Stepping out to Debate: A call for debate invites

[Maxmars]

This thread is my hopeful attempt to bring some of the energy we all see here in opinions and dialogue to the ring...

Here... in the Debate forum...

Any member who is a fighter can simply create thread... and open a challenge to a debate.
Perhaps even opening a volley of their intended topic.

That's a pretty simple set-up...

Fighters can compete as they wish...

DI Debate challenges to "earn" the fighter status are a matter of member participation...

Debate takes a competitive form... but some of the better ones are more a cooperative affair.

A cautionary note:  Debaters should consider themselves lucky when they happen to be defending a point they personally subscribe to... True debate is about the dance... not the music... (which is why every debater should learn the value of making a case you don't personally believe in.)

Some people dive into the activism trap... thinking that debate is for 'proselytizing and advancing a cause'.

That is only incidental... 

Debates are for debaters... a theoretical audience of two.   

Here at DI we invite our fellow members to watch and see... and perhaps even be entertained... maybe to lynch a judge who they disagree with...


Non-fighters who want in.... have to become fighters... debate at least once...

We'll be waiting to see who is ready to try...

[suggestions and ideas are most welcome.... always]

[RichardHurt]

The person I want to debate made a comment.
As a moderator they stepped into the fray of debate.
I want to be assured as a moderator they will not pull the card to stop the debate.
Give me the assurance and I will debate.

[Maxmars]

A debate interrupted cannot be considered a debate at all.

This isn't about some social engagement... it is not an open conversation.
The only time any staff would need to do that wold be if you brought a T&C violation into the debate.

But then... you would have lost anyway.

[RichardHurt]

I agree with you 100%
My concern is that the moderator interjected themselves as a participant not as a moderator.

[Maxmars]

Perhaps your concern is a reason to affirm that staff such as moderators, not participate in dialogue?

Must the staff of the website act as gatekeepers and influencers?  Or can we utter our thoughts and perceptions without having to 'live the role' as they do elsewhere?

People disagree... you have a disagreement of "form" with a staff member...
Why must we discuss it as if this were a "public" flogging?

When I have a irritation with another member... I don't lean into turning it into a 
crisis hinging on moral character - much less casting aspersions of a highly inflammatory
nature to wrest control, and extract satisfaction.

You must pardon my bluntness...

Have a problem with X?  Take it up with X directly....  that's respectful, and likely to resolve without theater.

You chose otherwise... and all the board has to be part of the drama.

Don't be angrier than you need to be.

I said it before, I (or any staff) don't want you to be in an angry hateful place...
But having ensconced yourself into the position, demanded from there, and then persisted after I asked you not to keep this on the board until we understood what happened...

But instead, you peppered the board with repeated allegations of Mod 'racism' and making demands " as a motivator to get the engagement you demanded.

This is against the T&C's but more importantly, it crapped on every thread you visited...

All because a member did not respond to you... which led to accusations, and turmoil....

Is this really what you were after?  When you could have just sent a PM and asked directly?

You could be less of one thing and more of another.... and many would celebrate it... or you could do otherwise...

I won't deny, I enjoy your dialogue ... but there now is a cost... a cost to the board.

These kinds of conversations are best kept off the board, they are not about anyone but you... but since you persist...

I am not ashamed of how we encountered this complaint, or how we tried to resolve it.
Yet your posture is one of us 'being ashamed' of a very peculiar fact...

That a comment of yours was not responded to...

Reconsider your perspective please...

This is not reddit ot tik tok or fb or whatever place might seem better to you.

We 'speak' to each other, as best we can.
Most staff are members FIRST, with their own perceptions and values, opinions and ideas.

If I were constrained in my moderation style, prohibiting me from expressing myself ... I would leave.

If someone told me that "if you say this someone can claim..xxxx"
I would say it differently...
OR accept that as a human being, someone will always be able to restate my words offensively.

If I have to tip toe around sensitivities and sensibilities... this would be a "job" which I probably couldn't do well at all...

With respect,  I see reason between us.... work with us here...