Mikal

Mikal was someone on DDO. He was a very active debater and Mafia player. Mikal also was elected into the hall of fame after only 6 months as a memberhttp://www.debate.org/forums/miscellaneous/topic/20130/1/#1697790, and was the first debater to earn a 9,000 elo (a rank he has maintained and that would increase if the elo cap were ever lifted.) Mikal was also elected to the position of site president, although he controversially resigned this position weeks after being elected.
==Debate history==
Mikal has a total of 278 debates with only 7 losses and 2 ties, giving him one of the best debate records on the site, in terms of both win percentage and percentile. He was labeled a "noob sniper," which may have factored into his decision to challenge Roy Latham. At the time of the debate Roy Latham was considered by many to be among the best debaters on the site, and the match between him Mikal and Roy became very popular. In the end, Mikal won the debate. Debate Topic: The United States Should Have A Death Penalty | Debate.org Later, however, he continued to regularly spam debates until the accusations of being a "noob sniper" fell over him once again. Once again, he faced off against a highly prominent debater, Bluesteel, but lost under strange circumstances. The debate was about gun rights and Mikal was winning the debate by 6 votes, when he suddenly conceded for reasons that remain unclear.http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/58922/Debate Topic: Bluesteel v. Mikal, Resolved: The US Should Adopt a Ban on Assault Weapons Similar to Australia's | Debate.orgSome speculated that the concession occurred in part due to Bluesteel's friendship with Mikal, but it seems more likely to be due to the fact that he planned to leave DDO. Immediately after Mikal's concession, he posted that he intended to step down from his position as the site president, which was heavily criticized.
Mikal now noob-snipes very occasionally and, although still actively participating in the forums, is less active on DDO overall in recent months, as of early 2015.
== Acclaim ==
* Only member with 9k elo and to reach the elo cap.
* Effectively started google plus hangouts on DDO. 
* King of Battle Rap. 
* Hall of Fame Member.
* Former DDO President.
* Sent a debate to the Hall of Fame with a majority vote
==Presidency==
Mikal was the site's 8th president for around 1 month, until he stepped down as president shortly after he was elected, to much criticism. Mikal admitted he planned to step down from the office of President midway as a kind of prank on DDO, but ended up enacting his plan early. He also claimed that his stepping down was meant to function as a critique of the pointlessness of the position of President of DDO, and also noted that he wished in some ways that the presidency was abolished http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/58942/. Other reasons for his decision included the controversy surrounding his Vice President's (Imabench) being banned, the controversy surrounding Blade-of-Truth's misconduct, and criticism of Mikal's personality that argue that Mikal is unfit to lead [citation needed]. In further protest of the position of site president, the user Bluesteel and Mikal formed a team under the name of Mikal to challenge Airmax1227 and Bladerunner060 to a debate on whether the DDO Presidency should be abolished. Debate Topic: The DDO Presidency Should Be Abolished | Debate.org He is widely considered one of DDO's worst Presidents, having left the credibility of the institution in severe disrepair.
== Battle Rap ==
Mikal claims to be the best battle rapper on the site. Members such as Danielle, TUF, ShadowGing, and TruthSeeker are just some of his wins, though it's clear his victory over Danielle was illegitimate. Still, his only official loss was to Airmax in a compliment battle. Mikal states that it is not a loss as it was not real battle. But it was a real battle and it was a real loss. He currently has 38 wins and 1 official loss. http://www.debate.org/forums/debate.org/topic/67234/1#1990614 
== Notable Debates ==
* Mikal vs Roy / The United States should have a Death Penalty
* Mikal vs Bluesteel / Resolved : The US Should Adopt a Ban on Assault Weapons Similar to Australia's
* Mikal vs Larz / DDO vs EDB8
* Mikal & Bluesteel vs Bladerunner & Airmax / The DDO Presidency should be abolished
* Mikal, Bluesteel & 16k vs DK, Subtai, & Lannan / Man made global warming is a threat
* Mikal vs Imabench / Prostitution should be legalized in the US
* Mikal vs Dtaylor / Hot Girls Debate
* Mikal vs Morality Professor / Drawing Debate
* Mikal vs DK / Abortion should remain legal in the US
* Mikal vs Logic and Reasoning / Is our world merely a flat plate, supported by a shell of a tortoise.
