Are Debates Ever Really Won?

[Sync182]

Debating Forums such as this have no clear winners or losers. It's largely because people have their opinions (they're entitled to them), and speak them. They have their beliefs (they're entitled to them), and speak them.

 

The trouble with that, though, is that people are rarely willing to change thier opinions or beliefs. So "debates" tend to bounce back and forth until the participants give up.

 

There are those who post in Debates Forums who are of the pwn-ftw types, and they exist on both sides of any debate. It's why I generally steer clear of Debating Forums, now - not because I'm fearful of being confronted by a blinkered opinion or belief that is different to my own; but because I'm mindful of my likely reaction to such.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Sync182

[Ghogiel]

Can I get a list of names for this RIGHT AT ALL COST click thing? Edited July 29, 2012 by Ghogiel

[Kendo 2]

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9149/toofunny.gif

 

Honestly, who would fall for that?

 

*takes the time to list names and links to posts giving examples*

*27 clicks of the report button later they are banned*

 

That is not what this is about. No one really expects things to change. A vocal few have effectively silenced or driven off the competition. They have 'won'.

 

I have to wonder what that guy was thinking when he cut down the last tree on Easter Island. Did he have an epiphany, or was he just happy the last tree was his?

[csgators]

You will not see a "POW, BOP, BAM" change in anyone on a forum. It might have happened but pride will prevent them for admitting it. It is a very rare thing anyway, more likely you will cause someone to do more research and refine there ideas and possibly over time to change them. Yes it does work but it's not like a football game where one side clearly wins. I have over the course of many, many years of debating changed my ideas on many things. Often from input from people on the other side and the research I did to defend my own position. Political debate is a long term thing, thus the reason us Ron Paul fans are not insane after all. His world view (Libertarianism) is growing in the US due to logic slowly winning over rhetoric. Keep fighting the good fight.

[Ghogiel]

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9149/toofunny.gif

 

Honestly, who would fall for that?

Fall for what?

 

You have been insulting the entire forum population as a whole anyway, you could get 27 clicks right now.

[Kendo 2]

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9149/toofunny.gif

 

Honestly, who would fall for that?

Fall for what?

 

You have been insulting the entire forum population as a whole anyway, you could get 27 clicks right now.

 

I have upset you. I apologize.

 

As for my 'insulting the entire forum population', pointing out the obvious and stating 'a few members' or 'a handful of members' in no way constitutes 'the entire forum'. I will also point out that I am NOT the only person to have said as much in this thread, yet I am the ONLY one being threaten. Again, just pointing out the obvious.

 

If my conduct here was offensive to anyone BUT that 'handful of members' then I apologize to them as well. That being said, I will now leave the field, confident that I have done the right thing and brought awareness to an on-going issue that will never be resolved on its own.

 

*does reasonable impression of James Brown*

[Ghogiel]

For the record, a list of names that are on this click thing is an open question.

 

You have been quite clear that you are speaking about the majority of posters in this forum:

 

 

Yep, 'right at any cost'. This point has been brought up before and it always ends with someone posting something like 'I think what I think and therefore you are WRONG because you don't think way I think'. At one time people actually did debate here. They made factual statements and posted links and sometimes it was very informative. Now it is just a giant pissing contest dominated by opinion posters, pseudo-intellectuals and logic Nazis.

 

At one time I could pick a topic I was interested in, read the posts, verify the facts and then do my own research before I posted. It really was like that at one time. Now I don't bother. The facts don't matter and now it boils down to what yammering baboon is the loudest.

 

There have been attempts in the past to steer this section back to the way it was. They never work. There are members here who actually like things the way they are. They rule the school yard so why would they want to it change? And that's too bad, because it has driven away the solid debaters and left us with what you see now, a few debaters and a lot of uninformed and hostile opinion posters.

 

Emphasis is mine.

[Kendo 2]

I doubt anyone will ever be baited in to posting a 'list of names'. Not because there is a lack of perpetrators, but because to do so would be forum suicide. You might as well stop asking for one since its abscence doesn't invalidate the facts. OTHER PEOPLE SEE IT TOO. THEY ARE STATING AS MUCH IN THIS THREAD.

 

*resumes James Brown*

[Lisnpuppy]

Stick a fork in it....this one is done also. Personal attacks, personal vendettas, off-topic....I could go on but I have a daughter to get to band camp.~Lisnpuppy

[buddah]

Let me put it another way, keep it to the subject at hand. No personal attacks or cheap shots.

 

Or I will just remove the source of the issue, the debate forums can be taken off line with a couple of mouse clicks.

 

The staff has had enough.

 

Buddah