How to Win Online Debates

love a good debate as much as anyone. Two of my favorite videotapes are the Keyes/Dershowitz debate on religion in society and the Marshall/Wilkins debate on the Civil War. Watching a debate with two people who are passionate in their views, discussing a great question is great entertainment to me.

Below this heady level of debate, we have the cable TV shows which put moderators in the driver's seat and press participants for pithy sound bytes. And then we have online debates.

If good, well-structured debates are boxing matches and the cable TV shows are ultimate fighting cage matches, then online debates are street fights where the winner is the last man standing.

I used to quite liberally join in the online fracases over a variety of issues: abortion, the resurrection of Christ, etc. I could often be found typing until 2-3:00 a.m. in the morning fighting the good fight and never getting anything done.

Over time, you begin to realize that online debates have some deficiencies, the greatest of which is that they're a waste of productive time. Still, if you want to "win" an online debate, here's some observations from a veteran:

Learn how to ridicule the beliefs of others: When you debate online, you can be quite contemptible in your choice of verbiage. Don't just respond to your opponents, ridicule them. If you merely respond, they can just fire back a response, but the ridicule will strengthen your argument and there's not really a good way to respond to being ridiculed.

Repeat yourself: Keep going over the same ground over and over again. The most talented online debaters say the exact same thing repeatedly in a slightly different way. In doing so, they force their opponents to become equally repetitive, which can help you in winning the debate.

Quote whole articles of more than a thousand words in their entirety. While in an offline debate, you couldn't stand up and read fifty pages of material, nothing stops you from doing so online. Thus, if you're not very good at forming logical arguments, all you have to do is quote others' good arguments and thus you can bolster your weakness and outmatch your opponent.

Remember that if your opponent quits debating you, you win. What will pay off most in repetitiveness, a snotty attitude, and writing posts that are so long that your opponent cannot respond to them unless he quits his jobs and dedicates his entire life to addressing your rants. If he says he's leaving because you're rude or repetitive, you've really won because it shows how much you dominated the debate.

Of course, winning an online debate comes with great rewards, but they aren't what you'd think. You won't have wide recognition for winning. If you're debating on a forum, you'll find that after the first hundred or so posts, the average reader skims the rest. Thus, the great online debates end with both the winner and loser unknown, even on the forum where the debate happened.

You won't really influence the direction of what people think on a given issue. Obviously, the aforementioned problem with length comes into play, because if people don't actually read the debate, they're not going to be influenced by it. Also, the people who are willing to debate you on issues generally feel the strongest about them and are the least likely to change their mind. Online debates tends to entrench people in their opinions, not soften them.

Online debates don't prepare you for real life debates, either. Try my advice offline and any responsible moderator will cut you off. Strangely enough, being tiresome, rude, and annoying doesn't win debate in real life forums.

The prize is the satisfaction that you won the debate. You beat that guy. You showed him who was right!

Of course, winning in the traditional sense of debating is nearly impossible. Making great points and presenting ideas clearly don't count for much if you can't tire your opponent out in the world of online debates.

Don't get me wrong. Online discussion boards are great because people can air their unique views and express their opinions with a little bit of back and forth. However, when I'm tempted to enter a long drawn-out debate where odds are strong comparisons to Hitler will be made and/or Findlaw.com will be quoted extensively, I remember the words of the computer Joshua from the movie War Games regarding global nuclear war:

This is the most ludicrous idea I've ever read! You obviously have no knowledge of debate at all, and have never won a single online debate!

As evidence, I offer the following from www.debate.edu:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

While my name is on the cover and I am very willing to accept any and all blame for errors and faults found in this volume, this is certainly not something that I have authored alone. Since 1972 I have been gathering and evaluating debate training materials for my own use. I have stolen every good teaching technique I have ever encountered.

One main source I have borrowed from is the Emory National Debate Institute. Melissa Wade and the Barkley Forum at Emory University have been national leaders in developing training materials for new debaters. Year after year they have refined their materials. The 1999 ENDI policy training manual was the best single debate training document I have ever seen. My sincere thanks and gratitude to Melissa Wade, Bill Newnam, Joe Bellon, Anne Marie Todd and all of those at Emory who have worked through the years to produce these materials.

Another major source I have borrowed from has been the World Debate Institute held each summer at the University of Vermont. This program has also emphasized producing training materials for new debaters over a period of 18 years.

Where other people's works have been used I have tried to refer to them and give credit where credit is due.

I want to specifically thank the Open Society Institute for its support in this project. Their compulsion to bring debate to communities which really need it has been an inspiration to me.

I want to thank the many, many novice debaters I have worked with through the years who have taught me what works and what doesn't work. I have, of course, not fully learned this lesson from them, but I am still ready to learn more.

This volume has been produced in tandem with a 13-tape series of instructional videos sponsored by the Open Society Institute and distributed nationally to Urban Debate League schools. While the entire series is not available, a simple 15 part video novice training series is available free at http://debate.uvm.edu/broadcast.html, and also available on CD-ROM at http://debate.uvm.edu/ee.html.

Debate isn't just another game and it isn't just another educational activity. It is a path of critical advocacy which is life changing and empowering. I invite you to learn the code of the debater and follow the way of reason.

Alfred C. Snider, University of Vermont

November, 1999

CODE OF THE DEBATER

WHAT IS DEBATE?

