First Member Judged Debates and First-Timers-Only Tournament

Skyfloating and IsaacKoi are up and ready to go for their agreed topic. Because there has not been unanimous consent for a rule change, debates will continue to consist of 5 posts each.


Character limits have been abolished because failure to notice violations was creating unfair conditions.

Souls and Xtrozero have 48 hours to agree on a topic if they can, and then a topic will be assigned.

The current debate champion, semper fortis, is authorized to announce forfeiture of turns when a debater misses the 24 hour window. No debater shall recieve more than a single 24 hour extension or two 12 hour extensions during the course of this round.

Text WhiteI'm still a relatively new member still roaming around discovering all there is to see and this certainly sounds like a lot of fun.

However, I think I'll just enjoy from the safety of the sidelines. Seem's I really... Annoyed? Or hit a nerve, totally unintentionally, with someone on another thread of discussion who has expressed an interest in "guaging out my eyes!"

Fortunately, I've looked into a few other topics of interest being discussed and am pleased to see that ladies are certainly welcome here. But this lady is a little gun shy at the moment.

But here's my 2 cents worth...

How about the topic of 2012? From the Mayans to I believe Edgar Casey, to even modern day scientics predicting a major sunspot accuring when aligned with a direct path towards the earth, all have perdicted major calamity and even the end of the world in 2012.

Are they right? Should we be living like there's no 2013?

xtrozero? souls? are you guys here? thought about a topic?

Sorry, I've been MIA taking care some things here in thephysical world. I'm going to try to get in contact with Xtrozero on a topic.

I need a U2U on the topic you gentlemen select not later than friday evening, or I'll have to assign one. I really should have already.

Come on you two....!!!!!


Let's get kickin here...

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis

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I know....next tournament you guys might implement some rules to sort out the people who are really commited. In Round 1 some participants didnt even post!

[edit on 8-11-2007 by Skyfloating]

They just don't know what they are missing...

In my humble opinion, this is one of the best and most exciting features of ATS......

Semper

Its my favourite feature. I love a good fight and I not only learn a lot about a subject but also about how to discern truth from disinformation. Im surprised theres not that much interest in the tournaments.

Vagabond, I think you should assign the topic for us. I don't think I'll have some time to arrange anything this week. Anything is fine by me.

reply to post by Skyfloating

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There usually are a few. I more or less expected that, especially given the reduced amount of time I have been able to dedicate to encouraging everyone to hang in there, etc.

Our previous tournament was more successful than any other that I can remember in that respect though, so things are improving a bit.

And Souls, I'll have a topic for you guys by the end of this evening. Thanks.

I see that I've been penalised one star for including too many references in my recent post in my "Ancient Astronauts" debate.

Sorry about that. It's simply force of habit from work to include a supporting reference whenever possible. I forgot that there is a rule in the debate limiting the maximum number of references we are supposed to include.

My apologies to my opponent, Skyfloating.

As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of references...

All the best,

Isaac

Hi Vagabond, first as i've never had the chance, can i just congratulate you on your impressive victories as a debater a while back. I tuned into those debates and was very impressed, top stuff.

Anyways i realise i have missed this tournament but would be interested in being a brand new face at the next one if possible. I keep missing out lol and would love to have a go.

Thanks Argos. All you've got to do is challenge somebody and get them to accept- it doesn't matter if it is a ranked fighter or not. Once you've got a match lined up, I'll have you given fighter status and you can begin your ascent of the ranking ladder- hopefully.

Well our first-timer's tournament has concluded and IsaacKoi has emerged victorious. I will be updating the rankings to reflect the tournament results shortly.

Now I'd like to talk about what worked and what didn't work in the tournament. I know that some members feel that the stars had too much value in this tournament.

What does everyone think of the current member-judged format?

There are other systems we could adopt if it sounds better- for example winning the star-count could be worth 1 judge's vote, balanced against the votes of two other judges.

We could also score by rounds. Example: If Intrepid and The Vagabond were having a debate, and Intrepid's opening statement won 5 stars to 2, then Vagabond's first main post won 5 stars to 4, the score would be 1 round to 1 round even, not 9 stars to 7 stars Intrepid.

Anyway, I would like to entertain any and all suggestions on how we can perfect the member-judged debate system.

Well i have never had a debate face off before, so this is all new to me but im a fast learner. So i put the challenge out there now, i am willing to take anyone on, anytime. Its not like there is going to be an easy opponent anyway lol.

Maybe my fellow Englishman and current amateur debate champion IsaacKoi [sorry if i spelt that wrong] would like to have a pop.

Anyone interested U2U me and we'll discuss a topic. Looking forward to getting started

Hi Argos,

Ask me in a month or so as I'll almost certainly say yes, particularly if you can suggest a potential topic or two that relates to UFOs or 9/11.

At the moment, after almost 2 months of the debating tournament, I fancy a bit of a break. I've had a couple of other projects (including one or two articles for the ATS newsletter) that I've had on hold due to the debates.

Good luck with the debating.

All the best,

Isaac

I so agree if fact I wrote a paper on that very subject. I am now on my bachlors degree for criminal justice

what if they are in school already? or if like here in Florida, min wage is so low that you can not survive anyhow? min wage is $6 an hour but yet gas is over $3 a gallon and milk is $4. I do believe that something must be done because way to many people are abusing the system but some are really trying and the system is failing them.. also when the 'system' does conduct these work courses then expect you to be there 5 days a week, and you are not excused for work? what gives.. so they want you to get a job and keep it but yet you have to quit your job (or get fired for not being at work) to go to thier school to find a job? kinda backwards if ya ask me? one of my friends had a good job and was making good money, but had a car accident and could not work for a couple months, needless to say she lost her job. as soon as she could get back into the work force she did but ended up not making what she was.. so she applied for fs just till she could get back up on her feet. (she has 3 kids and divorced) when she pulled her butt up off the ground (after 3 months..) she cancelled her fs.. but they kept appling more to her card. when she told them to take it back they told her to not to worry just use them anyways? so someone else that might have needed them could not..? ok have I went too far off the thread? sorry bout that

My thought on the "Member Judging" is that popularity plays too big a part...

Perhaps something like what The Vagabond recommended would work a lot better, but the "stars only" was somewhat disappointing to me...

I personally like the "Secret Judges" style of judging a debate... That way, there is no popularity involved, just the meat of the debate...

Semper

maybe this was not the right place for this... sorry

I haven't kept track of the final as much as I would have liked, so I didn't join in the judging.

That said well done and congratulations to IsaacKoi, who was IMO the best debater in the contest.

I also agree with semper about the judging of the tourney - I too think a panel of judges would be better, but that's just my opinion.

Well done to all - I really enjoyed it, but wish I could have devoted more time, as the tourney coincided with some personal issues.