General Conduct Rules
1. All standard AT forum guidelines apply, including the #1 rule, to which participants should pay particular attention: "No trolling, flaming or personally attacking members. Deftly attacking ideas and backing up arguments with facts is acceptable and encouraged. Attacking other members personally and purposefully causing trouble with no motive other than to upset the crowd is not allowed."
2. If you post a thread, it should either be about a current and topical news event, or about a particular issue you are putting up for discussion. If the latter, you must lay out your position so the thread has a reasonable starting point. Just posting a link is unacceptable.
3. If posting about a news story, the onus is on you to use an honest, straightforward, and factual title for your thread. Merely copying a title that is inflammatory or non-factual from a blog is not acceptable. Additionally, you must put your own views in the first post.
4. Attack ideas, not people. (If you find yourself angry, perhaps waiting an hour before replying would be wise.) Note that it is generally acceptable to make negative comments about public figures where relevant, but keep them constructive. For example: "Barack Obama is a hypocrite for continuing to use drone strikes" as opposed to "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim who hates America".
5. Sometimes an otherwise productive thread will get heated due to a misunderstanding, or gradual escalation of tone. Where possible, the moderators will intervene to encourage everyone to cool down and get back on topic, rather than trying to identify individual culprits. Official action will be taken when a particular poster stands out in terms of violating the guidelines.
6. No armchair moderating. If you see something you consider inappropriate, report it, and we'll deal with it. As a reminder, something is not automatically "trolling" just because you disagree with it or find it offensive.
7. No misquoting other posters in quoted replies. If you quote another poster, it must remain verbatim.
Productive Debate Guidelines
8. Quality discussion requires sensible exchanges of logical arguments. Posters are expected to present their views in a rational manner, and to address counterarguments, rather than ignoring them and repeating claims. Those unable or unwilling to do this are not a good match for this forum. (In the immortal words of Monty Python: "An argument isn't just contradiction. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.")
9. Respect the original poster's intentions and stay on topic. If you want to discuss something else, start your own thread. If you have a pet peeve, do not attempt to insinuate it into any thread where it is not directly relevant.
10. A link to a video or a book is not an argument. Feel free to use media to support your position, but use your own words to make clear what you are trying to say.
11. If an argument relies substantially on an appeal to authority, such as the author of an article or an expert, it is appropriate for someone who disagrees to impeach that authority's credibility.
1. All standard AT forum guidelines apply, including the #1 rule, to which participants should pay particular attention: "No trolling, flaming or personally attacking members. Deftly attacking ideas and backing up arguments with facts is acceptable and encouraged. Attacking other members personally and purposefully causing trouble with no motive other than to upset the crowd is not allowed."
2. If you post a thread, it should either be about a current and topical news event, or about a particular issue you are putting up for discussion. If the latter, you must lay out your position so the thread has a reasonable starting point. Just posting a link is unacceptable.
3. If posting about a news story, the onus is on you to use an honest, straightforward, and factual title for your thread. Merely copying a title that is inflammatory or non-factual from a blog is not acceptable. Additionally, you must put your own views in the first post.
4. Attack ideas, not people. (If you find yourself angry, perhaps waiting an hour before replying would be wise.) Note that it is generally acceptable to make negative comments about public figures where relevant, but keep them constructive. For example: "Barack Obama is a hypocrite for continuing to use drone strikes" as opposed to "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim who hates America".
5. Sometimes an otherwise productive thread will get heated due to a misunderstanding, or gradual escalation of tone. Where possible, the moderators will intervene to encourage everyone to cool down and get back on topic, rather than trying to identify individual culprits. Official action will be taken when a particular poster stands out in terms of violating the guidelines.
6. No armchair moderating. If you see something you consider inappropriate, report it, and we'll deal with it. As a reminder, something is not automatically "trolling" just because you disagree with it or find it offensive.
7. No misquoting other posters in quoted replies. If you quote another poster, it must remain verbatim.
Productive Debate Guidelines
8. Quality discussion requires sensible exchanges of logical arguments. Posters are expected to present their views in a rational manner, and to address counterarguments, rather than ignoring them and repeating claims. Those unable or unwilling to do this are not a good match for this forum. (In the immortal words of Monty Python: "An argument isn't just contradiction. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.")
9. Respect the original poster's intentions and stay on topic. If you want to discuss something else, start your own thread. If you have a pet peeve, do not attempt to insinuate it into any thread where it is not directly relevant.
10. A link to a video or a book is not an argument. Feel free to use media to support your position, but use your own words to make clear what you are trying to say.
11. If an argument relies substantially on an appeal to authority, such as the author of an article or an expert, it is appropriate for someone who disagrees to impeach that authority's credibility.
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