Number of votes in debates should be visible only to the debaters.

"Greetings. First, I'd like to thank my opponent for extending this challenge to all debaters. Second, I'd like for the voters to vote on who provided the better arguments rather than what boils down to your own personal opinion. With that said, let us proceed." You're welcome. "My opponent first states that people have the tendency to be biased when they see that one person has more votes than another, but this is conjecture at best. The burden of proof belongs to my opponent, so I would advise that he provide evidence that suggest his claim to be true." I concede that point. It is most definitely my own personal belief and I have little to no statistical proof that people are biased by vote count. However, I find my hypothesis rational if not probable. If my opponent agrees that the possibility exists, then I will continue defending my point by saying that in the interests of debate and the integrity of this site, that this mild change be implemented. If however, my opponent believes that there is no possibility that the vote count may bias another voter, then I request an explanation. "Second, even by my opponent's speculation, upholding his solution would be utterly meaningless. If voters believe that people with more votes are better debaters, then it doesn't matter whether or not the voters can see the actual amount of votes as they will still be aware of who is winning and who is not." This assumes that the winner will be visible and that the voters express their bias consciously. Setting aside the voters who vote for the winning side for reasons other than supporting the better argument, there are many who do intend to evaluate the quality of the posts. However, the number of votes a person has, clearly and distinctly placed right by the profile pictures, offer a sort of quantitative analysis of the debate. I believe that unconsciously, potential voters may be passing judgment with that prior bias. "Third, there is nothing within my opponent's plan that is definitely motivating the voters to read the debates. Not being able to vote is no biggy as they can still vote on other irrelevant factors such as which side they personally agree with, which side presented the most text, what people are saying in the comment section, which user they like more, etc." I also propose that each vote come with a mandatory comment, an explanation for the vote. This will, at the very least, require them to read the arguments with some detail. My focus is on eliminating outside influence within the forum. The sources of bias in a voter's day-to-day life are outside my control, but can hopefully be remedied by forcing the voter to reflect on his or her decision. "My opponent then states that there is absolutely no reason for voters to see how many votes each side is receiving, but I tell you that having the ability to see how many votes each side is receiving is VERY CRUCIAL when it comes to the outcome of these debates. Voters not being able to witness how many votes both debaters are receiving increases the likelihood of debaters getting away with underhanded voting that involves use of multiple accounts. If voters can't establish that one side is winning by a peculiar amount of votes, they likely won't submit any reports to the website's administration (who can investigate and penalize when necessary). Only the debaters will have knowledge of possible underhanded behavior and there is no guaranteed exceptional likelihood of one user doing anything about the problem." I do understand that argument. First, I find it highly unlikely that a band of supporters will form in order to report suspicious behavior. Second, having a band of supporters does not inherently make it more likely for action to be taken. Whether one person, two people, or two hundred people see a suspicious voting discrepancy does not change the fact that one exists. One person reporting it to the admin is good enough. Third, the mandated explanations I proposed will help fend off the multi-accounts. In that case, there would be much less to worry about. "Debaters can easily lie about the number of votes they are receiving. For instance, if a debater tells the voters that he/she is losing by an unfair amount, this in turn may cause users to vote for said debater out of pity. Heck, it may even cause these users to start wasting the website administration's time by submitting meaningless abuse reports due to a lies crafted by dishonest debaters." I thought it went without saying that the votes are to be visible to administration. In that case, I'll say it now. I view the administration as outside the debating realm, so it would be fine for them to view the number of votes. In that case, this problem could be easily fixed. Liars will be caught.