Debate is about change. We are constantly engaged in a struggle to make our lives, our community, our country, our world, our future, a better one. We should never be satisfied with the way things are now - surely there is something in our lives that could be improved.

Debate is that process which determines how change should come about. Debate attempts to justify changing the way we think and live. In the real world, debate occurs everyday on the floor of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Debate occurs at the United Nations, the faculty meetings at your school, and at your dinner table. The procedures for these debates may differ, but the process is the same - discussion that resolves an issue which will determine whether change is good or bad. The United Nations debated whether or not the Iraq invasion of Kuwait was good or bad; the faculty meetings debate school policies; you may recently have debated with your parents after dinner about the size of your allowance or when you can begin to drive your own car.

In the classroom, we will attempt to"formalize"this debate process.

1 . You will work with a partner. You and your partner form a"debate team". Sometimes you will have to be for the issue (the affirmative) and sometimes you will have to be against the issue (negative). In any instance, you will have plenty of time to get ready for the debate.

2. You will deliver speeches in a format that is unique to debate. The speeches are called constructives and rebuttals. Each person on each team will speak twice. There are affirmative constructives and negative constructives. There are affirmative rebuttals and negative rebuttals.

3. You will learn rules and techniques that will seem strange to you. The way we learn how to debate may at first seem difficult. But once you take on the challenge, you will begin to understand its relationship to debating. The most difficult part of debate is the first few weeks, after that it gets easier and easier once you have learned the rules.

4. We will debate only one resolution. Most of our emphasis will be on competitive or tournament debating. In order to compete at tournaments and to give the debaters sufficient time to prepare, a standard topic or resolution is used all year. Thousands of high schools at this very minute are researching and debating the very same issues and ideas that you will be. The resolution determines the debate area. From this area there can be thousands of issues so that all of the debates are never the same and are always changing.

5. Those students who want to be challenged can participate in debate tournaments against other high schools during the school year.

START DEBATING RIGHT AWAY

YOU CAN START DEBATING RIGHT AWAY IN YOUR CLASSROOM

HAVE A PUBLIC ASSEMBLY DEBATE

This is a chance for new debaters to begin thinking about the topic and get some public speaking experience in as well. We have suggested an issue for you to use, but you can come up with one on your own as well.

This exercise is modeled after the old-fashioned Vermont town meeting. We will be discussing a topical issue. Feel free to raise you hand and be called on to make a short speech in support or in opposition to the motion we will be considering. Simply raise your hand, be recognized, come to the front of the room, introduce yourself, and say what you wish. Go on as long as you want within sensible limits, encourage everyone to speak, but if some want to watch without speaking that's fine.

As the exercise goes on, feel free to stand up and agree or disagree with something another speaker has said. You can appoint a student as the chair, to call on people, or the teacher can do that … or the teacher can just be another member of the assembly and give a speech.

THE ISSUE: Ability grouping in schools, also known as"tracking."Students have their abilities evaluated and then are put in classes and learning situations which are considered"appropriate"for their abilities. High, medium, and low ability students in any given subject area are, therefore, grouped together.

THE MOTION: This assembly believes that ability grouping, or"tracking,"should not be used in assigning students to classes or learning opportunities, including but no limited to science, mathematics, history, and English. Students may still be assigned to classes based on their grade in school or on having fulfilled prerequisite courses.

HAVE A DEBATE SKIRMISH

Pick an issue which interests you and other students. You can pick any issue you want to be the topic, but we have given you an example. It is always good to pick something which interests and concerns the students.

TOPIC: High school should be voluntary like it is in Japan.

Form two two-person teams, one affirmative and one negative. Take 10-15 minutes to have a general discussion about the issues on both sides, write them on the board. During this time the two teams can be formulating their ideas and strategies. After the discussion give them 5 minutes to think of what arguments they will be using.

Have a very short debate like the following:

First Affirmative Speaker - 3 minutes

First Negative Speaker - 3 minutes

Second Affirmative Speaker - 3 minutes

Second Negative Speaker - 3 minutes

Take Questions for both sides from the audience or from each other - 10 minutes

Concluding Negative Speech - 3 minutes

Concluding Affirmative Speech - 3 minutes

Each debate takes about 30 minutes. After you have had one debate and discussed it, in the next class period you can have two other debates by different students on the same topic.

THE CODE OF THE DEBATER

I am a debater.

I attempt to be worthy of this title by striving to observe the code of the debater.

FOR MYSELF:

I will research my topic and know what I am talking about.

I will respect the subject matter of my debates.

I will choose persuasion over coercion and violence.

I will learn from victory and especially from defeat.

I will be a generous winner and a gracious loser.

I will remember and respect where I came even though I am now a citizen of the world.

I will apply my criticism of others to myself.

I will strive to see myself in others.

I will, in a debate, use the best arguments I can to support the side I am on.

I will, in life, use the best arguments I can to determine which side I am on.

FOR OTHERS:

I will respect their rights to freedom of speech and expression, even though we may disagree.

I will respect my partners, opponents, judges, coaches, and tournament officials.

I will be honest about my arguments and evidence and those of others.

I will help those with less experience, because I am both student and teacher.

I will be an advocate in life, siding with those in need and willing to speak truth to power.

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