My Thoughts on Debate Online ​

This was an interesting idea. Debate Online is a online platform that allows users to debate costructively by heavily moderating the debate process. Currently, plaforms such as Twitter and Reddit which are popular text-based platforms where the trolls, edgelords, know-it-alls and regular joes of the Internet all interact with each other via the comment section. In the US, we value freedom of speech and as such, most of these chat platforms have lax moderation to let the people do what thhey want. But sometimes what the people want is bad. Comment sections can quickly turn from a fluffy field with bunnies to an intense war zone where people are flamed and memed for millions to see without a proper way to defend them selves. Attacks don't just stay in the comment section. Certain accounts are repeat victims of the Internet's wrath.

Debate Online is an interesting solution with some issues I was wondering about. Within the circular nature of the debate on DebateOnline, what incentive is there for people to continue posting if they have to wait for x number of people to reply before they can respond? I feel like half the fun in internet debates is going back and forth with users and trying to prove your point is correct. Having to wait for others to respond kills the adrenaline rush you get from responding to comment disincentiving use of the platform. Plus, what if somewhere down the line someone never responds? Then you're left looking at critiques of your idea with no way of countering them. Thinking more about it however, a timer could be an interesting way of countering this problem. If you have let's say an hour to respond before it skips your turn, and when it's your turn you get a notification on your iPhone for example, I could see how it could reignite the adreliane rush of responding (similar to how BeReal engages their user base) and make users want to participate more. Also something that could be interesting is having other user's replies to your reply hidden till it's your turn, which would build more anticipation to respond and also mimic real debate environments, where you don't have unlimited time to comtemplate your answer.