Your reasons for debating on SDMB: A Poll

In My Humble Opinion
21

Currently I’m at “sometimes.” I have been well into “frequently” in the past, although that’s been years.

Frequently.

d. To force myself to improve my own arguments for my positions, and keep them free of common logical fallacies.
e. To engourage my opponents to frame their arguments in the best possible way, free of logical fallacies.
f. To attempt to better understand the merit of my opponent’s strongest arguments, even if I disagree with their inevitable conclusions.
i. OTHER: Simple education. Understanding other perspectives.

22

Okay, Ima answer these without looking at other people’s answers first…

  1. How much do you participate in Great Debate threads?
    Frequently

  2. How much do you read GD threads?
    Frequently

This is the main question.

  1. WHY do you engage in debate on this board? What are your goals for participating in Great Debates discussions? (or if you don’t participate, suppose you decided to – what would be your primary goals)? State all answers that apply.

d. To force myself to improve my own arguments for my positions, and keep them free of common logical fallacies.
e. To engourage my opponents to frame their arguments in the best possible way, free of logical fallacies.
f. To attempt to better understand the merit of my opponent’s strongest arguments, even if I disagree with their inevitable conclusions.
g. To try to make my opponents understand my point of view, even if I know they will not come around to my way of thinking.
i. OTHER. I find it a nice change of pace to discuss things with intelligent, knowledgable people, rather than with just whoever happens to be standing in line with me at Wal-Mart.

Now… will there be punch & pie? Someone told me there’d be punch & pie! :smiley:

23
  1. Frequently
  2. Frequently
  3. I like to argue.
24

  1. Somtimes

  2. Frequently

  3. It’s normally a position I feel strongly about.

25

Seldom in most threads, quite well in others. But I’m not sure how mah numbers compare to others.

I rotate through GQ, GD, CS, IMHO, and MPSIMS–so they all get about an equal amount of attention.

  1. WHY do you engage in debate on this board?
    What are your goals for participating in Great Debates discussions? (or if you don’t participate, suppose you decided to – what would be your primary goals)? State all answers that apply.
    [/quote]

All that apply are: a, c, d, e, f, g, h (while compiling)

But the real one is “i”:
My family debates everything. Debating is just a way to have a conversation about things that are politicised, but without having it break down into a name-calling muck-fest. So–just being sociable.

26

  1. Sometimes.

  2. Sometimes.

  3. All of the above. If I had to pick just one, I’d say e: To engourage my opponents to frame their arguments in the best possible way, free of logical fallacies. It’s not a premeditated choice, but I most often stick my nose in to scold what I think are poor arguments on either side. I would imagine it’s an annoying trait, but I don’t seem to catch much flak, so I don’t know.

Least of all is b: To fight ignorance by showing my opponents why they are wrong and why I am right. Going in with that attitude is a great way to start a train wreck.

27

I don’t hang around in Great Debates as much as I used to because of it underwent a fundamental change when DavidB and Gaudere left. (Yeah, I know Gaudere is still there, technically.) But lately, it has begun to improve again, thanks to Tom.

I debate because I find it an excellent way to learn.

28

We can probably arrange a punch in the gut and a pie to the face, iffen you’re interested.

29

hmmmm… I don’t think that’s the punch and pie I was talking about…

30
  1. Frequently
  2. Frequently
  3. Why … c,d,f,g
31

  1. Frequently

  2. Obsessively

32

1)Seldom. It depends on this issue, how much I know about it, how many posts in the thread is, if something hasn’t been brought up.

2)Sometimes. I do check the forum every time I log in.

3)f and g

Other: Sometimes I just like to get to the bottom of things. Proper debates are a nifty way to figure things out. They’re also hella stimulating for the head jello. Nothing like some good mental excercise to keep me from dumming.

33

Was he a little fat kid, dressed for winter? Don’t trust him, whatever you do. Anyway, I trust people have seen my little manifesto, back in the old thread, so I feel like it is time for me to post here.

**1) How much do you participate in Great Debate threads?
** frequently, when it is a hot button topic. Otherwise, I just sit back and listen.

