Resolved: Tribesters Need an Orderly Place to Debate

This tribe provides a place for people to debate a topic that may have arisen in another tribe. There are no limits on subject matter: politics, law, aesthetics, morality, religion, culture, sexuality, and literature are all “on topic” here. Spectators may form a peanut gallery to cheer on the action.

The Rules (which may change in light of suggestions from the group) are as follows.

1) A side may be a single person or a group of persons supporting a single view.
2) Both sides must agree on the phrasing of the resolution. (Consider three examples “Resolved: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached.” “Resolved: The New Testament Gospel of John Contains Reliable Eyewitness Testimony about the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.” “Resolved: Dostoevsky Wrote Greater Novels than did Tolstoy.”)
3) Both sides must present their positions in their own words, rather than simply supplying links or pasting in articles. (The use of quotations and statistics along with citations is fine.)
4) The Affirmative side presents first and then the Negative side presents. Thereafter, the sides respond to each other.
5) Spectator threads will allow observers to comment on the proceedings without interfering with the back-and-forth between those debating.
6) Three things are forbidden: personal attacks, attacks on a side’s motives for taking its position, and changing the subject.
7) There is no scoring system.

http://tribes.tribe.net/debateseekers