This is a debate seed, and was last edited on 8 April 2008.
As a fã of debate, I've often railed at the absence of actual debate in the debate spot. Therefore I present a pergunta for debate:
Are mechanical pencils or wooden pencils better?
Cinders has done a marvelous job of initiating a number of formal limited debates, so I propose a different type of debate format for this one. For this, the Great Pencil Debate, the following debate attributes will apply:
Non-judged
Open-ended
Participatory
Moderated
What these mean:
Non-judged is a debate format wherein there are no judges separate from the debate audience, each member of which is free to decide which side has "won" the debate. Its opposite is judged, of course.
Open-ended is a print debate format, in which there is no set duration or end for the debate. The debate continues for as long as there are participants willing to present new arguments.
Its opposite is finite.
Participatory is a term referring to the fact that any member of the debate audience - which is to say, any of you, dear readers - may become a participant, simply por choosing a position and presenting arguments to support it.
Its opposite is limited participation (usually just one debater for each position).
Moderated means that there will be a person monitoring the submission of arguments and counter-arguments...that is to say, me. The moderator in a non-judged debate primarily works to ensure that arguments and counter-arguments are not repeated, and that participants do not argue multiple sides. Its opposite is non-moderated.
Guidelines
A note about participating in a debate
In the Great Pencil Debate, you are encouraged to participate por choosing a position and debating it. Note that debating a position means presenting arguments that support your position and counter-arguments to arguments that conflict with your position. debate does not mean presenting your opinion without any argument or evidence. "Pencils suck!" is an opinion, which is suitable for discussion, not debate. It is not an argument until you say "Pencils suck because..." (though it should be said that even that would be borderline for this debate, as the pergunta concerns differentiating between two common types of pencil). Similarly, making comments that do not relate to the debate topic, such as "I don't use pencils" or "Godzilla is King of the Monsters", is pointless and does not contribute to the debate.
I have very carefully - and a little gleefully, I must admit - chosen a debate pergunta for which I'm reasonably sure most people do not have strong feelings one way or another, therefore (hopefully) leaving it open for you choose a position without pre-existing bias. But, of course, if the pergunta of pencil superiority has been one you've long considered, feel free to jump in and participate.
Presenting your position
When you participate in this debate, please make your position clear as part of your posting. If, for instance, you were to argue that mechanical pencils were better, you should identify this with such an intro as "Mechanical pencils are better, for the following reason(s):" or "In this post, I will demonstrate the obvious fact that mechanical pencils are better than wooden ones" or something similar.
Presenting evidence
fanpop is great for many reasons. For debate, it is great for the many ways in which we can enviar evidence to support our arguments. Please make sure to identify two things when you post content related to a debate in this spot:
1) The debate question. If you post an image or a video to support an argument you wish to make for a debate, please make sure to include a palavra chave of the debate's title, such as "great pencil debate" (all one phrase, as I've done here, not separating each word por commas please!) As an alternative, you may wish to post such identification in the content's description.
2) The position you are posting the content to support. While it may be perfectly clear to you that the artigo you've posted about improved chemical manufacturing processes obviously supports your position in an abortion debate, please make sure to include (in either palavras chave or description) your position: "why forced sterilization is necessary", for an extreme example.
Having done these two things, aleatório browsers of the debate spot have a chance of actually following your argument, and maybe even participating in the debate. Then, having posted your evidence to support the argument(s) you wish to make, you can link to that evidence when you make the argument in the debate (if you don't know how to do this, please refer to link section entitled "Inserting Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)").
Notes on arguments/counter-arguments
As moderator of a non-judged debate, I will collate all the arguments and their counter-arguments into other artigos (link, link). This is for the convenience of the debate audience, as well as (potentially) for the participants, who will then be able to look up and make sure that they're presenting new arguments.
As the debate points will be recorded, repeats of the same arguments or their counters are not encouraged, and will not be recorded, unless it is clear that there is substantive difference in the argument being made (rather than a syntactical difference) - that is, something new is being said, rather than the same thing with different words.
Some tips
The results of link to the contrary, it is important to define what you're debating. As such, you'll likely want to define what "better" means in your position.
Unopposed arguments are usually seen as an argument that cannot be countered. Therefore, counter-arguments are your friends.
