[X] My Assistant

[Slaves Shall Ser...]

Now... Whenever a forums has a debate section, people always post the same topics.
It's usually about homosexuality, the war in Iraq, etc.
These debates are interesting at first but they become stale after a while.
So should generic debates, like these, be banned from being posted?

[Bosco]

No, but perhaps pinned? Or maybe even one pinned topic asking that members search for their topic before posting it.

I don't think we should keep people from debating any subject as long as they do so in a civilized non-offensive manor. Just because they've been debated God knows how many times, isn't enough to ban the topics completely. That's just my two cents, though. Besides who do you expect the judge on what's over debated and what's not. I mean some people may find Illegal Immigration to be a "stale" debate, but I could talk about Illegal Immigration for years until the problem is solved, or at least solved in the manor I want it too. XD

Don't forget that most of those subjects are CURRENT and new developments on the subjects arise every other day all over the world. Subjects like those all though can be considered "stale" by some, aren't even close to be solved so every time there's a new debate there's always the chance that something new will develop that makes the old stale debate fun and interesting again.

[Guest_Dark Knight_*]

The reason that you see the same debates over and over again is that debate is more procrastination than action. We all rant about these subjects long and hard, but bugger all ever actually gets done about them, which is why the same issues exist for a long enough time to have countless reiterations of the argument on the same site.

[Slaves Shall Ser...]

Don't forget that most of those subjects are CURRENT and new developments on the subjects arise every other day all over the world. Subjects like those all though can be considered "stale" by some, aren't even close to be solved so every time there's a new debate there's always the chance that something new will develop that makes the old stale debate fun and interesting again.

Some of them may be current events but it would be nice if some people came up with new arguments every now and then. You know?

[Bosco]

Just because they haven't, doesn't mean they won't. Besides, if you don't like those debates just don't read them. No reason to take away from what other people would like to debate/discuss.

[Slaves Shall Ser...]

Just because they haven't, doesn't mean they won't. Besides, if you don't like those debates just don't read them. No reason to take away from what other people would like to debate/discuss.

But those kinds of topics flood the forums and prevent other types of discussions from occuring.

[Guest_Dark Knight_*]

How do they prevent other discussions from happening? Even if they're all over a forum, what's stopping someone making a new topic about something else?

Your argument and logic seem to be rather fatally flawed.

[Slaves Shall Ser...]

How do they prevent other discussions from happening? Even if they're all over a forum, what's stopping someone making a new topic about something else?

Your argument and logic seem to be rather fatally flawed.

Every forums with a debate section that I've seen had the same debates. Of course, these debates don't prevent people from creating their own topic of discussion, but it usually doesn't happen with generic debates around. So if they were to be banned, people would be encouraged to make up their own discussions.

[Guest_Dark Knight_*]

That's just about the most stupid, bigoted nonsense I've heard in a long time. If you made a new debate that people were actually interested in, they would post on it regardless of what other topics there are on the debate forum. Also, who exactly gets to say what is or isn't a clichéd subject, and whether it should be banned? The last time I checked, most of us lived in countries where freedom of speech about any public topic is a basic right. Who are you to say that people shouldn't talk about the Iraq War, or terrorism, or whether or not George Bush is a moron or not?

I'm sorry, but you're clearly an idiot. If you want to debate something else, do so, and if it's actually interesting or relevant other people will take part. And if you can't, but think you're above the more common debates, just don't take part at all. Nobody is forcing you to.

[Bosco]

I love how this turned out to be a heated debate itself. XD

I agree with Dark Knight.

[Aeroy]

I agree with bosco LOL.

But yeah, I think you're way off base here Slaves shall Serve.

[Big Bidoof]

Ya. I see no need to ban these; maybe some touchy issues that usually wind up with people flaming each other (basically anything involving religion >_>) would make sense, but just because a topic has had the shit beaten out of it across the internetz doesn't mean we should stop here. :cool:

[Guest_Dark Knight_*]

We should make that our site slogan - "GTS+ - Beating Old Shit Online".

[Rebecca]

"Beating old Shit" that did make me giggle.

Debating is always a useful passtime, it broadens ones horizons. Teaches people to hear and pass comment on the opinions of others. On a lot of the forums I've visited, so much as one mention of the word "debate" and everything crumples. Nobody wants to know. Then the second someone actually comes across a difference in opinion, it's ZOMGFLAMINGMEHELP! etc.

I don't necessarily agree with people name calling one another, as it's usually a misguided attempt at insulting someone. e.g an earlier post stated "you are clearly an idiot". Idiocy often plays a part in opinion, but if you've never had an actual face-to-face discussion/conversation with someone, you have no place to decided whether someone is or is not an idiot. Perhaps if you'd said "You seem like a complete idiot to me" it would have been better, you'd be adding an opinion. This is the case with a lot of debates. And anyway, if you're going to insult someone, you'd better make sure it's a good enough insult to get you into actual trouble! XD

I love debates, especially when they get heated. Even better when people TYPE IN CAPS 'CAUSE THEY THINK IT GETS THEIR POINT ACROSS AS IF THERE ACTUALLY SHOUTING IT ZOMG. That really does amuse me, it's like, if you were reading it out loud to someone, would you actually shout it out loud?

Example of the kind of debate I've often had on various other sites:

Me: (insert opinion on something here)
Mr. X: STFU! Your opinion is all wrong, you are a retard!
Me: How can my opinion be wrong? Do you even know what opinion means?
Mr. X : I said STFU! I DIDN'T EVEN ASK FOR YOUR OPINION ANYWAYZ, NOOB!
Me : So if you don't want to hear the opinions of others, why post this in the debates?
Mr. X : OMFG you totally suck, I hate you, you're fucked up and you don't know WTF you're talking about, I'm posting it in the debates because it pisses me off!
Me: You could have put this in the rant section and asked nobody to reply...
Mr. X : A"^EFHUI*$&YTNFY^%(NI($GVH*(E%& (Mr. X throws toys out of pram and squeals for half an hour.)

But yea, I'm rather enjoying this debate... I guess my input regarding the actual subject of this debate is Nope, I don't hate generic debates, I rather like reading the way people make an absolute arse of themselves. I don't think they should be banned, just deleteted if they get too old and nobody's posting in it anymore.

[Crystal Phoenix]

I love debating, and like Rebecca said, "...it broadens ones horizons." It puts out a question, free to interpret, out there for anyone to state their opinion. People have the right to agree or disagree with other's opinions and opens people to new views of the matter. Don't ban the generic ones, just see the course they take and close them when they get too chaotic or nobody has been in for a while.