[New Sub-Forum : Poll] Would you like to see a debate forum?

[ThePrivateer]

So, after this was raised regarding two recent debates, over Ferians and over Ship Prices (and education, bizarrely enough), I decided to hold a poll regarding whether or not we should have a debate forum.

I know it's like polling over whether to have a poll, but I just wanted to probe the community to see what the reaction was. One choice only, please.

There are 5 different options : No (IRC) | No (don't want) | Maybe | Yes (Like it), | Yes (Absolutely want it)

Choose which one corresponds to your feelings about it.
As we know, I can't really change options afterwards, so this will have to suffice.


I chose, Yes It would be a good addition.

[sdw195]

hmm how bout a "yes but atalost can only use a sub-forum" option

[Curudan]

I think you forgot to add the "No, that's what the other forums are for." option. I see nothing wrong with having debates where they are already happening. It's my opinion that the line between 'debate' and 'discussion' is too fine to easily segregate like this.

[digdug]

I think you forgot to add the "No, that's what the other forums are for." option. I see nothing wrong with having debates where they are already happening. It's my opinion that the line between 'debate' and 'discussion' is too fine to easily segregate like this.

exactly, we always had a "brainstorms" forum for that exact purpose. (and now that bugs have been separated from it, even better)

[alterecco]

I completely agree with Curudan and DigDug. Having a subforum for debates is silly. Debates are a sign of a healthy and engaged community and should be allowed to take place where they occur (as long as they fit the topic). I have also split the Ship Prices thread into the discussion part and the commentary part. The commentary can now be found in Offtopic.

[sdw195]

and um how did you manage to post a poll anyway??

[ThePrivateer]

I completely agree with Curudan and DigDug. Having a subforum for debates is silly. Debates are a sign of a healthy and engaged community and should be allowed to take place where they occur (as long as they fit the topic).

Well, that's what this poll is to find out - do we need a subforum? I will let this run until we have something like 20-30+ votes, and then we should have a good probing of the community.

and um how did you manage to post a poll anyway??

Easy. Make a new topic, scroll down the bottom and you will see all the stuff for polls.

[Drako Slyith]

I said we need one. Personally, I love debates, and I like having a certain place to put them. We need a special area that people can freely debate and not worry about insulting everyone. Also, debates can ruin a topic, as me and thePrivateer did with the zoanthrope debate. A special area to split them off to would let topics resume normal course. Also, if you want to take part in a debate, you don't have to search across the entire website for one, you can go to where there would be several.

[ThePrivateer]

I said we need one. Personally, I love debates, and I like having a certain place to put them. We need a special area that people can freely debate and not worry about insulting everyone. Also, debates can ruin a topic, as me and thePrivateer did with the zoanthrope debate. A special area to split them off to would let topics resume normal course. Also, if you want to take part in a debate, you don't have to search across the entire website for one, you can go to where there would be several.

Incredible! We agree on something! Exactly the same reasons I would like to see one -- but I don't feel it's absolutely neccessary. Still, at least we had our debate siphoned off from Pyro's thread...everyone hates thread-crashers! >.<

[Ttech]

I agree with Alterecco on this, however we will certainly bring this up on the staff meeting. I don't think it is our place to enforce where discussions or debates take place in any way shape or form, in fact you just violated your idea of having a debate forum by making this on the forums. We can make the wiki for debates if we wanted to, though I think that is silly, not everyone will necessarily.

[Aury]

Given the hassle it would involve, I am with the rest of the staff who has posted here.
With an even further addendum; only debates relevant to transcendence should even be here. IE, things like political and religious (and other real-world subjects) debate this community is not set up for or around, and thus you would be best suited by going to an appropriate dedicated community to debate such things. Debates such as those will likely be locked on sight because I don't want to have to deal with any fallout or hassle that they invariably generate. (Not that it means that the creator will get a demerit/warning of sorts for having created it, unless they are clearly trying to spam debate threads in defiance of the rules, in which case appropriate action will be taken)

[Prophet]

Having a sub forum dedicated to arguing/debating other members is ridiculous.

If a discussion arises naturally within a topic, that is progress.

Arguing for the sake of it, is self-destructive.

There have been many debates in the community already and, for the most part, a lot of constructive ideas were brought forward. Occasionally it degrades into a shouting match, at which point, those involved should be mature enough to stop or move to another medium. The forum is certainly not the place for that conduct.

If you would like an active discussion on a specific topic start a thread and post your thoughts. If the topic is important and other members have opinions they will post them. If a debate/discussion happens, fantastic. If it turns ugly it should be locked.

To sum up, I think a debate forum goes against the spirit of the community and could end up causing much grief for the admins/mods as well as the members.