. Um, that doesn't have any reflection on the current situation, does it?]

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 06-07-2002).]

Ok, let's get this thing set up...we can call the thread 'Formal Debate (insert number)' if you guys wish...which means that only those participating should post...or we can do it like pspong, where the teams decide first on a team name, and then we can call the thread 'team name vs team name'...so we could get more matches going at the same time...

So, let's start getting organized...first, we need a thread called 'who wants to play'....then we need to match up players with one another (for teams)...maybe the referee will decide that, or Beekay? Or should it be player choice? Then team name...hmmm....team name should be decided by the players, I think....

Then upcoming matches, maybe?

C'mon. guys, let's get this thing rolling...as we have no mods here, we'll have to get this thing started ourselves...

And who decides the debate topics?

I am rearin' to go!! And yeah, njuice...I'm just awaitin'.....Mahjqa wants your scalp....

So we're going to have random pairings? I wonder how that would work out...

[Edit: Oh, ok, I see; that's still undecided. Well, I think this thread is a good place to start for debaters. We've get seven so far that I've listed above. But we really do need someone to moderate the debates...]

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 06-07-2002).]

Yup. I nominate BeeKay...after all, he got this thing started...you up to moderating the formal debate, BeeKay?

As referee I nominate Emps...

Let the mawing begin!

I second those nominations.

And, um, what exactly is "mawing?" Whatever it is, it doesn't sound pretty...

If matching of talents does not turn me up a spot...I'd be willing to moderate also. I like hte idea of teams of three. The whole Perfect Number thing.

Koan 63, written on the wall of cell number 250:
Those who Believe
Can
Those who Try
Do
Those who Love
Live

Ok, I second the motion for skaarjj...you are now 'unofficially' a mod for the 'formal debate'...so as mod, it's your responsibility to create the 'I wanna play' thread, and then 'upcoming matches' to match up the teams...hehe....

So how do we go about doing the debate topic? Any ideas...?

@suho...mawing...sort of like jawing...but with a 'nastier' edge to it...you know, like 'shut yur maw!'

Now let's get down to some serious mawing...or maybe that should be braying?

I'm here, I'm here! I don't stop in quite as frequently as some of y'all ... and a storm had kept me off the internet last night ... and my cats hacked up a hairball on my homework ... er, um, anyways ...

Teams don't mean a thing if the members don't agree on the one particular side of the arguement posed. Choosing teams should be based on the topic. Throw out a topic, then folks decide on which side of the issue they stand, then folks pair off based on their like opinions.

So, the first order of business is to choose the topic of the first debate. I initially posted this thread because of religion and would like to stick with that, at least for the first debate. Existance of God, Bible accuracy, did Jesus arise from the dead (was Jesus even real), should evolution be balanced by creationism in the school science classes, should the ten commandments be posted on public grounds, etc. Do any of those ideas interest anyone? Do you have your own ideas?

Let's focus on the topic, then move on from there. Cool?

edit: A judge recently ruled that a high school choir could not perform a religious song because two choir members were atheists and had officially complained. In another case, a judge ruled that an official prayer could not be said at a high school graduation, but a student could deliver a 'message' on whatever topic the student chooses ... or something like that. Current events are full of interesting debate topics!

Cell Number: 494

[This message has been edited by BeeKay (edited 06-07-2002).]

Personally, I would rather go with other subjects. There's more to philosophy than just religion, and it seems like religion gets a bit overworked here. But that's just my opinion.

I know I should come up with some alternatives, but I'm all out of inspiration right now (England and Argentina might have something to do with that...). I will be thinking about it, though.

If theres room I'd like to be involved as well. Sounds like a great idea.

-Jestah
Cell 277

~runs in pulling on black & white [well not quite so black which is good enough in my world] striped top~

OK ladies lets keep this clean: no biting, no gouging (or at least not while I'm looking), no spitting and when I say break you break.

Lets get it on!!

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Ok, we now have two mods...BeeKay and skaarjj....

You guys decide the Topics for the debate....so, we could start threads like this 'Formal Debate Topic (insert appropriate Topic)'...under this topic then members can 'register' themselves, with their pro-contra stance, and 'team-up'...from there, the mods can then either

a) select teams to debate against one another
or
b) teams could issue a challenge to other teams

So first we need 'Topic' threads....so that people can declare themselves...and get teamed-up...

and then we need the teams to actually do the debate...in team a vs team b on topic c thread maybe? Or just team Pro and team Contra? That sounds nice...with numbers for more teams on the same topic...like team Pro1 vs team Contra1?

With two mods...I'm pretty sure we will get enough topics going...and maybe giving more topics out to choose from? For example, instead of just religion, such topics as 'Did Jesus visit China?' or 'Did Moses really part the dead sea?'...and so on...of course, not just limited to religion...maybe science, or whatever comes to mind...as long as the topics a specific in nature...

Let's get the show on the road!

I'm getting more and more interested in participating but I just want everyone to know that I really suck at organizing such interactions. Thankfully, it seems we have more than enough varied talent here to get this thing off the ground.

Where do we start? This should be fun.

. . : slicePuzzle