1) Audio/Video- Does it really take a lot to host audio? Again, remember these will be very small clips. Video can be handled via YouTube. Also, the length of Audio/Video is determined by the point system so most people wont even have the that capability until the site has been up for awhile. Then again, I know nothing about this stuff.
2) Getting New Users Interested- People are ALREADY interested. This is aimed at the kids/young adults who already lurk in every website's comment section. DebateThis was conceptualized FOR THEM. This gives THEM the platform and THEM the power. Remember - Fame. If your commenting on newspaper articles you expect that people are reading it, in fact, your probably checking to see if people are reading it. Now you have a whole community to cultivate that.
Also, the whole high school deal we talked about earlier. This is really just a huge game. Games are competitive. Games are fun. Games can be informative. I want to make this one all of those.
3) Comparisons to Slashdot- no. I'll tell you why.
a) Slashdot is for nerds (I'm not being mean, this is self-proclaimed). Its all tech-game-gadget stuff. DebateThis is more politically focused, however it covers everything.
b) It seems that articles and writeups on Slashdot are done either from the community or through the community. Articles from DebateThis are from professional journalists. The community doesn't make the story but through the DT community, the counter eventually becomes the story.
c) The rating/point system is in no way comparable to what DebateThis would be. It's not even close.
d) Who the hell are these people? One of the whole points of DebateThis is the idea of fame. It's a game and it makes you a bigshot. Why the hell should I care what "CmdrTaco" thinks about the new iPhone. The user base on DebateThis will carry weight and authority. It gives them a platform not just a hole to rant from.
Thanks.
Here's my only concern that just occurred to me--what if people who troll around with radical views (i.e. most existing comments sections) decide to gang up and give props to each other's posts and give thumbs down to people with opposing views? I think we need to figure out a way to ensure that at least the majority of users can rate other posts without bias getting in the way.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing: Was anyone here involved in their debate team in high school, or anything? I wasn't and I know nothing about it. But I think we might be able to learn something from that. I'll do a bit of research and see if anything
...from organized debate as it exists outside the Internet might be applicable here.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Pressed enter a bit too early on that last post.
Tyler's fear about people who have opposing views collectively giving thumbs down to other people's posts was something I encountered with the project I originally developed with Team Voltron.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, it would be an awesome problem to have, because it would mean people are actually taking the site seriously.... But I agree it is something to think about. Maybe posts can earn a higher ranking simply for being the most read??? ... that way the vote becomes secondary to the amount of hits the actual post recieved. I don't know if that makes sense, but it's something to think about
1. It takes a decent amount of bandwidth to host anything, let alone audio. This, however, does not mean that it's not possible. And yes, the videos should be YouTubed.
ReplyDelete2. I think I could even get into this and I only care about what's in my US Weekly every week.
3. I am not terribly familiar with Slashdot, not enough to have an opinion. yet.
Overall, DebateThis is on a decent path.
I agree slashdot is for nerds (gtheyhaveagreat games section)
ReplyDeletebutif our mechanism is too much like theirs then we need to rethink it
christina and dave had the idea to pare it back a bit - might be a good time to make sure the core of hte idea is storng and clear - and you might have to do that by paring back somewhat
the video audio thing wsasn't a concern that you were going to have them - just where were they going to live - you have to be clear about the details when we present
couple of forensics associations (debate groups)
www.americanforensics.org/
cas.bethel.edu/dept/comm/nfa/