Fordebating.com will not see a substantial gain in membership based on the site owners advertising..

***Note*** The use of the future continuous tense of the verb (will not see) means that Pro must prove that it is not possible for substantial gain in membership to happen ever, and that I must only prove that it is possible. I think it’s very important for voters to understand that the debate is set not just in the present. This is similar to reasonable doubt in a court case, even if you don’t feel like I have made substantial gains, if you have a reasonable doubt that I could achieve substantial gains then you should vote for me. Again this debate is about what will happen in the future. As this is the first round I will wait to rebuttal Pro and just put forth my arugement. The five points that I will use to prove that ForDebating.com will have substantial gains from my advertising 1) Substantial gain from Mikal’s to Tuf’s debate 2) People openly support me or defend my behavior. 3) Advertising based on my strengths 4) Strategies other than smack talking and fighting 5) Marketing through controversy works 1) Substantial gain from Mikal’s to Tuf’s debate Before I talk about the future though let me start with the present. Do you consider a 30% increase as substantial? Pro needs to prove that 30% isn’t a substantial gain. Would you consider 30 years longer on a 100-year lifespan substantial? Would you consider $12,000 more on a $40,000 a year job substantial? I think we can all agree that 30% is a substantial gain. I posted my numbers during my debate with Mikal. Here is a link to that debate for reference: http://www.debate.org... Here are those numbers compared to my current numbers showing an average of a 31.6% increase. As of 1-13-2018 Mail list – 3 > 4 = 33% increase YouTube – 6 > 8 = 33% increase Facebook – 35 > 45 = 29% increase Stats from Mikal’s debate - https://imgur.com... Current stats - https://imgur.com... As you can see my lowest stat is a 29% increase. This is a substantial gain in membership, and I don’t need to prove the future possibility of gain as I have achieved it already, but I’ll continue for the sake of debating. 2) People openly support me or defend my behavior. I have had several people support me both publicly and privately. Here are a few examples. From Inferno’s “DDO’s rising star” thread – “Coveny is the coolest muther-effer in the world…. he has made his presence known on this site so far and Im impressed, which is rare for me here.” http://www.debate.org... From zmikecuber’s “Coveny” thread – “Literally has done nothing wrong… I think alot of people support him and know he's right … Any semi-intelligent person knows he crushed Mikal in that debate…. Coveny, keep doing what you're doing.” http://www.debate.org... From Mikal’s “Can we Vote Coveny off the Island” thread – #41 Leaning – “He doesn't seem to me to be any more rude than any of the people he argues with.” http://www.debate.org... From EmilRose’s “Cowards on DDO” thread #32 Vaarka – “at this point you guys are bullying him imo” http://www.debate.org... Even from those smack talks, fights, debates, etc. people supported me. This is proof of something Pro doesn’t want to give credit to… respect. If you check the video at 1:00:40 you’ll hear someone accuse me of “running away from conflict”. To which at least two people speak up to defend me, saying that I have not done that and that I am the opposite of that. http://www.debate.org... 3) Advertising based on my strengths I hold no illusions about my charm or social skills to win friends. For me to attempt to win people to my side with friendliness would be futile because it’s simply a skill I don’t possess and given that I’m 45 I’m likely to never possess it. This is a debate website, I enjoy debate, and debate at its core is conflict, it’s fighting for what you believe, and fighting for my convictions is something that I am strong in. Smack talk is no different. So not only is it something that I am good at, it’s also something that shows, at least to a degree, that I have debating skills. People respect a fighter and someone who stands up for what they believe in. I believe in debate and I’m passionate about it. My actions have garnered support not because I “sold” them on how great of a person I am, my actions have garnered support because I have fought my detractors. This doesn’t tend to start off with a good impression, but it does work over time as people see my character in the fight. You see how dirty they are, how far they are willing to go to “win”. My fights have shown both my ethics and my integrity to those willing to see them. Here are a couple of examples of winning over people who thought badly of me at first. (RocketEngineer’s