1.2.2009
How should one debate online?
Author: Gogf
Original Thread: How should one debate online?
According to the author's words, this article, or more accurately "guide", aims at addressing some problems that naturally occur with internet debates, and then giving some tips, on how to better our internet debating experience.
The guide opens up addressing some problems that occur with debating, and attributing them mostly to the fact that many people, from different political and religious upbringings, with no formal debate training can take part in internet debates.
The author then goes on to address 2 different types of replying to another post, specifically mentioning the "no-quoting" method, and the "multi-quoting" method, and talks about the problems that occur with each method. He then proposes an alternative method, making use of both the above ones.
The second section of the guide is titled "Evidence". He talks about when it is appropriate to ask for evidence, and what he considers valid evidence, by listing a number of webpage types, which he believes are not valid. He then talks about where valid evidence can be found, and lists some websites as examples. The section closes by a brief paragraph on how to use evidence in an internet debate.
The third section, considerably smaller and less informative than the previous ones, gives some tips on how to be taken more seriously in a debate, by advising you to polish your posts, use correct grammar, and generally make your posts easy to read and as informative as possible.
He then closes by urging us to respect our fellow posters and follow the forum's rules.
I personally found this guide very interesting, even if I don't consider it something entirely original. It looks more like general debating tips being put together in a nice, well written and polished project. Of course, one may not agree with some of the author's views, but that should not discredit the quide. Hopefully, this guide will at least have some impact on raisng the bar in the political and philosophical debates of the forum, something that is much needed in my opinion, considering the current nature of political debates.
Thank your for reading this review/overview, have a Happy New Year!
Soulghast
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