The Debate Hall Social Thread

[Sucumbio]

Excellent suggestions, Vrael. I endorse this COA.

As for the archives, heh, I remember sifting through them once or twice but I basically found it to be the graveyard of old DH topics. I see no reason why one of those topics can't be bumped. If a particular thread need be ... disappeared, it can be locked.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

I agree. I mean, all of the archived threads are locked, I don't understand what this achieves. It just got rid of more activity, since no one can post in any of those threads.

I'm up for getting rid of that too, we don't need child forums for the DH in my opinion.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Yeah, archives are kind of unnecessary. I agree that the PG has become a paralyzing system, but I think we shouldn't jump to an other system right away. We need time to think about this and possibly even vote on it, as such a substantial format change is no light matter.

In terms of increasing activity, I think that having a repeat event that occurs periodically will bring traffic in. The last time we tried the current events thread, it kind of failed, but I'm confident that we could make something similar. I agree with faithkeeper's notion that a God thread would bring in traffic, as controversial topics often do.

I'm all for the acceptance of Dre and Guest as well, and like I said before, we simply need a "bare minimum" system to determine that the people in here won't spam it up.

 

[adumbrodeus]

Basically, Dre decided to go on a little rant about perceived/real bias in the DH. I think he wants this to get more attention, so he wanted me to post it here, so I did.



I personally just think this rant is just a whine about how his arguments aren't quite great hits with the rest of the Debate Hall. This may be due to the fact that the majority of his arguments are less than watertight, and have a number of rather large holes in them. However, he believes that it's mainly due to bias.

Please don't crucify me for this Mods...

I reviewed some of his debates, and he seems quite good honestly?


Granted, I'd attribute it more to paralysis in the system then anything else (who gets into the debate hall these days?), but he seems like a relatively effective debator.

At the very least, he's internally consistent.


Unless somebody has a good counter-example, I'm all for his inclusion.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Alright, sounds good.

I think we should lay out a plan for what we want in here, we can all add to it and refine it. I mean it seems like you did something similar, but if we explicitly post something about our what we want to change (instead of them piecing it together from out posts/roacherman's Forum Disputes post), then I feel like it'll be more helpful if the higher ups are receptive to changing this place.

If you guys don't want to, it's cool. I'll put it together if you guys are up for it.

Yes, a plan is EXACTLY what we need. I think we need to work together and use our past experience with this room to come up with a SPECIFIC list of things we think will improve the activity of this room as well as the admissions process.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

I'm all for the acceptance of Dre and Guest as well, and like I said before, we simply need a "bare minimum" system to determine that the people in here won't spam it up.

Yeah definitely. I mean there's no sense in kicking people out if they're trying and simply aren't that great at debating yet. We should leave those people in so that they can improve. It's the people that get in and don't post or people that spam that need to be removed.

Sucumbio, if you could keep us updated with your Forum Support thread, that would be great.

Adumb, nice to see your face in here. Any ideas/comments on our proposed system for revamping the DH?

 

[adumbrodeus]

I always read the social thread, I just hold off comments unless I have something I think is important to say.


I'm thinking on it, might have a proposal for you guys soon.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Sounds good, I'd love to see what you've got to say

 

[Bob Jane T-Mart]

In response to Adumbrodeus' comments about Dre, I believe a number of his points are quite poor, however, on the flip side of it, a number of his points are really good. I'm all for his inclusion personally, sure he's not great, but he's pretty good.

Also, with the plan thing, I'm entirely in favour of it. Yeah, unlock the archives dammit, and we need the mods to foster activity and allow more people in, basically, they need to be more active.

 

[Sucumbio]

Sucumbio, if you could keep us updated with your Forum Support thread, that would be great.

Definitely. As of right now CK has responded with a request to re-post the thread in the DH where he'll respond. I told to him to go for it, so we're awaiting that at this point.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Sounds great. I hope it's up ASAP.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Guys, I've posted a social group to discuss potential reforms in-depth. Anyone in the DH can apply and I'll accept.

Link: http://www.smashboards.com/group.php?groupid=2226

 

[GoldShadow]

The title of "The Porn Thread" is very misleading

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

With the current lack of moderating presence, I wouldn't be surprised if someone got away with a porn thread.