change of attitude toward me is a great example of the change I’m referring to). From airmax1227’s “Tough Questions Special E1: Coveny and Mikal” thread #43 – RocketEngineer – “I will admit I didn't like coveny very much” http://www.debate.org... From YYW’s “RFD: Mikal v. Coveny (Coveny Trial)” thread - #17 RoketEngineer – “This was a clever comeback lol” http://www.debate.org... But there is also Disc who has re-evaluated his opinion of me from my interactions From Varka’s “Beginners' Mafia 56.1: DP1” thread - #371 Disc – “Coveny is acting stupid” http://www.debate.org... From Forever23’s “Coveny Is A A$s Hole” debate – Disc Comments – “Coming from someone who absolutely enjoyed being a dick to Coveny in the mafia game and is only now realizing all the other 'controversy' about him, I'm definately leaning con on this.” http://www.debate.org... 4) Strategies other than smack talking and fighting My detractors act like the only thing I do is get into fights and talk smack, but that’s not the case. I have used several advertising strategies. Such as: Offering to play League of Legends with people “Open invite LoL ARAM with Cov between 7-9pm” http://www.debate.org... In Inferno’s “DDO’s rising star” thread I told a story from my time in the military. #38 - http://www.debate.org... I created “Want to debate me on something from my book?” to get into debates. http://www.debate.org... This got 17 people to download my book. https://imgur.com... Which Danielle saw and lead to a discussion of topics in UtherPenguin’s “I publicly challenge Danielle to a debate *” http://www.debate.org... #11 Danielle – “But you proposed topics that were really interesting and unique.” On finding out that I used smack talk to generate interest she responded with This debate also has ForDebating.com in it, and counts as advertising, and there is no smack talk in it. Now that attention has been generated and people have started listening to me I’m garnering more and more support and membership from DDO. 5) Marketing through controversy works In the above thread Danielle is familiar with the tactic and how successful it can be. #13 Danielle – “the old guerrilla marketing tactic through stirring up controversy online. I can appreciate that… Ryan Holiday … While promoting a movie… He would post on all these feminist forums about how the people behind it were filthy misogynists, etc, and sure enough the chatter got the movie a bunch of attention. He's pretty brilliant and became Director of Marketing for American Apparel” I have given several examples of how effective this technique is in the past, but getting past the subjective dislike of the technique to see the objective effectiveness of it isn’t something everyone can do. So let me repeat Danielle here: they considered a person who’s used my tactics “brilliant” and that person became the director of MARKETING. From the linked interview at 1:04 “it was a brand that deliberately courted controversy and attention, and sometimes there is a backlash to that, but what people didn’t understand was the reason … we went that route because we didn’t have a billion dollar advertising budget” http://fortune.com... To define what Guerrilla Marketing is: “Guerrilla Marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise, make an indelible impression and create copious amounts of social buzz” Or from individuals in the marketing industry. “…unauthorized and disruptive” and “sticky.” – Brett Zaccardi of Street Attack http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com... Conclusion Advertising in general is about testing what works. I continue to change and adapt my strategies to see what gets me the most engagement for my time. I don’t need to win everyone over right now, I just need them to know I exist. As a small business, I have the flexibility to try all sorts of different ways to advertise and I have many more up my sleeve. For example, I intend to make a video where I play up my Arkansas accent and call myself the “redneck debater”. I’ll make a bunch of goofy comments, and get a laugh. If it works out I’ll make more of those. (the two people who I’ve read the skit to thought it was hilarious but that’s hardly proof) The point being that smack talk and fights are just one of the many things I’m trying, and it’s not even the only thing I’m trying here. The numbers (and the community) show I’m gaining traction, and I’m getting people like Mikal who hasn’t debated in 7 months, Tuf who hasn’t debated in 5 months, Bsh1 is debating again after 5 months, and Danielle who hasn’t debated in 3 months debating. Who here can claim that? How many have tried to get them to debate and failed? Even if you don’t agree with my methods, how can anyone disagree with my results?