Wiki-Praxis Institute Discourse Tutorial

Creating a New Topic

To allow the debate to be easily divided into two sides, each topic should be a statement that can be reversed or negated by the insertion of the word "not" (or one of its variants). An example is "The Easter Bunny exists," which can be reversed as "The Easter Bunny does not exist." More complex arguments can be made by linking topics together in the arguments (If X, then Y, etc.)

For the glossary, it is a good idea to define key terms to avoid misunderstandings. Terms like "capitalism" and "socialism" do have actual meanings that you can look up, and if they are not correct, moderators will change them. Our advice is to not get too hung up on labels — it's highly unlikely that you'll be given a ballot that gives you a choice between "capitalism" and "socialism" with no other context, so just focus on the actual policy details in the meantime.

When choosing a category, most of the choices should be self-explanatory. Of special note is ‘fact-checking’, which should be used in cases where there is a right answer, but there remains a controversy (for example, when the outcome of an election is disputed). If you would like to suggest more categories, do so in the Member Proposals section.

Choosing a Side

You are perfectly welcome to review the arguments on both sides without committing to one or the other. However, if you wish to contribute to the discussion, you must choose a side, and your decision is irreversible. This is to prevent people from sabotaging the opposing side and creating extra work for moderators. After you click "Choose a Side" and make your selection, you will be able to edit the page.

Adding Arguments

Each argument should be a single talking point that supports that side of the topic being discussed. It can be multiple sentences, or a paragraph, but should not be an essay. If the argument being made relies on some other principle that could be argued elsewhere (for example, the Easter Bunny exists because the Earth is flat), you should check if that page exists (and if not, create it), and make a link to the relevant Discourse table.

Making Rebuttals

Each argument is allowed one specific rebuttal by the other side. Depending on which side you are on, and whether the arguments on each side already have rebuttals or not, you may see a "Reply" button on some of the arguments. This is for adding a rebuttal to that specific argument.

Editing Arguments and Rebuttals

Rather than allowing rebuttals to rebuttals in an endless back and forth, after the other side has given their rebuttal, the original argument can be edited to incorporate a response to the rebuttal, and then, if necessary, the rebuttal can be updated to reflect the new information, etc., until a perfect pair of arguments exists for that subtopic.

In addition to editing arguments and rebuttals to respond to new information on the other side, you may feel that there is a better way to express the same overall point, compared to what is currently posted. The edit history is saved, so we will know if the original meaning is lost. Use your best judgment.