 

[Mewter]

That would be terrible and funny at the same time.
I'd always be up for an "Argue the Opposite Viewpoint"-themed thread.

 

[Aesir]

I like current events. I basically started that in a very crude form.

Found an article that I thought would promote a verity of views.

Posted it

Gave my analysis of the issue and then asked if others had thoughts. From there a nice debate would have flourished for about a few days.

Those were some nice few days.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

That would be terrible and funny at the same time.
I'd always be up for an "Argue the Opposite Viewpoint"-themed thread.

I think we tried something like this a while back.

 

[RDK]

I think we tried something like this a while back.

The Devil's Advocate tournament never worked because not enough people were interested / active.

 

[Bob Jane T-Mart]

The Devil's Advocate tournament never worked because not enough people were interested / active.

Was this before or after the introduction of the PG?

 

[Evil Eye]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been doing my job. I can johns at you, or I can just tell you what I'm gonna do about it!

Very soon I'm going to pick two new moderators: One for the main DH, and one for the Grounds. Together we will form a brain trust more powerful than the Super Best Friends, and we'll look at any and all reform ideas to work them into a cohesive plan. This will include, yes, a new admissions system. The reason this basically died is this: The Proving Grounds was Mediocre's baby. He was handling it, but one day, he resigned. At no point did he actually... tell us what his criteria or process were. So CK and I just kind of had to go "derp herpa derp" and play it by ear.

Expect good things for your favorite Hall of yelling very soon!


Things that are new:

-Let in .Dre based on favorable DH response and evaluation of his posting.

-Let in Gamer4Fire, who got purged, but only because he was serving a term in the military and had no internet access.

-I'm about to let in a big wave of about a dozen Proving Grounders. Get at 'em like you know you can! Paddle 'em real good.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Nice to see you EE.

Sounds great!

When do you see these going into action?

 

[Evil Eye]

I've already got my two candidates in mind, I just have to look over them in more detail. Might just have them promoted within the week!

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

I've already got my two candidates in mind, I just have to look over them in more detail. Might just have them promoted within the week!

All right, sounds like a good plan.

 

[RDK]

Moar powerful than the Super Best Friends?

IMPOSSIBLE

 

[Bob Jane T-Mart]

This should be great thanks EE! This might bring things back to life a bit!

 

[Faithkeeper]

I've already got my two candidates in mind, I just have to look over them in more detail. Might just have them promoted within the week!

I have both called in my head right now, and which room they will be. If I'm right I will let myself eat a peanut butter brownie.

I'm pretty excited that things are actually getting going.


Social topic.
I'm going to college in the fall. yay. Anyway, I never took high school physics, but I find it interesting. I'm majoring in behavioral neuroscience, so I don't exactly need it, but I like to learn about interesting things. I've done a little independent study, but I'm not sure whether to take a few classes on physics, because I need a 3.0 to keep my scholarship and want to graduate with a 3.8/4.0 to get into a good grad school. Anybody have any suggestions, I would assume there's a good deal of college students here. Thanks, have a good one.

 

[.Marik]

Been a while since I've visited this thread.

At least some people take the initiative of posting here.

 

[Dre89]

What do you guys think of Guest and Mariobrouser, think they should be let in?

If not, it's probably best to at least give them some advice, but in truth I think they're defintiely ready. We don't want to lose two more debators to PG frustration.

I say we put them in.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

I remember we were talking about Guest a while back, and the general consensus was to let him in. I'll read through some of mariobrouser's stuff, I haven't really seen him much.

 

[blazedaces]

I have both called in my head right now, and which room they will be. If I'm right I will let myself eat a peanut butter brownie.

I'm pretty excited that things are actually getting going.


Social topic.
I'm going to college in the fall. yay. Anyway, I never took high school physics, but I find it interesting. I'm majoring in behavioral neuroscience, so I don't exactly need it, but I like to learn about interesting things. I've done a little independent study, but I'm not sure whether to take a few classes on physics, because I need a 3.0 to keep my scholarship and want to graduate with a 3.8/4.0 to get into a good grad school. Anybody have any suggestions, I would assume there's a good deal of college students here. Thanks, have a good one.

If you ever need help with physics feel free to PM me any questions.

