Ragnar, first gold, AMA

Author: Barney

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#31
Barney
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@oromagi
Most difficult voting decision on DART?
I know there's been a few hard ones, but with one exception their names elude me...

"Saudi Arabia is the Most Evil Country in the World." My vote seems to have a ton of confidence, but the Catch-22 issue (FF vs. Concession) was something I thought deeply about, and did a lengthy post with my thoughts then waited days for feedback before finally voting. I was still nervous, as it was voting against the grain of common sentiment; if memory serves, one of the moderators even cast a seven-point concession vote immediately after my detailed categorical vote. ... I admit that part of it was I imagined what it would be like for TheAtheist if he ever stops back in, seeing no one truly grading the ton of work he put into that one, and the decreased likelihood of him returning to being an active user in light of that. So even had the admin team deleted my vote for voting against a concession, I would have been proud to give him that courtesy.

For an honorable mention, back on DDO "Mafia is a Waste of Time" was possibly the hardest, and there were repercussions...


Have you ever just walked away from a debate because you couldn't decide?
"Chimpanzees are smarter than humans" stumped me for days! ... Kidding.

So periodically. As someone who supports tied votes, there are still cases where I can tell something is not tied, feeling like I did not give enough consideration to some decisive point. There's been at least a couple where I admit that if I reviewed it a different day the outcome could shift.
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#32
Barney
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--> "Alpha Wolf"
You bullied me from the very beginning by saying 'second'
So you admit I'm right that "you not being mentioned hurt your wolfy completely non-crybaby feelings."

That you consider not being mentioned in every thread to be sadistic bullying, says so much about your problems. Seriously ironic, considering you also beg the admins to lock threads which mention you too much.

What would be your perfect way to be coddled? And would it ever be enough?
#33
RationalMadman
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You can taunt, intimidate and gang on me all you want, I am the one to outgrit, outdo and outsmart.
#34
Ramshutu
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I am the one to outgrit, outdo and outsmart.
You’re on page 4 of the rankings, you’ve lost to almost everyone in the top ten several times - capitulating multiple debates, you’ve quit three times, you have fewer points than someone starting from scratch - you’re the only one that’s managed to lose against all troll debate accounts, all whilst blowing a 250 point advantage.

I don’t think your claim is credible given the facts.



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#35
Barney
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@PressF4Respect
Damn RM DESTROYING people with FACTS and LOGIC
HOw doES IT FeEL LikE tO gEt DaBBeD oN bY RM'S biG BrAin?
I feel so intimidated by his self professed canine level intellect. Did you know that dogs can do math to the same level as him? 6-2=8 for example, this goes so well with his continued insistence that 1-1=2 (well the dog is counting higher, but that was a particularly smart dog...), and that infinity+1 is a real number. We should throw out our anglocentric science right now, it was after all made by mere primates rather than dogs.

Protecting science for the Illuminati is why I sadistically bullied him by not mentioning him in every post, I did this in many posts so that they would combine to "gang" on him (like Voltron, "five mini lion-bots come together to form one super-bot"). It couldn't possibly be that he's not worth thinking about when he doesn't show up comparing himself to STDs.

Never forget that not mentioning him is the very epitome of bullying, which he'll report it to the admins for hurting his feelings. Not that his feelings can be hurt, because he's so cool and collected, he's like a shear wall of ice!

/satire
#36
Ramshutu
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@Barney
What’s the best argument you’ve seen presented in the site?

How about the funniest, and the worst?
#37
RationalMadman
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Leaderboards are one of many means of 'measuring' oneself. To be highest on the leaderboards as is means you're a coward pandering to the voters. I'll get there eventually by tactical grinding but that's hardly the entirety of how to outgrit, outdo and outsmart on this website.

Street cred and much else all will end up favouring me as time goes by. You're the latest fad around here Ramshutu, I am the eternal legend.
#38
Ramshutu
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Leaderboards are one of many means of 'measuring' oneself. To be highest on the leaderboards as is means you're a coward pandering to the voters. I'll get there eventually by tactical grinding but that's hardly the entirety of how to outgrit, outdo and outsmart on this website.

Street cred and much else all will end up favouring me as time goes by. You're the latest fad around here Ramshutu, I am the eternal legend.
[citation needed]

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#39
Barney
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@crossed
I offer my heartfelt apologies for referring to you as incompetent. Your actions to which I referenced deserve only praise.

Plus you have a perseverance that I envy.
#40
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@Barney
Thank you. You made my day.Sorry if have ever said anything mean
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#41
Barney
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@crossed
Sorry if have ever said anything mean
Honestly, I don't think you ever have to anyone here.
#42
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@Barney
I think i have. But thanks.
#43
zedvictor4
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@oromagi
Nope.

Far too much sycophancy and trumpet blowing for me to get any more involved.
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#44
Barney
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@zedvictor4
Have you nothing better to be getting on with?
I was peacefully getting on with an AMA. And shall continue to do so (Ram asked me a question which is taking some research, hence the delay).
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#45
Barney
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@Ramshutu
What’s the best argument you’ve seen presented in the site?
I don't know if I could choose one. I just skimmed over ones I've voted on, and came up with a list of literally ten worth considering (I already realize this is overlooking some great ones).

