online "debating club"

[PeterH]

Hi all,

what do you think of the idea to start an online debating club?
The idea would be to have an organized chat session once in a while about a given topic.
We could plan the sessions in this thread (topic, date, time).
The trick for setting a time would be to make sure that everybody knows what time it will be for where they are, but there are solutions for that.
Topics that I'd be interested in would include:
- bisexuality and romance
- bisexuality: nature or nurture?

We could also use lighter topics
The time would ideally be on a Sunday, weekend at least, so that people can attend at different hours of the day.
My suggestion would for the time would be around 8 pm CET, or 7 pm UK time, which is between 11 am and 2 pm in the US, as far as I know.
So, what do you think?
I look forward to your input,

PeterH

[tom_uk]

like the idea - can we call it mass-debating?

tom_uk

[wildboy40]

like tom i think its a great idea

:bipride:

[arana]

like the idea - can we call it mass-debating?

tom_uk
Ha Ha Good one Tom!!! :upside: :rotate: :cutelaugh :cutelaugh :cutelaugh

[Newmexicanman]

Definitely a good idea Peter!!!

I knew I had more than a few dozen good reasons for liking you...

[Flounder1967]

This sounds like fun


Light Topic - Master Baiting (fishing topics)

[onewhocares]

Peter,

I think the idea of an on line debate line sounds like a wonderful idea. Intelligent, thought provoking conversations shall illicit a new aspect to the site.

Belle

[Tx46M]

Peter,

I think the idea of an on line debate line sounds like a wonderful idea. Intelligent, thought provoking conversations shall illicit a new aspect to the site.

Belle

Peter,
I like the idea, adhering to the structure would be fine but the timing would be difficult for me. But why not?? (Hi Belle)
:male: :2cents:

[Driver 8]

If you do this in a private room, you can kick out anyone who comes in looking for cyber, right?

Also, eleven on Sunday might be a bit early for me, and perhaps for other churchgoers.

[rupertbare]

like the idea - can we call it mass-debating?

tom_uk
Tom!!!! What are you like mate!!! :bigrin:
lmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice idea Peter
- just use the on-line world clock for the times - easy-peasy!!
I also use the on-line currency convertor - that helps with £ to $ chats!!!

And as a fair number of folk here are church-going Christians - maybe Saturday or over Fiday night would be better.

Rupe :)

[tom_uk]

saturday - The Jewish sabbath, when no work is performed, or perving on the internet

friday - The Muslim "sabbath" it's not officially a day of rest, but the midday prayer service is the most important of the week and you should "pop" down the mosque

what is it with you christians - always forget others! :bigrin:

tom_uk

[rupertbare]

lmao Tom - OK how about a Wednesday!!!

And for a few days now I have been giving some thought to an on-site Christian support/prayer group - same idea - create a room - post day and time.
I know that a lot of folk here are Christians but, also, that many of them have been hurt by their brothers and sisters views on bi-sexuality and homosexuality.

Rupe :)

[tom_uk]

....... I have been giving some thought to an on-site Christian support/prayer group .......

Rupe :)

it gets worse - perverts, criminals and now christians! is nowhere safe?

remind me - what was the 9th one in Exodus 20

xXx ;0)

i do like a good debate with the good god folk

tom_uk

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[Driver 8]

what is it with you christians - always forget others!
I prefer to think of it as "respect them enough to feel confident that if they're interested, they'll speak up - and anyway they'll know their schedules better than I do" ;)

[tom_uk]

....... "respect them enough to feel confident that if they're interested, they'll speak up .......

.............. blast you driver 8 - a Good Point Well Made .........

tom_uk

[Crazylamb1]

I fully support this debate idea! :bigrin:

As for the time... since a lot of the US folk seem to go to church...would a 11pm CET time work (ie. 10pm in the UK, between 2pm and 5pm in the US)? For most people on here that's either in the afternoon, evening or night, so it should work.

And if there are some who would like to take part in this but such a time-slot wouldn't work for them...we can all suggest various times that WOULD work for us (or those that don't) and then we can alternate so that everyone has a chance to participate at one time or another. :)

So, when do we start? And what topic? Let's get this baby on the road!

A. :cool:

[Mimi]

right on, peter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bring it on, i say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bounce:

sunday works best for me. fridays i'm busy with school/work (as i'm guessing most people), saturdays i am usually out and about, and so sunday is great.

the time factor is a challenge. i think the time slot peter suggested is the best one. it's not perfect, but that's because we span so many time zones.

perhaps for those sunday church-goers, there could be a secondary day/time where you all could meet and bash brains? someone else will have to take the lead on that, unless peter wants to coordinate both.

mimi :flag1:

[meteast chick]

I love the idea! I'm not a church-going Christian, but I will have to respect that many Christians, along with Muslims, Judaism, etc, actually have a tendency to go to services.