-blazed

 

[GoldShadow]

Social topic.
I'm going to college in the fall. yay. Anyway, I never took high school physics, but I find it interesting. I'm majoring in behavioral neuroscience, so I don't exactly need it, but I like to learn about interesting things. I've done a little independent study, but I'm not sure whether to take a few classes on physics, because I need a 3.0 to keep my scholarship and want to graduate with a 3.8/4.0 to get into a good grad school. Anybody have any suggestions, I would assume there's a good deal of college students here. Thanks, have a good one.

"Introductory" physics is just that. It doesn't matter if you haven't taken it in high school, you'll learn everything you need to about it from an intro physics class. From there you can take other physics classes, if you'd like. Don't be afraid of taking classes you want to take!

 

[Bob Jane T-Mart]

I remember we were talking about Guest a while back, and the general consensus was to let him in. I'll read through some of mariobrouser's stuff, I haven't really seen him much.

Guest definitely deserves to be let in. He's very good. Also, is it just me, or that I haven't really been given the "Debater" title?

 

[RDK]

Guest definitely deserves to be let in. He's very good. Also, is it just me, or that I haven't really been given the "Debater" title?

You have to go into your control panel and switch to it; it should be under "user groups".

 

[Evil Eye]

Just looked over Guest. I like him, you like him, he's in.

omg its liek teh stafz r doin der jerbs r sumtin lol mirite

 

[Mewter]

People are getting in!? Blasphemy!

@Bob Jane: Control Panel-> Group Memberships
@Blazed: If you don't mind me asking, are you a physicist? :O

 

[Sucumbio]

I have a question that's physics related. It may be more appropriate for the oil spill topic, but anyway:

Is it possible to calculate the weight a substance needs to be in order to be heavier than the upwards force of the oil at its spewing source, given the pressure of the water at -5000 feet, salinity, and temperature (I think it's 30 degrees or so)... I've been told "yes, that's what they did do, it just didn't work"

Didn't work. See I find this hard to believe. Why would they attempt (referring to the failed "top kill") to dump special mud into the hole if it wasn't heavy enough to do the job? And since it DID fail, why can't they just dump a -heavier- mud in there, instead of this cutting tactic (which I'm envisioning will just make the hole bigger and the situation worse)?

 

[KrazyGlue]

Actually, the VP of Energy for Lockheed Martin came to my school today to speak about this, and he said that the spill was most likely caused by a poor cement job (oil spurting through cracks in the pipe). In fact, he said 19 of the last 30 oil spills have most likely been caused by poor cement jobs.

 

[Faithkeeper]

DH Atheists:

You should write a book.

Little background here, I have supernatural beliefs, if you want to discuss or know all about them, send me a pm or visitor message, I'd love to talk about it. Anyway, I like to look at both sides of the issue when possible so I picked up a couple books from my local library on Atheism. The first I read was "Disbelief 101" and was geared towards doubting religious people. ... Let's say it was less than satisfactory. So I got thinking to myself: "Those posters in the Fallacies in Christianity sure presented more convincing and thought-provoking evidence than this. So I'm basically telling you this so you know, if a book like that sells, yours probably would as well. If any of you actually do this let me know, I'd be interested in reading it. (Heck, I'd even buy a copy if the price was reasonable) But to rectify the situation (I felt as though the first book "didn't count") I've started reading Dawkins' "The God Delusion," which promises to be a much more interesting read. Einstein's God (god?) is a very interesting concept. I'm sure there are individuals who would be rather upset that I was reading blasphemous filth or something, but honestly americanatheist.com (apparently now it's just atheists.org) has been more edifying to my faith than any Christian website I've been to. I feel that constantly evaluating your beliefs and comparing them to the beliefs of others and analyzing why you believe what you do is borderline essential for growth, and surely a catalyst for it.

 

[Evil Eye]

I'd like to propose that Faithkeeper stage a c'oup on Vatican City and become the new Pope.

 

[Dre89]

Faithkeeper Dawkins is rubbish, his books are just money making ventures, which is so why so many philosophers hate him. I have athiests in my classes tell me he's rubbish anh there's much better atheist work out there. Seriously the guy doesn't even understand the cosmological argument.