Voting Requirements on DDO should be reduced or removed

Burden of Proof Pro is advocating for a change to the current rules in DDO, and as such, the BoP is on Pro to prove that the reduction or removal of DDO voting requirements is more beneficial than the status quo. DDO's voting requirements are [1]: 1. Completing Three Debates 2. Confirming Identity Contention 1: Completing Three Debates is Important I was about to present my argument of why three debates is essential for DDO. It appears however that my opponent agrees with the rule. Therefore this contention simply stands. But I want to note that Con's argument is not clear. He argues that 3 debates make sense, but complains "However, this means that the people who do these debates will not quite have the knowledge of how the audience might act." I don't understand the complaint. But since Con dropped this argument, this debate really hinges on the second contention: The importance of Confirming Identity. Contention 2: Confirming Identity is Vital for DDO DDO FAQ states that: "The numbers are used to ensure that each debate vote belongs to a unique individual. This helps Debate.org maintain the quality of our debates. Your cell phone number will not be used for any other purposes." [4] If Confirming Identity was not put in place, it would not be so difficult for someone to create many accounts in DDO with voting privileges. This would lead to an increase in vote bombing! While creating 3 debates will definitely make this task more cumbersome, and that's why it's important, however it's still possible to create many silly debates or posting debates with only one round (Here's an example [2])! So while the 3 debates requirement is great, the rule can still be manipulated. To illustrate this, I can create 5 accounts (or even 10 accounts to avoid suspicion) and create 3 one round debates for each account. After that, I'd vote bomb all my debates using these dummy accounts. To reduce suspicion even further, I could even have some of the dummy accounts vote against myself. It's not difficult to see how this would damage the integrity of DDO. Debaters who spend a lot of time analyzing, researching and presenting their arguments would be frustrated, and it wouldn't be surprising if they leave DDO. The value of RFD's will he diminished. This is why "Confirming Identity" is vital. It requires that a debater must have a phone number for the person to be authenticated. It will not be easy for most people to create multiple accounts because they'd require different phone numbers which is not easy to attain. While the system is not perfect, it would definitely reduce the possibility of vote bombing. Rebuttal Pro's only complaint about this system are the following: 1. Not everyone has a mobile phone that can receive messages. 2. Customer Support is only to add a carrier I agree with Pro that not everyone has a mobile phone. But we know very well that the majority of people have text messaging capabilities. As much as 97% in the US have used text messaging [3]. So this can't be seen as a large problem. However, if someone genuinely doesn't have a phone number, they can contact Customer Support, and the issue can be sorted out manually. It's explained here [5]. Pro is mistaken that Customer Support is only to add a carrier. So in essence, no one will be blocked from voting on DDO if they are unique members and have finished three debates. Summary Pro agrees that the three debates rule is good, but complained about "Confirming Identity" steps. I've demonstrated that it's essential to maintain the integrity of DDO and prevents vote bombing. Pro also thought that some people might be blocked due to this requirement, but I've explained that this incorrect, and there's a manual process to handle such exceptions.Therefore I Negate. Over to Pro. [1] http://www.debate.org... [2] http://www.debate.org... [3] http://www.pewinternet.org... [4] http://www.debate.org... [5] http://www.debate.org...