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So, I was wondering : how well do you feel you debate things on Barbelith?
I’m talking here about the methods you use, and whether you feel you make your point clearly and successfully. So I have a lot of questions…
Do you tend to make a general point, and then back it up with specific examples ? Do you use authorities to back it up, and if so, do you explain them or do you assume a certain amount of familiarity ? Do you use personal examples ? Do you feel your comments are passionate, or dispassionate ?
And when you’ve made your point, if someone posts a reply disputing it, will you be likely to reply ? Or – if there are various people taking various stances, as there frequently are – would you be more likely to just sit back and see what happens ? Do you feel that not replying is a form of reply in itself (silence speaking volumes, as it were) ?
Do you feel that the length of a post adds to its weight in debate, or would you prefer to make a quick remark and leave it at that ?
And, perhaps most importantly, do you feel that your debating style is successful ? Do you believe you make your point well ? Or do you often feel that it’s got lost in the general back-and-forth ? How do you think you could improve it ?
Granted, the above questions probably don’t fully or accurately cover the range of things that get discussed on the board, but I thought it might be interesting to see people’s self-assessment on this, as I think there are a lot of different ways that people post.
Speaking for myself, I tend to make a point, back it up with a couple of examples, and then think that’s it, only to find sometimes lengthy refutations giving a large number of counter-examples, and after a couple of replies, I must admit I tend to lose interest, often regardless of the calibre or rigour of the responses. Which is probably symptomatic of my viewing discussion not as a way of learning, but more as a confrontational thing, with one person expected to defer under the weight of the other person’s argument or the evidence. Which, come to think of it, I might effectively be doing, by just bailing out. Hmmm. Maybe I should stick around and slug it out more.
Anyway, I’d be interested to hear whether other folks feel they have a particular debating style, and how well it works, and how they should/could improve it, if at all.
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). THough my posts there would probably benefit from a little more thought at times. I tend to chuck in load of examples as well. I don't tend to get stuck into some of the more serious debates (Head Shop) due to time, and the lack of that sense of ease when debating in that way. I have to think too much, it doesn't flow!