I am good with daytime, it is nightimes that usually jam me up.
So keep us posted!!!

luv and kisses,
meteast

[PeterH]

Hi all,

it's great to find that so many people support the idea of the debating club.
:grouphug: Thanks for posting everybody!

time
I think it's going to be hard to find a time that suits everybody.
I'm willing to move to a Saturday, if many people support that, but I think also that many people want to do their shopping and household stuff on saturday (esp churchgoing Christians). I'm willing to move to a start time of 9 PM (CET) on Sunday, but definitely not 11 PM (sorry, Crazylamb). Mind you we also have to chat, so the end time would then be 10 to 11 PM here, I'd guess (1 - 2 hrs of chat). starting at 11 PM would be getting far too late for me (I need a lot of sleep). 9 PM would mean 8 PM in Britain and 12 AM, 1, 2, or 3 PM in the US. I think that might solve collisions with church (don't know at what time church usually is in US (it's often 9.30 or 10 AM here).
:rolleyes: Of course, people can set up a different session for themselves too

Setting a date
I get the impression that there is enough interest to actually do this thing, so it's time to think about a date as well.
:eek: There just one little snag right now: apparently, we're changing to daylight saving time this weekend in Europe, and the US changes next weekend, so this is getting really confusing.
Fortunately, I found a time converter on the net:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

It turns out that our times are closer together next Sunday. which means I can go to bed on time, and you people in the US will be more likely to have come back from church
So my suggestion would be to have the meeting on Sunday April 2nd, at the following times:
Amsterdam (CET): 21.00 hours / 9 PM
London: 20.00 hrs / 8 PM
New York: 15.00 hrs / 3 PM
Los Angeles: 12.00 hrs / 12 AM

About the set up:
I think the best would be indeed to set up a private room with a password. I think posting the password in this thread would be the best option
People can't just jump in like that and it saves me from having to contact everybody personally (you can only send a PM to three ppl at once, and then must wait 3 minutes for you next PM)

Topic
I suggested two topics (bisexuality nature or nurture, and bisexuality and romance), but I haven't had much feedback on this yet. So if you have comments or suggestions, I look forward to hearing them. I personally would be quite interested in having a chat session about fitting bisexuality in with religion, too, as Rupert suggested.
However, I do think it would be good to have some focus for individual sessions.

How to continue
I will wait a bit longer to get feedback on topics, and on the suggested date / time slot. I will then post here again in the course of next week to come up with a definite date / time, and a topic, and will post the password.
When all that is done, we can have our first meeting, hurray!!! :bounce:

Until then, PeterH

[Tx46M]

Great job Peter!
:2cents: :2cents:

[bijingles]

Hi all,

what do you think of the idea to start an online debating club?
The time would ideally be on a Sunday, weekend at least, so that people can attend at different hours of the day.

So, what do you think?
I look forward to your input,

PeterH

What a great idea!

I usually feel lost in Chat rooms I don't type fast and get lost easily, or click some button and get booted. LOL love those out of room experiences...
However I think the idea is great and will be there even if just to listen.

:tongue:

[Mimi]

i'm glad the details are getting hammered out. unfortunately i won't be able to make the first debate meeting on the 2nd because i'll be out of town that weekend. :( but i will definitely try to make the other ones. :)

i like the idea of a separate password-protected room.

i like your two topics. here are some additional suggestions:
-monogamy vs. polyamory
-dealing with the gay/lesbian community's bi-negativity
-bisexual identity politics: how do bis self-identify and why
-younger vs. older bis: how times have changed

mimi :flag1:

[anda692]

What a great idea!

I usually feel lost in Chat rooms I don't type fast and get lost easily, or click some button and get booted. LOL love those out of room experiences...
However I think the idea is great and will be there even if just to listen.
The same thing happens to me. That's why I don't hang out in the chat room here. Things seem to move faster than I can think, and I can't follow conversations. I hope that I can be there and just listen for a while.

[Crazylamb1]

So, to recap, the ideas that have been presented so far are:

-bisexuality: nature or nurture
-bisexuality and romance
-bisexuality and religion
-monogamy vs. polyamory
-dealing with the gay/lesbian community's bi-negativity
-bisexual identity politics: how do bis self-identify and why
-younger vs. older bis: how times have changed

I like all of these topics. Perhaps we should set up a general schedule, and schedule one to two topics for each session.

To start, the best topic would probably be the nature vs. nurture one. It seems like a good starting point. Then maybe the religion one. Then identity politics combined with the gay/lesbian comm.'s bi-negativity, perhaps. And then the monogamy vs. polyamory combined with bi romance. And I suppose that leaves the younger vs. older topic.

Those are my suggestions... of course, we should all decide together what would be best.

To add to the list of ideas, here's mine:

- The good, the bad and the ugly of LABELS - from straight to gay to bi to pan to asexual to queer to trans (this goes hand-in-hand with the identity politics topic)
- Gender preferences - femme boys, butch girls, femme girls, butch boys, and the ambiguous androgynes (does gender really matter to the bisexual?)
This one might go well with the combination of bisexuality and romance, perhaps?

Well, that's my two cents.

Any thoughts?

Take care, all!

A. :cool:

[Flounder1967]

About the set up:
I think the best would be indeed to set up a private room with a password. I think posting the password in this thread would be the best option
People can't just jump in like that and it saves me from having to contact everybody personally (you can only send a PM to three ppl at once, and then must wait 3 minutes for you next PM)



Why does the room Need to password protected.

If possible it would be nice to have someone serve as moderater who will be unable to debate, who could award "points" or "good shows" to great sets or counters.

Also could someone save the session to post it later in the forums. I do know this is possible i have done it.

Is also possible to be able to be in the room and just be a spectator. Drew may have to help with this. This way "teams" may be set-up.

I would like to see it in the forum as a cliff note, because i will most likely be unable to attend the April 2nd Dissusion.