Let the debate begin:
link
As a fã of debate, I've often railed at the absence of actual debate in the debate spot. Therefore I present a pergunta for debate:
Are mechanical pencils or wooden pencils better?
Cinders has done a marvelous job of initiating a number of formal limited debates, so I propose a different type of debate format for this one. For this, the Great Pencil Debate, the following debate attributes will apply:
Non-judged
Open-ended
Participatory
Moderated
What these mean:
Non-judged is a debate format wherein there are no judges separate from the debate audience, each member of which is free to decide which side has "won" the debate. Its opposite is judged, of course.
Open-ended is a print debate format, in which there is no set duration or end for the debate. The debate continues for as long as there are participants willing to present new arguments.
Its opposite is finite.
Participatory is a term referring to the fact that any member of the debate audience - which is to say, any of you, dear readers - may become a participant, simply por choosing a position and presenting arguments to support it.
Its opposite is limited participation (usually just one debater for each position).
Moderated means that there will be a person monitoring the submission of arguments and counter-arguments...that is to say, me. The moderator in a non-judged debate primarily works to ensure that arguments and counter-arguments are not repeated, and that participants do not argue multiple sides. Its opposite is non-moderated.
Guidelines
A note about participating in a debate
In the Great Pencil Debate, you are encouraged to participate por choosing a position and debating it. Note that debating a position means presenting arguments that support your position and counter-arguments to arguments that conflict with your position. debate does not mean presenting your opinion without any argument or evidence. "Pencils suck!" is an opinion, which is suitable for discussion, not debate. It is not an argument until you say "Pencils suck because..." (though it should be said that even that would be borderline for this debate, as the pergunta concerns differentiating between two common types of pencil). Similarly, making comments that do not relate to the debate topic, such as "I don't use pencils" or "Godzilla is King of the Monsters", is pointless and does not contribute to the debate.
I have very carefully - and a little gleefully, I must admit - chosen a debate pergunta for which I'm reasonably sure most people do not have strong feelings one way or another, therefore (hopefully) leaving it open for you choose a position without pre-existing bias. But, of course, if the pergunta of pencil superiority has been one you've long considered, feel free to jump in and participate.
Presenting your position
When you participate in this debate, please make your position clear as part of your posting. If, for instance, you were to argue that mechanical pencils were better, you should identify this with such an intro as "Mechanical pencils are better, for the following reason(s):" or "In this post, I will demonstrate the obvious fact that mechanical pencils are better than wooden ones" or something similar.
Presenting evidence
fanpop is great for many reasons. For debate, it is great for the many ways in which we can enviar evidence to support our arguments. Please make sure to identify two things when you post content related to a debate in this spot:
1) The debate question. If you post an image or a video to support an argument you wish to make for a debate, please make sure to include a palavra chave of the debate's title, such as "great pencil debate" (all one phrase, as I've done here, not separating each word por commas please!) As an alternative, you may wish to post such identification in the content's description.
2) The position you are posting the content to support. While it may be perfectly clear to you that the artigo you've posted about improved chemical manufacturing processes obviously supports your position in an abortion debate, please make sure to include (in either palavras chave or description) your position: "why forced sterilization is necessary", for an extreme example.
Having done these two things, aleatório browsers of the debate spot have a chance of actually following your argument, and maybe even participating in the debate. Then, having posted your evidence to support the argument(s) you wish to make, you can link to that evidence when you make the argument in the debate (if you don't know how to do this, please refer to link section entitled "Inserting Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)").
Notes on arguments/counter-arguments
As moderator of a non-judged debate, I will collate all the arguments and their counter-arguments into other artigos (link, link). This is for the convenience of the debate audience, as well as (potentially) for the participants, who will then be able to look up and make sure that they're presenting new arguments.
As the debate points will be recorded, repeats of the same arguments or their counters are not encouraged, and will not be recorded, unless it is clear that there is substantive difference in the argument being made (rather than a syntactical difference) - that is, something new is being said, rather than the same thing with different words.
Some tips
The results of link to the contrary, it is important to define what you're debating. As such, you'll likely want to define what "better" means in your position.
Unopposed arguments are usually seen as an argument that cannot be countered. Therefore, counter-arguments are your friends.
Let the debate begin:
link