Forum Preferences-I don't get it?

[Devil505]

I have tried a few liberal forums, but find that after typing "I agree with you" & "Good Point" about 100 times...I get bored!

Does anyone here not find an adversarial debate format more enjoyable....ie prefers to discuss issues with people who view things differently than you?

[kmiller1610]

[quote name='Devil505' date='23 February 2010 - 07:32 AM' timestamp='1266928331' post='119898']

I have tried a few liberal forums, but find that after typing "I agree with you" & "Good Point" about 100 times...I get bored!

Does anyone here not find an adversarial debate format more enjoyable....ie prefers to discuss issues with people who view things differently than you?

[/quote]



Absolutely. I needs to sharpen me blades on the metal of sharper minds.....

[webrockk]

[quote name='Devil505' date='23 February 2010 - 07:32 AM' timestamp='1266928331' post='119898']

I have tried a few liberal forums, but find that after typing "I agree with you" & "Good Point" about 100 times...I get bored!

Does anyone here not find an adversarial debate format more enjoyable....ie prefers to discuss issues with people who view things differently than you?

[/quote]





Echo chambers are a snore, but honest, reasonable attempts at debate with staunch, unyielding hyper-partisans on mixed sites are far from "discussions" at all, as they often devolve into frustratingly circular, non-productive stabs at "proving" assersions with conjecture and subjective rhetoric, or attempts to "win" purely opinioned arguments using deflection, insults, out of context quotes, or out right lies.



"Reasonable" discussions between members with differing positions seem quite rare, actually, and I contend it has much to do with the anonymous nature of the internet.



Rules of thumb: If three out of five people disagree with you, it's time to spit the bit. If you find yourself having to repeat your assersions over and over, it's your communication skills that are the problem, and it's time to spit the bit.

[Devil505]

[quote name='webrockk' date='23 February 2010 - 08:18 AM' timestamp='1266931121' post='119943']

Echo chambers are a snore, but honest, reasonable attempts at debate with staunch, unyielding hyper-partisans on mixed sites are far from "discussions" at all, as they often devolve into frustratingly circular, non-productive stabs at "proving" assersions with conjecture and subjective rhetoric, or attempts to "win" purely opinioned arguments using deflection, insults, out of context quotes, or out right lies.



"Reasonable" discussions between members with differing positions seem quite rare, actually, and I contend it has much to do with the anonymous nature of the internet.



Rules of thumb: If three out of five people disagree with you, it's time to spit the bit. If you find yourself having to repeat your assersions over and over, it's your communication skills that are the problem, and it's time to spit the bit.



[/quote]



& if one sees every topic (such as this innocuous one) simply as another opportunity to attack other members....it may also be time to "spit the bit." (Personally, I think that adversarial type discussions are the best way of airing all sides of an issue)

[Davocrat]

[quote name='Devil505' date='23 February 2010 - 07:32 AM' timestamp='1266928331' post='119898']

I have tried a few liberal forums, but find that after typing "I agree with you" & "Good Point" about 100 times...I get bored!

Does anyone here not find an adversarial debate format more enjoyable....ie prefers to discuss issues with people who view things differently than you?

[/quote]



Good point. I come here for a dust-up.





















...what are you lookin' at?

[tamacrat]

I completely agree with the above. I'm a new member here and the last political forum I was in was 90% conservative (with that said, I'm conservative but very liberal on social and some economic issues). After hearing things like "the Senate's government-run health care bill" (when there's no public option in it) and "death panels" and "Obama's really from Kenya"...and after giving my 2 cents and thoroughly explaining - and reciting facts, posting links, quotes, etc. - they would usually just come back with a "oh yeah well he's a socialist!" - without backing up the claim. It's a never-ending cycle of partisan bitching and it got old quick. It was like debating with a bunch of kindergarteners. You could prove them wrong and they would just ignore you or post some other hair-brained conspiracy theory. It was fun for a while, because like you guys said, it's fun to debate and disagree with someone. It's never fun to agree with someone 100% of the time. But when there's no intelligent debates and it's just childish bickering, it's an absolute waste of my time. I enjoy debating politics because I love my country and I want to learn. When you spend most of your time educating someone else, it doesn't really help you.



While I'm uncertain of the liberal to conservative ratio on this board, I can already tell there's a higher IQ level in this forum. Hopefully I can have some substantive debates here.

[Pragmatist]

[quote name='tamacrat' date='23 February 2010 - 10:03 AM' timestamp='1266937398' post='119970']

You could prove them wrong and they would just ignore you or post some other hair-brained conspiracy theory. [/quote]



That or ignore you and then come back the next day with the same stupid fuckin claim. Don't worry, there are plenty of those kindergarteners here.

[Devil505]

[quote name='tamacrat' date='23 February 2010 - 10:03 AM' timestamp='1266937398' post='119970']

I completely agree with the above. I'm a new member here and the last political forum I was in was 90% conservative (with that said, I'm conservative but very liberal on social and some economic issues). After hearing things like "the Senate's government-run health care bill" (when there's no public option in it) and "death panels" and "Obama's really from Kenya"...and after giving my 2 cents and thoroughly explaining - and reciting facts, posting links, quotes, etc. - they would usually just come back with a "oh yeah well he's a socialist!" - without backing up the claim. It's a never-ending cycle of partisan bitching and it got old quick. It was like debating with a bunch of kindergarteners. You could prove them wrong and they would just ignore you or post some other hair-brained conspiracy theory. It was fun for a while, because like you guys said, it's fun to debate and disagree with someone. It's never fun to agree with someone 100% of the time. But when there's no intelligent debates and it's just childish bickering, it's an absolute waste of my time. I enjoy debating politics because I love my country and I want to learn. When you spend most of your time educating someone else, it doesn't really help you.



While I'm uncertain of the liberal to conservative ratio on this board, I can already tell there's a higher IQ level in this forum. Hopefully I can have some substantive debates here.

[/quote]



Where the initials of that forum DP?

[Pragmatist]

[quote name='kmiller1610' date='23 February 2010 - 07:38 AM' timestamp='1266928687' post='119903']

Absolutely. I needs to sharpen me blades on the metal of sharper minds.....

[/quote]



No shit kmiller! But don't worry, I'll always be here to help you.

[Pragmatist]

[quote name='Devil505' date='23 February 2010 - 10:51 AM' timestamp='1266940285' post='119994']

Where the initials of that forum DP?

[/quote]

Probably was the mighty rightie.