Chrisbenogor: Dear Cuddlemii (Na wa oh only your name self )

To avert the usual disaster that takes place here in Nairaland let me first raise the real concerns that I have seen so far.


1. A very good debate like the BBC debates are usually best done with a minimal number of people, your list of debaters is quite a lot. By the time we give them each time to write speak we might have even lost track of what the first person has to say and where the whole debate is leading.

Suggestion
Reduce the number of people on both sides to two, there should be a lead and an assistant that way we can get a very stream lined argument from both sides.
If this goes well all the other people would get a chance to go at it against each other, in fact if it goes very well we can have a tournament that goes all the way to the top.

2. What are the rules that would govern the debate? would the debate thread be set up in such a way as to allow only those that are involved in the debate to give replies? What format would their replies be in? I suppose as we are on a website we would be talking of number of words per statement or what?

Suggestion
Let there be a preset number of words each section would take, opening statements, supporting statements from the both sides should also have a number. Questions from one team to another should be concise and straightforward. Replies also should be streamlined and concise.

3. THE AUDIENCE - this is where the success of each debate lies, what are your plans for the audience?

Suggestion
The audience like I said earlier should read, but they should not be allowed to post on these threads so that we can avoid derailing it. They can have a pseudo thread of theirs to make fun and argue all they want but we dont want that "noise" getting to the main house. Intelligent questions posed in there can then be copied and transferred by the moderators to the main debate.

4 THE JUDGES - Why should only a couple of judges choose the winners?

Suggestion
To avoid "God-fatherism" in the judgement process why not leave the whole debate wide open to Nairaland to judge? That way you save yourself from the problem of Okija_juju and Sagamite na paddy paddy so he always gets 10/10. It would be good to take a survey before and see what people's perceptions are, then take another after and see how it has changed and then the winner emerges.


My two cents written from the back of my night school class.

Cheers.

cheddarking: Mods please add me to the debating list.
I will argue for or against any subject, just as long as I get the chance to put Sagamite in my pocket where he belongs.
I will not even use any swearwords.

MODS ADD ME ABEG.

Madam!!! Give me tombo and Isi-ewu biko. Aghadi

Sagamite:

D-U-N done!

You are dead and I am sure most of the judges know it.

Tgirl4real:

Arasagamu,

This ya hype na wa. Take am easy make u no fall hand o.

I trust u sha.

Is coogar arguing for or against?

debosky: I propose a Modified Option 2.

Pair up debaters - it is infuriating to carry on a debate when dozens of people are posting at the same time. It lacks coherence and is very difficult to follow for the casual observer.

Once the debaters have identified which side they belong, a random pairing to start with and order should be initiated, e.g. Sagamite vs Shymex.

Subsequently, the judges should allow a set time (say 1 hour) for two debaters to go at it, after which they judge and decide a 'winner'. Subsequently, the victor should face the next opponent down the list on the opposing side, while the loser drops out, then continue elimination in that fashion. If a victor chooses not to continue, the next person on that side can take over in his stead.

The last man/woman standing wins, and by extension his/her side of the argument wins as well.

In essence I have me-rixed jaybee's proposal.

Cuddlemii:

Its today at 6pm Nigerian time

Odunnu: In other words, you no do again?

Odunnu: Not speaking for the judges though, but its not right to start and not be around when the real debate is on.

coogar:

the 1st round is the debate.....the subsequent ones are when the shyte would get mad ugly and those spine-chilling words like moron, cretin, retard, vermin, cuntbucket, simpleton, etc would be used freely.

Odunnu:
Thats the fun part, honey!
Even in everyday living, round one is usually clumsy. It gets better with each round

ronkebp: I hope a new thread is going to be opened for this debate.....

cheddarking: Can cuddlemii kindly exlplain the format of the debate?

or are all debaters expected to just post their views and then relax?

OAM4J: Thank you all for your patience. Here is the structure for option 2:

Debate Structure:

There will be 3 rounds and the whole process should last 2 hrs and maximum of 3 hrs

We propose that the debate should start by 6pm Nigeria time
First round will include 14 participants
Second Round will include 8 participants
Third/Final Round will include 4 participants


Round 1

Exactly 6pm the debate thread will be opened, we will supply the link on this thread.

