Changeaview Website

wesimmo · 13 Jun 2019 at 09:03

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-48579597

An interesting article about the state of online discussion and debate.

Please note this is not intended to be any slight on the moderation or running of OCUK.

I do find Elon Musk's point one of the most troubling, how do you get people who are unwilling to consider other views to voluntarily reconsider them?

It's interesting to reflect, too, I went to a school with a debating society, and even there you were considered a geek or whatever if you were a member. Nowadays people spend their lives doing the same thing online, but with less rules or comeback.

checjb · 13 Jun 2019 at 09:52

I've told my daughter she should join (or start) a debating group at here school because the quality of debating I hear from her and her peers is shocking. The standard responses seem to be:

It doesn't matter (if you don't immediately understand her vague/non-sensically stated point)
Stop nagging me. It's not my fault.
You just don't understand.
That's wrong! (Never any reasoning given as to why though).

I do admit that this is probably part of being a teenager but it's prevalent in every day life too - and definitely on the web. God help these people when they hit the harsh world of work.

To address the OP though, ChangeAView looks really interesting and I think I may spend some time exploring. Thanks for the heads-up.

dirtychinchilla · 13 Jun 2019 at 10:38

changemyview is the reddit sub.

glenimp617 · 13 Jun 2019 at 14:35

He should make a post on here and see how he gets on

Deleted member 77746 · 13 Jun 2019 at 14:38

Nobody really wants to put their view across because you either A) get shot down and someone is better than you or B) people really just don't care enough to debate.

BowdonUK · 13 Jun 2019 at 14:46

It's an interesting idea.

I think a good debater should be able to argue the opposite point to what they hold. I've noticed most people online seem unable to even understand the other point of view or even try to meet on the middle ground. Someone can hold a different view to me and even if I don't agree with them I respect that its their view.

I've noticed that people tend to personalise an opinion. Like its theirs, and if you counter that opinion that you are somehow personally insulting them, and usually they fire back with personal insults instead of actually arguing for their opinion.

Though I'm against the new'ish phrase of "its my truth" as there is only one truth. When it comes to opinions there can be 2 valid opinions that can be right based off how the 2 people came to the debate.

I've noticed on forums some people forget there are people reading the debates. So it shouldnt be about one-up'ing the other person. It should be about trying to convince as many people as possible to the point you're making.

Deleted member 77746 · 13 Jun 2019 at 14:48

If you want to be the master of debaters you have to be able to debate. The thing is, theres nothing to say that all of the debaters are wrong and someone who didn't debate is right but they didn't put their view across.

Hagar · 13 Jun 2019 at 15:53

When at school we debated often. Before the start the two proponents tossed a coin to determine from which side they would debate the topic. It was often heated but the better argued case always won the majority vote at the end.

It is not always the rightness of the cause but how well it is put across.

Brizzles · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:00

checjb said:
I've told my daughter she should join (or start) a debating group at here school because the quality of debating I hear from her and her peers is shocking. The standard responses seem to be:

It doesn't matter (if you don't immediately understand her vague/non-sensically stated point)

Stop nagging me. It's not my fault.

You just don't understand.

That's wrong! (Never any reasoning given as to why though).

I do admit that this is probably part of being a teenager but it's prevalent in every day life too - and definitely on the web. God help these people when they hit the harsh world of work.

To address the OP though, ChangeAView looks really interesting and I think I may spend some time exploring. Thanks for the heads-up.

You missed point 5

If an internet debate is not going in you favour , bring up Hitler.

Hades · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:08

Brizzles said:
You missed point 5

If an internet debate is not going in you favour , bring up Hitler.

That's a law... Godwins Law.

chroniclard · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:12

Problem with internet debates is that 99% of the facts are actually fake news.

Brizzles · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:16

chroniclard said:
Problem with internet debates is that 99% of the facts are actually fake news.

Same with internet statistics 76% are based on fact the other 48% are stats

The_Abyss · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:21

Oh dear, just what Speakers Corner could have been instead of GD with an occasional modicum of grammar.

Hades · 13 Jun 2019 at 16:21

The_Abyss said:
Oh dear, just what Speakers Corner could have been instead of GD with an occasional modicum of grammar.

Yep. I've popped into SC a few times and it's no different to here nowadays.