Only the conduct point should be given for a forfiet on DDO

1. The main issue is that sometimes one person may have better argument in fewer rounds then somebody else has in all their rounds. The problem with this analysis is that all forms of formal debate have a formal set of rules that exist in order to mitigate abuse. One of these rules is that dropped arguments count as concessions. You may have had a stronger argument in the fewer rounds that you participated in, but you have to defend your arguments in order for that to actually matter. If you forfeit, you are doing the equivalent of conceding that what your opponent is saying is true because you are failing to respond to your opponent's arguments and/or their responses to your arguments. Insofar as this is true, forfeits are actually concessions, so there is nothing wrong with giving more than just conduct points. Why do they count as concessions? It is unfair for an individual to be able to ignore his opponent's points and win the debate. Plus, logically, since debate is about refuting your opponent's arguments, if you drop their points, you are not challenging them because you (presumably) agree with them. 2. Secondly, we don’t want to be awarding people who don’t deserve it. Many people work hard to move up the ladder. This is not fair to other DDO members. Should others be ranked with the hard workers just because of forfeits? If you drop arguments through forfeits, you are not putting in the effort to move up the ladder. In fact, you are hoping to reap the rewards without putting in the effort to actually fulfill the commitment that you made with your opponent to have an intellectual discussion in a certain period of time. By participating in the discussion even after you continue to drop his analysis, the opponent is putting in extra work while you are not. Ultimately, this system is rewarding hard work and discouraging laziness. 3. It’s also possible that people may use another account and forfeit against themselves to move up. Again not fair to others. First, even if we just gave them conduct points, they would win anyways in such cases. This means that the problem is nonunique and would exist in my opponent's ideal DDO as well. Second, this is a problem that is outside the scope of forfeiting. The solution is to ban multiaccounters who do this and is not to change the system that was designed to check another abuse (dropping arguments that one does not know how to refute). 4. There are legitimate internet errors and mistakes which people can’t account for. Sometimes it may not send when somebody thought it did. Some people work really hard and spent a lot of time. Only to have absolutely no chance because unpredictable happening, this will at least give them a small chance if they were in the lead. I see no reason that the opponent should be faulted for something that went wrong with your life when you forfeited. Whether or not you chose to forfeit the debate or your internet connection was bad, the overall result is the same. You dropped your opponent's analysis and thus conceded to their arguments. In the real world, if you continuously arrive late to work, you will be fired regardless of the reason. If you turn in essays late in college, regardless of the myriad of chance factors that occur in life, you will be faulted. I see no reason why this should be any different. It is not fair to give people extra time to respond to their opponent's arguments. Chance problems may occur, but time limits exist in order to promote fair intellectual discussion. 5. It is very often that very good legitimate reasons do come up. Many people are in school, or taking care of others. And they just can’t make a round. Cross apply the arguments against point 4. Plus, if you cannot make the time commitment, your opponent should not be faulted. That is your responsibility and not your opponent's. 5. Keep in mind that their opponents will still have a whole round and conduct points from all the voters. Conduct points are one point each. If you forfeit the whole debate besides the first round, your opponent deserves more for their work. Conceded arguments should be factored into the "arguments" section of voting. 6. So over all there is only something to gain and nothing to lose, it will only really affect debates where the person with fewer rounds was obviously winning by a landslide all ready. What is lost is the expectation that debaters will actually fulfill their obligations to present arguments within proper time constraints. This system that my opponent is advocating introduces abuse that allows people to have extra time to create refutations to their opponent's arguments. 7. These small different will improve the overall systems representing better accuracy in DDO’s ladder. Cross apply the arguments above.