stumpjumper
13th March 2008, 07:44 AM
Introduction
Welcome to the Theology area formal debate proposal section. This section is reserved for making proposals or topics which you would like to debate with other members. This forum is currently Theology specific so the overall topic should be concerned primarily with issues relevant to Christian theology. Like all other forums at CF, regular forum rules apply for this proposal folder as well as within the Formal Debate forum where the Debate will be hosted.
What Do I Do Here
In this proposal forum, you start a thread and explain the topic you wish to debate or discuss. We recommend placing within the thread title the overall topic you wish to discuss and within the thread specify what aspects of that topic are of interest to yourself.
Some recommendations would be to not make the proposal overly specific as your soon to be found debate partner may want to structure the debate in a slightly different way. It is generally better for the debate partners to come to some agreement on the guidelines of the debate together and starting out less specific allows more flexibility in finding a debate partner.
You may wish to PM certain members and ask if they are interested in your debate as well or perhaps start a thread in the appropriate theology forum to reference the debate proposal.
There will likely be some discussion within the proposal thread between the two parties as the topic for debate and parameters are finalized. What needs to be established before the proposal and topic is moved to a debate thread is the following:
1) The topic and title of the debate.
2) The members who will be participating in the debate and what positions they will take. Someone will usually affirm a position and someone else will oppose.
3) The number of rounds within the debate. If each party makes three alternating posts, that would equal a debate with three rounds.
4) Whether the posts will be made concurrently or alternating and which party goes first. Generally the affirmative position goes first but this is flexible.
6) Time limit between posts. You may select any length of time (within reason) as a maximum amount your opponent may take to formulate a response. If the time limit is 1 week, that means within one week of the affirmative making his/her post, the opposing position needs to reply. The post can be made earlier, of course.
7) The maximum length for each post. You can set a limit of say 1000 or even 5000 words for each post in a round. The length is the upper limit.
8) Whether or not quotes and outside references are allowed. Please note that all quotes will fall under the 20% rule but within the scope the participants may decide to disallow quotes or limit them to a certain amount of the overall word total.
9) And, finally, the start date of the debate.
These parameters need to be agreed upon by both participants and approved by a moderator.
Once a debate is accepted by both parties, the proposal thread is closed and a debate thread is set up in the Formal Debate Forum. (http://christianforums.com/f924-formal-debate.html) with a link to the proposal thread and a Peanut Gallery is created in the appropriate Theology sub-forum for non debate participants to comment upon the debate.
The Formal Debate
Please note that the Formal Debate forum is fully moderated which means that when a participant of the debate submits a post is invisible within the forum until approved by staff. Only the debate participants and the moderators may post in the formal debate threads.
If you are participating in a concurrent debate, your post will wait to be approved until the opponent has submitted their post. If not, it will simply need to be approved for compliance with forum rules and the debate parameters before moderator approval.
Extensions may be granted if a participant has missed a debate deadline and that will be upon discussion with a moderator and the other participant.
Participants in the debate are discouraged from posting in the Peanut Gallery thread until after the debate has concluded. Once the debate is finished, the discussion can then, of course, continue in the peanut gallery thread.
If there are any questions, feel free to PM any of the moderators responsible for this forum. This forum has been created to provide the avenue for more in depth discussions of certain topics between a limited number of people.
Please enjoy.
Welcome to the Theology area formal debate proposal section. This section is reserved for making proposals or topics which you would like to debate with other members. This forum is currently Theology specific so the overall topic should be concerned primarily with issues relevant to Christian theology. Like all other forums at CF, regular forum rules apply for this proposal folder as well as within the Formal Debate forum where the Debate will be hosted.
What Do I Do Here
In this proposal forum, you start a thread and explain the topic you wish to debate or discuss. We recommend placing within the thread title the overall topic you wish to discuss and within the thread specify what aspects of that topic are of interest to yourself.
Some recommendations would be to not make the proposal overly specific as your soon to be found debate partner may want to structure the debate in a slightly different way. It is generally better for the debate partners to come to some agreement on the guidelines of the debate together and starting out less specific allows more flexibility in finding a debate partner.
You may wish to PM certain members and ask if they are interested in your debate as well or perhaps start a thread in the appropriate theology forum to reference the debate proposal.
There will likely be some discussion within the proposal thread between the two parties as the topic for debate and parameters are finalized. What needs to be established before the proposal and topic is moved to a debate thread is the following:
1) The topic and title of the debate.
2) The members who will be participating in the debate and what positions they will take. Someone will usually affirm a position and someone else will oppose.
3) The number of rounds within the debate. If each party makes three alternating posts, that would equal a debate with three rounds.
4) Whether the posts will be made concurrently or alternating and which party goes first. Generally the affirmative position goes first but this is flexible.
6) Time limit between posts. You may select any length of time (within reason) as a maximum amount your opponent may take to formulate a response. If the time limit is 1 week, that means within one week of the affirmative making his/her post, the opposing position needs to reply. The post can be made earlier, of course.
7) The maximum length for each post. You can set a limit of say 1000 or even 5000 words for each post in a round. The length is the upper limit.
8) Whether or not quotes and outside references are allowed. Please note that all quotes will fall under the 20% rule but within the scope the participants may decide to disallow quotes or limit them to a certain amount of the overall word total.
9) And, finally, the start date of the debate.
These parameters need to be agreed upon by both participants and approved by a moderator.
Once a debate is accepted by both parties, the proposal thread is closed and a debate thread is set up in the Formal Debate Forum. (http://christianforums.com/f924-formal-debate.html) with a link to the proposal thread and a Peanut Gallery is created in the appropriate Theology sub-forum for non debate participants to comment upon the debate.
The Formal Debate
Please note that the Formal Debate forum is fully moderated which means that when a participant of the debate submits a post is invisible within the forum until approved by staff. Only the debate participants and the moderators may post in the formal debate threads.
If you are participating in a concurrent debate, your post will wait to be approved until the opponent has submitted their post. If not, it will simply need to be approved for compliance with forum rules and the debate parameters before moderator approval.
Extensions may be granted if a participant has missed a debate deadline and that will be upon discussion with a moderator and the other participant.
Participants in the debate are discouraged from posting in the Peanut Gallery thread until after the debate has concluded. Once the debate is finished, the discussion can then, of course, continue in the peanut gallery thread.
If there are any questions, feel free to PM any of the moderators responsible for this forum. This forum has been created to provide the avenue for more in depth discussions of certain topics between a limited number of people.
Please enjoy.