This article is basically about something i keep seeing around the debate spot or on other debate forums and it is, in my opinion the rudest and most insulting thing you can do in debate

no I am not talking about swearing

no I am not talking about denying the existence of someone's believes

no I am not even talking about flashing your opponent to distract them

I am talking about the one line comment

some of you may be slightly confused as to why I get so annoyed by this so let me clear things up

I have no issue with people bringing up a new point that they have just summed up in a short space, I also have no issue with people making a comment on the on going debate itself or with people just asking a question or injecting a piece of new information, all them are perfectly worthy one line comments and contribute to the debate.

what I am complaining about (yes I am not denying this is just a big fat rant) is when someone writes a completly pointless one lined comment in response to a well researched and thought out decent piece of debate, that someone has put effort in to.

These rude one liners might say something that has already been covered or something that has already been discredited in the above comments or something that is just plain ignorant and false, do you get what I mean now?

I could go on to point fingers....or virtually shake some users but instead out of politeness I will make up an example for anyone still a little bit unsure as to where I am going with this

soo for example If the debate was
"this house believes that coca cola should be banned"

someone agreeing with this motion might research and say something along the lines of

"coca cola has been sued many times for containing unethical products such lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos and other chemicals that can contribute to cancer and a breakdown of the immune system. It also contains many calories harmful to your weight and health and sugar and additives that are harmful to your teeth. There have also been studies that is physically addictive, while these have not been proven yet it does contain more caffeine that a regular cup of coffee. It is clear the company is unethical and unless it is shut down it will carry on to pollute people's bodies and buy it's way out having to obey laws"

now that was mainly some stuff I rephrased off good old wikipedia but if you saw that and didn't know that surly you would see this person has researched about the company, they have a valid point and have even ended it with a nice strong statement and have put a little effort in to their opinion
so isn't it so rude for someone to reply with any of the following

"why bother debating this, it's just a soda"
"NO WAY cola rocks!"
"prove it"
"cola doesn't harm anyone"

the first is just annoying, this the debate spot we can debate what ever we want, if I want to start a debate about "which is more boring; watching paint dry or listening to morons" and someone else is willing to argue the other side, then's it's a debate, might not be one you are interested in but you don't have to join in, you don't have to say anything on the matter at all or even read it....although if your going to start making similar comments to the ones above you would probably help the side I would be voting for.
Debate doesn't have to be about huge life changing issue that effect the world. It doesn't have to be a complicated issue or a moral or ethical one
The definition of debate is simply
"To engage in an argument by discussing opposing points."
that means anything from abortion to types of pillow can be debated

The second erm....yeah if your leaving comments like that in a none ironic way maybe I should say this slowly
That is not debating.

The third one, in no formal debate have I ever seen in any of the rules you have to site your sources, most statistics and facts are manipulated to favor one side or the other, heck some are just plain made up for the hell of it. It's not the point, the point is how you use that information in your arguement.
Of course you have every right to question someone's information but at least address why you doubt it. And certainly don't have the cheek to leave a one line comment saying
"where'd you hear that from? it's actually blah blah blah!!!!!!!!"
with out stating your source!

The final one this is my ultimate pet peeve and comments like that is what inspired this whole whiny rant
why bother commenting if your not going to read the comments before you...in fact why should we read yours, I'm guessing most of us wouldn't bother except for the fact it's so short and simple we only have to accidentally glance at the screen and we involuntarily have read it.
Just because you have thought one thing all your life doesn't make everyone else is wrong, just because a idea is radical doesn't make it wrong and just because you think a one line comment will make a decent point doesn't make it right.
If someone has stated a point with their own opinion, logic and facts, you just denying that flat out would literally get laughed out of a debate competition....well at least in the English regionals you would, I'm not kidding, debating brits in tweed are mean! Especially to morons.

I guess I better get to the actual point of this article.
I find it disrespectful to ignore someone if you were talking to them in person and I find it just as disrespectful to do it here. You wouldn't interrupt a conversation with something like "why are we bothering to talk about this" or "ha! well your wrong".
So please if you really are a fan of debate;

-Read what people have written

-think about your own responses

-think about new ideas

-keep a open mind

-remeber everything can be debated

-you don't have to talk about every point someone has brought up but at least acknowledge some of their comments

-don't presume your right because you have picked the popular answer

-if you want to re-visit a point, say you feel it's more valid or holds more sway in the argument or you just feel it hasn't been explored enough. There are many ways for you to sneakily reuse a point and it's a good debating tatic

-related to last bullet point, don't be a parrot and mindlessly repeat things, some people are morons but most of us will notice the same point with just one word changed

-don't be scared to just state you agree with someone or think someone has debated a certain point well

-also don't be scared to say you don't really know, most people on here will be nice to enough to explain to you or link you to somewhere that will. There is one user on here who always says when she doesn't know and it take guts especially when there's plenty of people who also don't really know but like to pretend they do.

-remeber the last person to speak isn't always the right one


Anyways rant over for now, people will probably still make these incredibly rude comments that ignore and disrespect the previous arguments but hopefully some of the people who weren't doing it intentionally might think about forming their arguments more

Sorry if I appear to have been rude or plain bitchy in this article and I am sure your sick of hearing me saying moron or being condescending but this article wasn't aimed at everyone, those of you that it was aimed at know who you are....possibly, maybe not, I might be over estimating you
but anyways you are all perfectly welcome to debate my approach to this subject or whether these comments are worthy to debate.....but if you make a completly pointless comment just know while i am ignoring you i will be whispering "moron" under my breath :)