Rather than share a disorganized list, I'm just going to give my favorite from a few random (technically a convenience sample) users:

First an honorable mention:
The first was a debate shows a really well presented pure Semantic Kritik (should I add it as an example in the Kritik Guide?), and the second was unfortunately plagued by technical difficulties, but in it Zed basically captured a mythological unicorn in convincing Virtuoso to finish a debate! (I know it's happened a few times, but it still feels special to me when I see it)

So this is a very long debate (20K characters, with overflow). The level of detail it gets into on some of the individual clauses is beyond what I can hold in my head at one time (and I have a masters in science!). It is a powerful showcase of both users analytical ability, and Oro's level of integrity to reject a free conduct point. ...  Second place from them would be "ANTIFA is equivalent to the KKK"; which is a much easier read if looking for an example of their work (not to mention dispelling dangerous misinformation).

Unfortunately ended in forfeiture, but still noteworthy. He picked a president who is generally loathed, and tried to convince the voters to set their bias aside and consider if Nixon's accomplishments can outweigh his blunder and how ingratiated in pop-culture it became. I've multiple times tried to convince them to redo the debate to give it a proper closure. ... "Is Israel a good ally?" is another fine example of both his ability and that of whiteflame's.

This is a weird example, given that it is actually ongoing. The problem is the user in question has so many great starts to debates before his opponents forfeit. This debate is two of this site's main theologians going head to head, with a whole two weeks to construct arguments. With one round left, I am confident it will be memorable. ... His debate "The Earth is flat" is a fine showcase of how to defuse Kritiks.


How about the funniest, and the worst?
I'll answer the first half of this later (I'm at the garage getting my car worked on, and it's ready).
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#46
Barney
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@Ramshutu
How about the funniest...?
Gosh, back on DDO there were so many great ones; but here there's so very few (we need to have our own classic to compare to Australia Doesn't Exist). It feels like people are afraid to embrace proper troll debates, they even go so far as to deny obvious troll debates are that.

Anyway, my sense of humor is refined in the direction of black humor and general satire. As an example: I fell out of my chair laughing in class at a video of a news interview with a a con artist trying to get people to run up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt to take his real estate flipping classes; contrary, I am unlikely to even glance at a meme contest. So I prefer debates which are funny for intelligent reasons, rather than say body humor.
Note: I am also excluding ones which could be construed as hurtful to either participant.
  • "The US should invade Africa" by Alec & Virtuoso
    It's such a ridiculous idea, but they both treated it with such careful respect as if it were serious. I have deep admiration for their efforts.
    I still suspect it was intended for a certain different contender, and I wish Alec and that person would have a followup of "Africa should invade the US."
  • "Fetuses as a replacement for the USD" by Tiwaz & Ragnar
    I really did not want to list any of my own debates as answers to these questions, but for comedy debates I hit a wall.
    This was admittedly an anti-choice advocate trying to mock what he thinks women's rights advocates support.
    Still, I can pretty much guarantee a great time for anyone who skims it while paying attention to the video sources.
Anyone have any comedy debates they think I should read?


worst?
I will refrain from sharing those. I will however say I loathe it when people try to unduly manipulate voters in the comment section.
Respectfully ask them for deeper analysis on any aspect of the vote, but don't call them names for voting against you (or perhaps worse, calling them names for voting for you but not praisingly enough).
#47
Speedrace
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@Barney
 Why is it that, when I do an AMA, I get almost 0 questions? :'(
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#48
Barney
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@Speedrace
Why is it that, when I do an AMA, I get almost 0 questions? :'(
So many smart alec answers come to mind...  But honestly, I don't know. I half expected this one to be a complete dud.

When I decided to launch an AMA, I made a few choices about it.:
  1. First was where to put it; given that there seem to be four places other people use (main forum, personal, people, and misc), I chose the one where I figured people would go to when in the mood for this type of thing (plus I don't have quite enough ago for the main forum... granted, I would not be opposed to them starting there if they were to then be moved to here after a set amount of time).
    It being in a lesser forum also minimized likely interaction with haters.
  2. Second was timing; I have had my second big member resource coming out soon (the Kritik Guide), but I saw that my votes were almost high enough for a gold medal (I'm not someone who likes my own posts or other means to gain shinies), so I waited a few days for the medals. Had the admins been doing an AMA right now, I would have waited longer.
  3. Third was how much to say in the first post; I glanced at a few and saw they usually open with one line, as tempted as I was to open with my life story, I went with just two lines. One was to interest people in site matters, and the other was to allude to my crazy upbringing. Both of these were potential hooks to gain questions. 
Any of that help at all?

#49
Speedrace
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@Barney
 Sounds like an AP test prompt lol nice

And you have haters?
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#50
Barney
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@Speedrace
And you have haters?
A few... Hard to avoid while being a particularly active voter, particularly if refusing to trade votes.

Also if you put on a tinfoil hat to block my mind control beams, you'll realize I'm an alt for everyone you dislike (been accused of that so many times), and that I snuck into the government and deleted your freedom of speech (by deleting your vote; which makes no sense to me, doubly so given that I've never had vote deletion powers, and what happens on a privately owned website has nothing to do with the the government impeding your freedoms). ... If you switch accounts, I prove that I'm gang-stalking you by pretending to not know it's secretly you under the new user name. ... Oh just remembered a great one, I somehow altered objective reality to make you look bad, because objective reality and I are a pair of tyrants! lol