We expect each participant to have composed his arguments before 6pm, so all the participants are to post their arguments between 6.00pm and 6.10pm

Between 6:10 and 6:25pm, all participants are to pick at least 1 opposing participant and oppose/rebut his arguments.

*The chairman will signal the beginning of each stage
*No member of the audience will be allowed to post between 6pm and 6:25pm
*Any post from the audience will be hid at this time

From 6:25 – 6:40 Audience are now allowed to post and can comment on the arguments of the participants, while the judges scores each participant

Each of the judges will mail his/her scores of all the participants to the chairman who will collate the scores and post the final scores on the thread latest by 6: 45

Only the Top 8 candidates will proceed to the next round


Round 2

Round 2 will start by 6:50

Between 6:50 and 7:10 the top 8 candidates will at this time defend/react to as many rebuttals as possible from the previous round

Again
*The chairman will signal the beginning of each stage
*No member of the audience will be allowed to post between 6:50 and 7:10pm
*Any post from the audience will be hid at this time

From 7:10 – 7:20 Audience are again allowed to post and comment on the arguments of the participants, while the judges scores each participant again and the chairman will again collate all the scores and post the final score on the thread latest by 7: 25

The top four candidates will proceed to the final round

The final 4 contestants will be paired even if they are arguing on the same side


Final Round

Final round starts by 7:30

From 7:30 – 7:40, any of the judges can post questions for any of the participants; also each opposing pair will post questions for his opposing pair

7:40 – 8.00: The final four are to respond to all the questions asked

And Again
*The chairman will signal the beginning of each stage
*No member of the audience will be allowed to post between 7:30 – 8:00pm
*Any post from the audience will be hid at this time

From 8:00 Audience are again allowed to post and be part of the polls that will be set up for the final 4 participants, while the judges also send in their final scores for all the participants.

The chairman will collate the final scores from the judges and post, also at the end of the 20min poll, the % for each candidate on the poll will be divided into 2 and added to the judges’ scores to determine the final positions of the top 4 participants


Judging:
There will be 5 judges
Each judge can score a participant maximum of 10points at each round
Each participant can score a maximum of 50points in the 1st and 2nd round and 100points in the final round (maximum of 50 points from the judges and maximum of 50 points from the audience poll)


Words Limit:
Maximum of 1000 words for each participant post at any time.


Good luck to all participants, you can start preparing now.

Cuddlemii:

This is the structure/format of the debate. Please read and get familiar with it. Thanks!

Cuddlemii: We are delighted to be able to invite you to participate in a Debate session on Nairaland

Come and impact on the learning experience of members of Nairaland.

Topic of Debate-

God-fatherism in Nigeria Politics: The main cause of corruption and developmental crises (Case study include Tinubu, Obasanjo, Tony Anenih and Babaginda). Discuss

Time-

Saturday (21st of July 2012) at 6pm Nigerian time
Debaters-

Freiburger, Sagamite, Apocalypse, Coogar, Debosky, Dabrake, Orikinla, Mrbrownjay, Shymmex, Breezy047, St.Okolie, Newacca, Chucky234.







RULES


Lastly, this is not another avenue to vent; we intend to rationally discuss topics of interest. If you feel yourself getting upset by a comment...take a step back and let other members of take over. Passion is great but don't let it get out of hand.

coogar:

fucking hell, 20 mins to put together rebuttals....and you expect us to print 1000 words per post?
come.......english is my 10th language, biko.

besides, the traffic your thread would generate might crash the forum. i don't wanna see "300 members have replied since you last posted".
this could have been done on different days. today for the first round, tomorrow - 2nd round and final round on monday.

Jarus: Judge Jarus registering his presence. Wanna take a nap, weak after football, while fasting. By 17:00 hours, will report at the high table. Expecting the stage to have been set and the debaters set.

BTW, Sagamite, we are not intimidated by your pre-match punches

MRbrownJAY: sadly MBJ has to bow out of this war discussion...... Cuddlemii sorry about my late reply but duty just called and i doubt i will have time to come back on NL before tomorrow evening, at least not from a gunning/battle position (aka in front of a proper computer)

@Sagamite, even though you too are on the against team, I hope you bring some valid and constructive point on this one, lol!

maclatunji: #Organisers, I am more interested in your ability to enforce your rules and the fairness of Judges to the debaters.

These things are more important in my opinion than anything any debater has to say. I will be watching O.