Hi everyone,
If you are reading this, you have already noticed that this is a new forum; and if you have read the Formal Debate Guidelines
you will note that this new forum is very similar in structure and in purpose to the Formal Debate Forum in General Theology. Along with a change in location, there are some other notable changes.
Please feel free to ask what ever comes to mind regarding Formal Debate, and I and other members of staff will do our best to answer them for you.
Grace, peace and mercy to all!
Mark
Staff Supervisor.
If you are reading this, you have already noticed that this is a new forum; and if you have read the Formal Debate Guidelines
you will note that this new forum is very similar in structure and in purpose to the Formal Debate Forum in General Theology. Along with a change in location, there are some other notable changes.
- The owner and staff of Christian Forums has always striven to not only serve the Christian community, but to serve all of our members; orthodox, unorthodox and non christian. Formal Debate in GT was a Christian Only Forum. This forum will be open to all of our members.
- In the past, it was found that the discussion of certain topics in open forums caused a great deal of strife in the threads (and for staff with the number of reports generated). In the interest of promoting peace, a list of "Controversial Topics and various restrictions regarding their discussion After much discussion and consideration was developed and maintained by staff. Since formal Debate is one on one and fully moderated, Members are now welcome to propose the one on one discussion and debate of most of these topics; however staff reserves the right to approve or deny a proposal in the best interest of CF.
- In Formal Debate in GT a "Peanut Gallery" was created in the GT forum for those not participating in the Formal Debate, so they could also discuss the topic and the progress of the debate. The two debaters can not post in the PG thread until the debate is closed. They can, and often do check the PG as a bit of a barometer to gauge how it's going, and which tack they should take in their next post. This adds an additional dynamic to the debate, and allows participation out side of the debate for interested members. The Peanut Galleries will now be located in their own sub forum so they will be easy to find.
- In further regard to the Peanut Galleries; we are trying something new when a debate involves one of the Controversial Topics. We know these topics can be emotional, and their discussion often leads to violations of our rules; so for controversial topics, that Peanut Gallery will be fully moderated. That means that when a member post, that post will be visible only to the moderators; moderators will review the post, and if no rule violations will un moderate it, and it will become visible. If there is a rule violation, staff will contact the member and either ask them to edit their post (when possible), or explain why it will not be posted... there will be no warnings or infractions issued when we moderate posts. In non controversial topic debates, the Peanut gallery will be open.
Please feel free to ask what ever comes to mind regarding Formal Debate, and I and other members of staff will do our best to answer them for you.
Grace, peace and mercy to all!
Mark
Staff Supervisor.