A Series of Requests to the NG Politics Board Community

Okay, this is a pretty simple series of requests to those of you who actively participate in the NG politics discussions. I've noticed that people on the politics board often engage in activities that basicly violate any kind of logical rules of debate. So, I'm gonna write a series of requests that basically ask for some form of civility and intelligence during debates. So, here we go:

1. Don't flame/use ad hominem attacks: Really, this should be pretty basic. Flaming people is uncivl and unnessicary. I don't know what you people are thinking, your not impressing anyone. Flaming just makes you look like a giant idiot, it's no intimidating anyone. As for ad hominems, really, keep to the topic at hand, please refrain from personal attacks, all your doing is proving to the other person you have nothing intelligent left to say.

2. Don't create worthless topic: Again, pretty basic. Use the search bar. It's not hard. Also, browse the front page. There may be a similar topic, and you can just post your idea in there. No need to create another topic. It's just gonna get locked anyway, use some common sense.

3. Read your opponents post/don't use strawman arguments: This is the first one that really goes outside the basic rules. Read the post, preferably the whole thing, before you hit reply. You may have missed something important if you started replying before you read the whole thing. Yah, I know sometimes something in the middle of the post jumps out as something you want to reply too, but for god's sake read it in context before your go violating Request #1. Also, refrain form assumptions. Really, I can tell when you start to read a post, determine that this person must be someone of a certain political affiliation and go to your standard argument against/for that poltical position. On strawmans, it's a terrible way of debating and is really stupid. If you do it on purpose, well don't if your not a complete asshole, and if you do it on accident, then...well if you follow my suggestion and read the whole post then you probably won't do it on accident.

4. Be open-minded: Close-mindness helps no one. Be tolerant of others opinions, even if they look stupid to you. Your much less likely to revert to Request #1 or Request #3 if you keep an open mind about what the person is saying. Remember, there is nothing wrong with someone having a different view then you. Believe it or not, you'll meet people in life with different opinions then you, and guess what, there nothing wrong with that. Just because someone disagrees with, doesn't mean their "stupid".

5. Admit your wrong: Believe it nor not, your not always right. Sometimes you may be proven wrong, and there's nothing wrong with admitting it. Don't continue debating just for the sake of debating when you've been proven wrong. Of course, at the same time, don't be an idiot and keep on talking about how you've proven your opponent wrong, because they may not agree. Let them decide if they've been beaten or not, no need to be an arrogant ass. On the opposite end, don't try to weasel out of a debate if you've been proven wrong. Too many times have people decided to go "your an idiot, I'm leaving this thread, I can't put up with you anymore". Be a man and admit your wrong, and if you really are tired of that debate, then just leave, no need to insult your oppenent and publically declare your leaving, that just makes you look like your trying to weasel out of it. Admitting your wrong will prove to anyone worthwhile proving something to that your tolerant and dignified. Of course, there are some people who will gloat about it, but I'll deal with them later...

6. Don't Gloat: Like right now! If someone admits there wrong, don't brag about how much smarter you are. Seriously, this is the internet, if you really take that much pride in proving someone wrong over the internet, then your the real loser... Not to mention, some people are even stupid enough to gloat before the debate is even over! As I said before, don't go claiming victory before the debate is even finished. As I said before, let them decide, and if you think there violating #4 and debating for the sake of debating, then keep it to yourself, be happy with the knowledge your a better debater then them, no need to gloat about it when you could very well be wrong about them (or the debate for that matter).

7. Don't spam links: Seriously, this is a debate of who has the right opinion, not who has the best-sourced opinion. Don't carpet bomb your opponent with links. Hopefully we're all smart people here unless your quoting someone, using a statistic, or saying something that may be though by some to be ridiculous, then you really don't need a link. This may be more of a personal pet-peev for me, but still, I think it's a pretty good guideline.

8. Don't turn the debate into a pissing contest: This goes with #1 and Ad hominems. The debate is about the topic, not the debaters. Don't try and turn the entire thread into some kind of battle about who's better...

9. Don't cherry-pick: Tell the whole story, don't cherry-pick certain facts/incidents that help your side. I personally (and I think a lot of people would agree with me) perfer sourced statistics to personal anecdotes and specific examples. Sometimes these things could be rare examples, and sometimes they're glorified.

10. Use good grammar: Try your hardest to use good grammar and spelling. Not all of us can type perfectly, but if you know your one of those people, a good reread/spell check is never a bad thing. However, sometimes people make mistakes when there trying to type fast. I bet I've made plenty of typos in this rant, so that brings us to:

11. Forgive typos: Unless someones grammar/spelling so awful they are impossible to understand, don't go picking on typos.

That's all I can think of for now. I might update, make sequals, etc... if I think of anything else, but that's it for now. Feel free to comment, if you flame your just proving my point, I appeciate feedback as long as it's respectful (and preferably adheres to these requests). I don't know how useful this is will be (probably not at all, but hell I needed to express my feelings, maybe there are some of you out there with similar opinions to, so whatever, my rant is done.