Presidential Debate - Airmax1227 VS Larztheloser

After all, that's what we're here for. First, I'd like to clarify a misconception my opponent advanced about the DDO presidency. The DDO President is less an administrative position, than an ambassadorial role. Essentially, I promote a sense of community and cohesion among members, and also act as a liaison between members and Juggle. The goal is to represent DDO members to Juggle by advocating for site members and their interests, promoting DDO's culture and developing (with the help of my administration) site features and improvements. While Juggle knows what is in their best interests, I take member feedback to the site designers and together we work to improve DDO. Because of the extent of my advocacy to Juggle for DDO and its members, that leaves little time for me to debate. So, while my opponent is correct that I am a casual, infrequent debater I want to emphasize that is the case because I do everything I can for DDO -which rather distinguishes me from a "politician" in the usual sense. My opponent is correct that I'm not a "real" debater, I am a casual debater who does so for fun, like the average member of the site. However, I think that it's important for members to know why I am running for reelection. Even though I never had aspirations to be president or moderator of the site before I first ran, I was asked by members to serve the community. While I may not be perfect, the DDO community has entrusted me with this position because I am old enough and responsible enough to rise to the challenges that the presidency entails. Even still, we can always do better which is why I have a dynamic administrative team that I constantly work with for the betterment of the site, that everyone, including my opponent, can be a part of. Thus helping to bring to fruition every idea they may have. These volunteer DDO members have been invaluable in offering their opinions on nearly everything, reporting any site conduct issues I may miss, and providing immediate feedback on a pressing issue. In conclusion, I want to thank Larz again for his interest in better serving the DDO community. It reminds us all that we have a responsibility to work together for what's best for our community. Tournaments Like most of the great things on DDO, tournaments are a collaborative effort. After members and I lay the groundwork, tournaments proceed. However, that can be a more complicated process than it looks. The current tournaments are done in a way designed to promote efficiency and quality, and tournament design is based on community interest. We've learned now, though, that 4 is too many, so the number will likely decrease in the future. However, tournaments are just one part of DDO though, and I encourage Larz and other members who are interested to come up with strategies and ideas for improvement for the community's benefit. To be clear, though, site improvement isn't just something that is important to focus on when elections are taking place. It's a daily discussion that I have with my administration and other site members in general, for the good of the community. I've had some talks with Juggle regarding tournaments in the hopes that it could be more recognized by the site. For example, I've suggested on behalf of site members and the administration that Juggle offer more substantive rewards for winning, increase recognition for winning and take more significant steps to improve tournament quality. Unfortunately, while we've made progress, it's a long process. Even still, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to tournament improvement. Your help has been indispensable in making tournaments as good as they've gotten, and together we'll continue our efforts to make them better! RL Integration Integrating DDO with competitive debate organizations around the world is a great idea, and I think that whether I win or not DDO and its members should reach out to the National Forensics League, the National Catholic Forensics League, and various other debate leagues in both the United States and abroad for all the reasons Larz states. I want to thank him for coming up with innovative ideas for the site! Bullying Regarding bullying, there are a couple of things to address and I want to talk about each one separately because this is an issue I take very seriously: Larz says that I've done nothing to reduce cyberbullying. That's just not true. By addressing each issue as it arises, I both acknowledge the wrong that has been done and act accordingly. Moreover, to preempt bullying, as Larz is describing, just isn't possible. But, what I can do is create the kind of environment where members of our community know that bullying will not be tolerated -and it won't. However, when members are disciplined for harassing others or for other conduct violations the reason that I don't always release members information is out of respect for member's privacy. While that may have led to some mistaking my respect for member's privacy as a lack of transparency, protecting members on DDO is my first obligation and I wont compromise on the privacy of members, especially on a site largely populated by young people. That applies to all members, whether they have violated the sites expected conduct or not. Regarding weekly updates (and transparency generally), while I more or less only issued updates when there was something to report, the last couple weeks have been relatively quiet, so there wasn't really much of a reason to publish anything. While I can update the site on some of the projects regularly being worked on, I feel reluctant to do so with the election coming up and it being viewed potentially as pandering. But, I'll continue to issue updates when they are necessary after the election if I win. I also have other ideas (like the recent TinyChat town hall that took place) that should increase member involvement and keep open lines of communication between the DDO community and I. But even still, if any have questions or concerns, members are always invited to contact me in the forums or they can contact me personally via PM. I will be sure to respond as quickly as I can! Once more, I'd like to thank Larz for voicing ideas for the site's improvement and I'd like to extend my fullest gratitude to the DDO community for electing me before. I hope that together, we'll continue to work together to make DDO better for all of us!