New DDO members shouldn't be able to start debates right away.

An important note for this debate is that as per our PM chat prior to this debate, we are debating whether new members on DDO should be allowed to instigate debates upon joining this site. We are not debating whether new members should be allowed to accept challenges, or any aspects of the voting system. The Purpose of DDO The resolution compares the current system which allows new members to instigate debates right away, to the “Falcon Plan” which is laid out above. Before we can debate which system is better we must first look at what the purpose of this website is: “Debate.org is an online debate website designed to provide an easy and free platform for people to challenge each other intellectually via debates and open forum communication.” (1) To accept the Falcon Plan we must first accept that DDO should not be a website that is designed to be “an easy and free” platform for people to debate. Currently DDO is not a high traffic website. What Pro is proposing is to take a low traffic website that is currently free and easy, and turn it into a website that requires some sort of training before members can be allowed to do what they came here to do, which is debate. The Falcon Plan is too Complicated Some of the most attractive qualities about DDO are its visual appeal and user friendliness. This plan offers a number of new rules that would overcomplicate the website. How do you explain a pseudovote to a new member? How do we set up the options for “established members” to counter pseudovote? And most importantly how do we sell this plan to new members, especially the ones who are not interested in meeting a whole bunch of requirements before they can debate? Member access should not be controlled by other users While the Falcon Plan is intended as a way to allow some members to help others, what it ultimately comes down to is the fact that it will be the members who decide when another member is ready to debate. New members should be allowed access to the website as long as they follow the rules, not as long as other members agree with them. After all DDO is a website that thrives on disagreement. Some members will not agree with a new members pseudovote. How do we control abusive or unjustified counter pseudovotes? Do we put a counter-counter pseudovote system in place too? This would only lead to more problems making the system even more complicated. This plan will not lead to better debaters One of the basic ideas of this system is that it will help improve the quality of debaters on this site. This argument is false because it begins with the assumption that every member of this website joins with the desire to be a top debater, which is not the case. There are generally two different kinds of people who join this site: A) Those that want to debate a specific topic, and B) those who are interested in general debating and being a strong debater. Let’s consider how the Falcon Plan would affect these two groups: A) Members who want to debate a specific topic are only interested in debating that topic. They are not interested in “jumping through hoops” and meeting a bunch of requirements before they can be allowed to do what they came here to do. This type of person has never debated and thus has no appreciation for debating. This will not develop until they have participated in a debate or two and start to understand that there is more to this then they first realized. If they are forced to go through this plan first they will likely quit before they even begin. B) Those who are interested in debating in general will already do all of the things that this plan makes them do. People who are here because they are interested in debating have likely read other debates and are already getting the idea. They have an interest that will not fade simply because they lose. The most likely reason these members leave the site is because they feel outmatched. Debating is a skill that some people have naturally, or work very hard to be good at. Either way, it comes from within. The Falcon Plan, or any other plan can not change this. Members should be able to choose for themselves when they are ready The most troubling aspect of this is that members are forced to allow other members, number of forum posts, or test scores to decide when they are ready. Why should anyone else play a role in this decision? The best argument I can think of is to protect the quality of debates. This goes back to the question: What is the purpose of DDO? Is DDO a site for top level debaters only? What about 12 and 13 year olds who want to learn how to debate? I understand that many are concerned about controlling troll debates, but trolls are much more common when it comes to accepting debate challenges and in the forums and comment sections which is not what we are debating. The only solution to stopping them from instigating troll debates is to take away everyone else’s privileges, which is going way too far. As far as forfeited debates, DDO does not show them in the home page so there is no need to be concerned about them in terms of quality of debates. As far as the nuisance of someone forfeiting on you, there is no way to stop or even control it. But when someone is forfeiting their own topic it is much less disruptive then when someone forfeits as a challenger. Conclusion: The Falcon Plan changes DDO from a site that is a free and easy platform for people to debate, to an established member’s only website that will wind up deterring many potentially good debaters from joining. While the overall quality of debates may increase this will only be because many of the novice debaters will either decide not to bother or be scared away by the level one must achieve just to be part of the group. It will not make serious debaters any better because they are already doing all of the things that the Falcon Plan makes them do. (1) http://www.debate.org...