Showcase Forum Issues and Requests

remember bootcamp?

i'd like to say that i haven't really formed a solid opinion on this topic yet, and the effectiveness of the showcase forum remains to be seen. such is the nature of experimentation, i guess. however. i think the lesson was, primarily, that isolation of the people we deem nutjobs is bad for everyone. while this is a more voluntary forum, and people are not restricted to it, it's basically the same idea in a milder form and with a nicer name. there is a high degree of overlap between "those with exceptionally wild ideas" and "those who continually fail to abide by forum rules." so the population with likely be the same people.it sounds a lot like an effective way to limit competition -- and thus debate as well. and this is a debate board. jar words it a little more harshly, but if we put everyone that we disagree with, or everyone with ideas we think are crazy into their own little area, then we are we are showing our own bias in extreme. it's a simple fact of debate -- often one position is very, very wrong.i realize that this is not the purpose you had in mind at all. rather, i you want to promote debate by eliminating the dog-pile routine that often happens here because we have an exceptionally high ratio of evo's to creo's. but what are the rest of us to do, exactly? is the rest of the board now like a peanut gallery? because these wild ideas ARE the debate. frankly, i think it'll be a bit like releasing domesticated pets into the wild. we'll have a lot more creationists, sure -- but second they go out onto the main board, the same thing will happen. right, but is that fair? it's a debate, not a smoothy. it's meant to have problems. you can't post something to a debate board but say "i don't want debate" with people who point out why your argument is wrong.

---

right, it doesn't solve the problem. it just creates more problems, and leads to further discrimination. but my point is far more damning and nasty than its subtle wording lets on. this is creation v. evolution. in the scientific realm, there is no such debate. one entire side here is a crazy idea. and it's easy for us to think of them as mentally handicapped -- but they think the same of us.it's frustrating to deal with some people here, i'll admit. but if you don't want to, don't. nobody has to post here, and nobody has to reply to every message.

---

oddly, i don't have an exceptionally good memory.but i'd like to point out that it's just a concern of mine, not an objection. we have yet to see how it works. the bootcamp history just makes me nervous is all. don't we have a "columnist's corner" forum? how is this different, exactly? could we maybe just expand the columnist section to include (a little) more debate? what's the essential difference, then? they would both be populated by people with poor debate technique. so it's almost like a separate board then?

---

what i mean is, will there be very little overlap in membership? ie: people allowed in showcase forum that are not allowed elsewhere, and only a very small percentage of the "main" board allowed in showcase (by invitation)? might be interesting.

---

yes buz, your threads would certainly run a lot more smoothly if you could just get rid of all those people who disagree with you and intend to show why your claim is wrong.

---

clearly, the battlefield of logic and reason is not on even ground.

...sleeping?