Welcome everyone to the Intelligent Debate forum, where serious or controversial topics are riding on our pedestal. We do have a few guidelines though we want you to follow. As always, enjoy your debate, but make sure that you have presented arguments that are reasonable and that you can justify with logic. Emotional arguments are fine too; after all, they hold ground as well, though not nearly as much as logical ones. Don't excessively flame another person-- preferably don't flame at all. I understand sometimes we get carried away when we feel strongly about a given subject, ideology or platform; but please try to consider that the other person probably has a point as well and even if they don't does not give you a reason to be disrespectful to them. So if you find yourself cannon-balling into another user, please try to halt yourself. If not, I or someone else will do it for you.
That being said, try to do your research. This could prevent future humiliation, miscommunication or unnecessary arguing if you are better able to back up your points, especially if someone can find a statistic that's verifiable and completely contradicts your argument, eg. "The #1 cause of death in the United States is from chronic marijuana use." This can be disproved just like that, because in fact the #1 cause of death in the United States in, take the year 2007, was heart disease followed closely by cancer. A death from marijuana was not even recorded. So yes, do your research, and it's not just about specifics. Doing your research can assist in fine tuning your credible points and improving the structure of your overall argument while allowing you counter your opponent(s) argument. It's more fun anyway when you have a hard fought debate going on that involves in depth analysis rather than your trite ole "Well, because I have faith in god, and you should too!" banter. Likewise, the "If I can't see it, it doesn't exist!" argument.
Furthermore, if it's not a debate, this isn't the right forum. Topics like "Do you think Dragonball Z is better, or Pokemon?" are not allowed here. This would be much better suited for the anime, gaming, or television sub. This is not a serious debate, sorry folks. Use your discretion before you post a topic because topics like these will be moved to another sub forum. One such topic that would be allowed is "I am strongly convinced that the class action lawsuit by the women plaintiffs against Walmart had strong merit that should have had its day in court." Notice that this debate can be argued from multiple sides, and it is not involving something of a general based nature that's better suited for another sub. It is not purely about opinion, such as the other topic stated above, even though the other topic can include some generalized debate, but it is not of a serious or controversial nature, unless you want to take the time to create a plethora of arguments for why Pokemon or Dragonball Z is better, then maybe it can be allowed. Serious/Controversial debates are generally those that shake societies and are debated often because they are very controversial and could have a great impact on the lives of others. Since a lot of the debates here right now are of the very general nature, however, I will allow that. Please, try to keep it somewhat serious though, as mini debates/personal preference questions can be used as an interesting topic for the main forum or another sub.
Again, I reiterate, respect please. This is a long rule set to read, and I greatly apologize, but debating encompasses a great deal of aspects, and so I wanted to make sure I explained everything in a precise manner so everyone knows how it'd be best to go about debating and what's prohibited and what's not, and so there is less confusion later on. I'm sure many of you will be great debaters, and even if you aren't, you will still have fun! Because debating should also be about looking at the other point of view, and who knows, maybe coming to a compromise. You can learn a lot of things through the process of debating, maybe even reflect on changing old opinions. So thank you very much for your perseverance in reading this, and hopefully we will see you and your MOUTH around! biggrin
