My Lion King Forum

Okay so I came across a thread on here earlier, which I do not really have the time to post my thorough opinion on, and to be quite honest it sounds like it would fall on death ears since the OP apparently made up his mind. I don't really have the time to respond intricately either, but I do have enough time to suggest this.

But here is my suggestion - it has come to my attention that people here either do not know the difference or are forgetting what the difference is between a discussion and a debate.

Please all, try to remember - A discussion is where you post your opinion on a subject. That is all. If it differs, or someone else's differs then so be it but there is no disagreements made.

A debate - Is where you present your opinion, and where it differs to that of another you give reasoning and explanations. Ultimately you are either trying to convince others you are correct or making them understand the substance behind what you are saying.
Now, the only thing we need to remember is that in a debate we have to stay within the rules of the forum, which means do not be disrespectful or mean in doing so.

So there is my suggestion - allow debates on controversial topics but add tags between the two. This way those who just want to post their thoughts, with no evidence, backing, reasoning and most importantly NO OPPOSITION can do so. And those who want to allow their thoughts to be disagreed / agreed to and in turn do the same to others, are also free to ^^

Well there it is, peace out! I hope that even if this is not implemented, it at least helps some people to establish the difference =)

FlipMode wrote:Now, the only thing we need to remember is that in a debate we have to stay within the rules of the forum, which means do not be disrespectful or mean in doing so.

That's asking for more than you realize.

I used to be a wiki administrator and I know first hand how quickly simple discussions can turn into debates. It's a fine line set atop a slippery slope. All it takes is one person to say something that inadvertently makes another person legitimately mad. And before you know it, people leave the site, members make permentant enemies, and the administrator and staff have to deal with various crap (I feel your pain Moka )

There is no doubt that discussion and debates aren't fun. In fact, they're one of the greatest things about the Internet: people from around the world sharing ideas. However, an unintended side effect is that people can often times offend others without realizing it. These people who cause the shift from peaceful discussion to out-and-out flame war most of the time don't have bad intentions. From my experience, its normally just people from one corner of the globe feeling personally attacked from people on the another corner of the globe, when that was never their true intention to begin with.

In order for the Smart Pants Forum to continue workings, there are a couple of general rules for both discussions and debates that every member needs to follow. You have to (1) remain calm, (2) assume good faith, and (3) never be malicious. I try my hardest to follow these rules, because I know that if I were to break any (on MLK, MSN, the internet in general, or real life) I am striking a match in a room filled with dynamite. There have been times in the past on MLK where I've wanted to type in all caps how I felt about something, but I chose not to and haven't run into a single problem. There's an African proverb that goes: "If you keep your mouth shut, the flies won't get in". In a perfect world, every member would follow these rules. Then again, in a perfect world, there would be no need for debates at all.

As for FlipMode's original idea, I can see it working, but at the same time I can't. A majority of the users on MyLionKing know how to interact in a socially acceptable manner. But those that can't (whether they meant harm or not) are not going to pay attention to a little word in a topic title. Expect to see raging debates in a tag marked "Discussion". If I could cast a vote, I would choose "Soft Yes". Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

after discussing (well more of a no) this will be closed. i see where the idea is coming from but it will add so much fuel to a forest fire