If I were to create a sub-forum in the HOT BUTTON ISSUES category called One-on-One, in which a member of the forum could invite another member of the forum to debate or even discuss a topic of his/her choosing, in which others could view but not participate in. In other words, this would be a one-on-one discussion with anyone who is willing to take on the invitation or challenge, but without distractions or comments. Of course, any two people who want to participate could create a thread to discuss whatever topic they want to discuss, but there would be only two participants per thread. Optionally, if the thread were created as a poll, other forum members could be allowed to vote on a winner. In fact, if the poll is set to allow voters to change their votes, it could be a running tally of who is ahead. These options would be chosen by the opening poster. If it is started as a regular thread and not a poll, I can't retroactively add a poll to it. Also optionally, if someone wants to discuss a topic but does not have anyone else in mind to discuss it with, a thread could be opened asking for a challenger. If there are no challengers, then the thread could be deleted. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions below. I am just trying to gauge interest.
By the way, when a poll says, "Your vote will be publicly visible," it means that the vote is publicly visible, not who voted or how you voted, specifically.
Although it would be in the HOT BUTTON ISSUES category, this wouldn't be restricted to hot button issues, and it wouldn't even have to be a debate. If, for any reason, you'd like to discuss something with one other forum member, but you'd rather do it in a public thread, but without having to field comments from a bunch of people, you could use that instead of Conversations, keeping in mind that it's not a private conversation. My point is that there doesn't have to be winners or losers. If it's your thread, you can decide.
Don't be shy. Someone cast the first vote. You can change it later if you want to, and no one will know that it's you, anyhow.
Sorry but No .. If we can't seem to handle day to day opinions about the simplest of things, I fear debate issues might really get out of hand. But um I would might look in time from time.
I cast a yes vote, Ken, but I'd want such a forum run according to Robert's Rules. If it isn't kept to a civilized level, then count me out. You would require someone who would act as a Parliamentarian.
I voted yes, also. Sometimes, discussions can get totally distracted from people who just pull the thread off topic, or just want to say that they are not interested, even. I think that if two people wanted to discuss something together, and share idea and opinions, but do it in a public forum, that would be kind of fun to watch and read about. Since it doesn’t have to be a specific Hot Button topic, there are a lot of possibilities for discussion ideas.
While I personally may or may not participate, it would be interesting to watch as others do. On TV and in the movies I enjoy watching two lawyers duke it out during a trial arguing their case.
I haven’t really thought it all the way through which is why I placed a “maybe” vote. After I voted I went through to read the posts and it would seem that most people thus far deem it to be more of a spectator sport than actually wishing to participate. All that said, everyone here knows without a doubt that I do not normally back away from a debate so if a forum for it does develop, I might participate if the category of the debate was desirable and facing someone with whom I could have an intellectual exchange with.
Of course, it wouldn't work if there weren't people interested in participating in such a thing. I didn't want to make too much of it being a drag-out debate-style thing since it wouldn't have to be a debate at all. There could well be situations where two people just want to have a discussion with one another. Sometimes, it can be hard to keep up with a discussion that involves several people jumping in and out of it. Plus, two people are usually able to have a more civil conversation.