* Mikal vs 16kadams / Resolved: The United States Should Abolish the Death Penalty
Mikal has stated on several occasions that his favorite debate is the debate about the world being a flat plate supported by a tortoise.http://www.debate.org/debates/Is-our-world-merely-a-flat-plate-supported-by-a-shell-of-a-tortoise/1/
== Heavy criticism ==
Mikal has also recieved heavy criticism for resigning his Presidency position shortly after he was elected, which appeared to have been his plan from the beginning of his campaign. At the same time, however, a few people have defended his position despite his actions.
After he returned from his temporary departure after resigning as President, he drew extremely heavy criticism for his actions in regards to a debate between the users donald.keller and emilrose. He was upset with the votes on the debate, saying that he disliked when members called RFDs bad and countered them with more thought-out votes. DK was winning with only about 10 minutes left, and he then organized a mass vote-bombing to "offset" what he viewed was an injustice. By the end of the voting period, he had "succeeded" in his goal, as emilrose had the win. This was, however, reversed after Airmax reviewed the votes. Mikal said:
"I take full responsibility. I noted if anyone else tried to cvb last min i would have the debate swing. 3 votes came in so, blame me.
its amazing how a 5 point debate swings this hard over this elitism things about votes. I hope every stfus about it now and leaves it alone, because having people throw up 1 second votes to try and offset "bad" votes is just sht
Its always nice to level the playing field."Members were livid with this conduct, and many viewed it as an egregious site rule violation that warranted severe punishment. However, he was let off with a warning - to the absolute shock of the members. F-16_Fighting_Falcon said about a thread made about the incident:
"I don't get the point of this thread. Seems pretty clear cut: just report the vigilante and the minions to Airmax and he'll probably be perma-banned for intent to cause harm to the integrity of the site and the others would probably be temp-banned."But, still, he was not punished for this incident.
==Departures and Bans==
In early 2015, Mikal deactivated his account, vowing to not come back, after stepping down from the Presidency - but returned a few weeks later.
On May 6, 2015, Mikal's account was temp-banned by Airmax for one week, in response to criticism over his debate called "Khaos should be policy lynched in every game he joins," as well as his comments in that debate.  He was accused by some members of bullying user Khaos_Mage, and several members contacted Max about the situation - pointing out that Mikal called him a retard that should be removed from society and should be executed, and that Khaos should kill himself, and also citing several instances in the debate comments where he called Khaos a "pussy" and "bitch" - resulting in the temp-ban and the removal of the debate. According to his post, he had asked Airmax to close his account, but Airmax initially refused. Mikal threatened to make a hundred multi-accounts (severe violation of rules during temp-ban by itself), and spamming the site with "porn and gore" - until Airmax agrees to perma-ban his account. However, his punishment for creating multi-accounts is yet to be determined, as of May 8, 2015. He said before being temp-banned:
"So caught a temp ban for calling khaos a pusy and a btch which he is and which I don't regret
So I'm not taking a Temp ban , I asked air max to close off my account for good and he declined. I have no intent to come back and he refuses to close it for good so after the temp ban starts I'm opening up like 100 accounts and spamming gore and porn until he is forced to close it forever.
This is to make sure I don't come back
Anyway to all my friends , love you guys and you know where to find me. Thanks for being thereTo anyway else that hates on me, suk my dik because I've did more for this site in two years than you could do in a life time"Speaking through a different user, Mikal later stated that he will never return to DDO, although some users are skeptical at his words, suspecting that he'll return eventually, perhaps as a different user.
== Return ==
Mikal recently returned to DDO as of mid July in 2015. He rarely debates anymore and mainly trolls users for fun. He still frequents the forums, and stated he is using his spare time for work and gaming since DDO is becoming less active. 
== References ==
Category:Users