** 2) How much do you read GD threads?
** frequently

3)What are your goals for participating in Great Debates discussions?

h. Because it’s something to do during work hours, and it’s more interesting than my job. and
b. To fight ignorance by showing my opponents why they are wrong and why I am right. Even though it will never happen. :smiley:

To give a little more detail, I see liberals and conservatives fighting here. True, some of them come to terms, and understand the other side, but still, lotsa fighting. Now, personally, I see the liberals showing how things should be, while the republicans are simply being apologists for what the politicians do. True, my side is seen in the same light, but still, that is how I feel. The republican are all enablers of the politicians. They **must ** be shown that! :wink:

Personally though, that is not why I started here. I saw threads where each side seemed not to realize what the other side was really saying, and I felt neither understood the other. Can’t remember if it was in GD, or in Cafe Society, but a good example can be found here.

P.S. Thank you, Goddess.

34

I agree, VarlosZ, and I think that attitude seriously smacks of hubris. And there are some folks who frequent GD that seem to fit that bill, although my general perception has been that there are quite a lot of people who are there to increase their own understanding of issues, even of opposing points of view, as well as to shore up their own arguments and improve their own reasoning abilities.

But that’s one of the reasons I started this thread. I wanted to find out from the masses themselves. Obviously, there are a number of people that spend lots of their time in GD, and I figured that each person had to have some reason for it. :slight_smile:

Okay, now that there are a number of responses, I’ll go ahead and answer my own poll, too.

  1. Participate: Seldom, or perhaps occasionally.
  2. Read: Sometimes. Browse often, read full threads if something arouses my interest.
  3. Why? Pretty much d, e, f, and g. And if I interpreted his comments correctly, AHunter3 hit on a good reason – to give outside readers of a thread a point of view to think about – especially those who are undecided on an issue. And especially if it’s coupled with d – Forcing myself to shore up the strength of my own argument.
35

I’m curious about the people who posted before reading any of the other replies: why? Would reading anyone’s answer have changed yours? There are some polls where I can see not wanting to “taint” your opinion by reading a bunch of others before posting, but this poll is about things that either are or aren’t. Right?

I think there’s more than one way to look at option “b”: when I said that sometimes it’s my reason for debating, I was thinking about threads where the OP states, or is obviously relying on, inaccurate facts. In those cases it’s not so much “I’m right and you’re wrong,” it’s “your information is wrong” (having the right facts might not change the person’s opinion, and that’s ok). Granted, even some “facts” can be questioned, but I think there can be times when the motivation is ignorance-fighting sans hubris.

36

Actually, I was considering that kind of thing – refuting inaccurate “facts” or even questioning weak arguments – to fall more under the category of choice e (To engourage my opponents to frame their arguments in the best possible way, free of logical fallacies). Although if you were to say that this is frequently done in a way that is not necessarily considered “encouraging”, you’ll get no argument from me.

And my attempt to list some multiple choice options was really just to get the ball rolling – and to express some of the things that I think I have perceived in others. However, maybe the best way to answer is with “Other” – and simply each poster explain their reasons in their own terms.

37

BTW, misnomer, just to clarify. Regarding Option b: (b: To fight ignorance by showing my opponents why they are wrong and why I am right.). When I said it smacks of hubris, I was thinking of a situation in which a person comes into a debate with a foregone conclusion that their own opinion is clearly “truth”, and the other side’s opinion is automatically “ignorance”, regardless of any arguments presented by the other side. Usually, such a person makes no attempt to even understand their opponent’s arguments or point of view at all, and this seems to me to be a very arrogant approach.

Shooting down the actual holes in an opponent’s arguments, whether factual problems or logical errors, is another thing entirely. And that can certainly be done in a totally honest way that is not arrogant.

38

Hmm.

Actually, that should have been

  1. Frequently

  2. Frequently

  3. To crush my enemies, drive them before me, and hear the lamentations of their women.

Regards,
Shodan

39

And it’s cheaper than cyber-porn.

Regards,
Shodan

40

Personally, I kind of prefer it this way: let everyone pick their answer, and then we can explain any disconnects as they arise. I think you did a decent job of covering the general motivation spectrum, and I find that sort of thing much more interesting (and more of a learning experience) than having everyone use their own words to begin with. Then again, it’s entirely possible that I’m a masochist. :wink:

FTR, I knew what you (and VarlosZ) meant, and I completely agree. I think that I came across as defensive, but that’s not at all what I intended: it can be hard to clarify things without sounding defensive, but I was just pointing out one of those disconnects that no one but me seems to enjoy encountering. :slight_smile: So, it wasn’t a “hubris, my ass!” thing, it was a “huh . . . it’s interesting that those two interpreted the sentence that way, because that’s not how I read it” thing.