Steemit discussion – a place where we can put the world to rights

I’ve been on Steemit since October and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.

There are lots of creative people doing creative things, and it’s really inspiring.

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There are also lots of debates going on about various things. And unlike other places, they seem (mostly) to be civil discussions with passionate people putting their views out there.

But Steemit is not really configured for this sort of thing. Once you get six levels deep in the comments, it won’t let you go any deeper, so the thread ends.

That’s really frustrating.

I think the trigger for me was a discussion I had a short while ago with a couple of anarchists. We have differing political views, but they piqued my interest with a couple of links to sites that explain what it is all about.

I found out that my pre-conceptions were wrong.

Now, that didn’t make me suddenly want to be an anarchist, but it did want me to talk about it some more and find out some more, and put my views across on some of the points raised in the pages they linked to.

But, as I said, Steemit it not designed for this. It quickly becomes really frustrating to try and have a debate using a keyboard.
If I could chat to these guys on Skype and have the debate live, now that would be fun.

And if we recorded it so everyone else could see it and comment on it, then we’d have good platform for sharing ideas and debating concepts, right here in Steemit.

So I’ve given it some thought, and here’s what I’ve come up with.

Please have a read and let me know if this is something you’d be keen to:

• Participate in
• Watch
• Comment on
• See killed off before it starts

A framework for video debate on Steemit

Participants

Each discussion would have three to four participants with different views on the subject to be discussed.

One participant would be nominated as the mediator / moderator (me in the first instance) and they would (attempt to) guide the discussion and prevent it devolving into a shouting match.

Each participant would have a week to prepare for the debate. They would be required to send background material that they intend to use to support their argument, (if available and applicable) to the other participants, giving them enough time to read and absorb the information.

The purpose of this is so that everyone has a good idea of the points that are likely to be raised so they can have time to formulate well-thought out responses. This should (hopefully) make for a lively, intelligent debate.

The debate

Each debate would have a tightly defined topic, and participants would be actively encouraged to remain on-topic.

The debate would happen over Skype (or other video channel) and be recorded. (I’ll do the recording for it).

Each debate should be limited to about 15 minutes -

• 5 minutes to introduce the participants and outline the topic to be discussed
• 10 minutes of debate
• 1-2 minutes of wrapping up

All participants will be informed when the recording starts and when it ends, so everyone is aware of what parts are being recorded.

It is not the purpose of the session to catch people out, or make them look foolish. Or open them up to ridicule.

Posting the debate

Once the debate has been edited (if necessary) and uploaded to YouTube, each participant will be sent a link to the video so they can check it before it is published to Steemit.

Participants will then have up to 48 hours to review the video and lodge any complaints of bias etc.

Once the 48 hours has passed, or if all participants are happy with the video, they will all receive the embed link so each participant can write their own post about it.

It would be friendly (but not mandatory) for each participant to link to each other’s posts, and supporting material they supplied before the debate.

The purpose of this is to help viewers explore the topic in detail from each of the angles if they chose to.

Rules / guidelines for participants

You are here to debate the topic, not the person. Keep all comments and observations directed at the topic.

You will disagree with the other participants. That’s why you are here! So don’t feel you are being attacked if someone does not see (or want to see) your point of view.

Give the other participants a chance to have their say and don’t monopolize the allocated time. If it seems one participant has had a lot more time than the others, I reserve the right to edit their contribution down to make it more equitable.

Please don’t swear if you can avoid it. I anticipate that some debates will be impassioned, possibly even heated, but swearing detracts from the message you are trying to get across. So please keep that in mind.

Don’t call anyone a Nazi (even if they are a Nazi). It does not add to the debate, or your credibility, to call people names.

Advertising – advertising yourself is fine. If you want to wear a t-shirt with your name on it, go for it. Advertising products and services that are not directly related to:

a) you, your blog, hobby, channels etc
b) the topic being debated

should be avoided please.

Are you in?

If this is something you’d like to participate in, please either leave a comment, or email me on:

[email protected]

I have a little bit of work left to do to set things up and put the infrastructure in place, but I’d like to gauge the community’s interest before investing too much time and effort into this.

I know for some of you this may seem a bit contrived and constrained. That may be a fair criticism. But I think, at least at the start, if we can get something going that sets the bar for what a good debate is, i.e. it’s not a huge slagging match, with everyone shouting and name calling, then we can perhaps loosen the restraints a bit, later on.