I am going to take some liberties in talking about oromagi's singular debate loss, as I feel somewhat responsible for turning the tide against his win by voting against his arguments. The debate was https://www.debateart.com/debates/2564-thbt-wikipedia-is-a-more-reliable-source-for-information-than-fox-news. with Fruit-Inspector. I won't raise the debate discussion; that is immaterial to my commentary here.
First, let me assure that I highly respect oromagi for his debate skill. I call him relentless, and he is a formidable opponent from whom I have learned much. We disagree on much that is discussed here, and that's ok; I still consider him a friend.
oromagi represented my first debate loss, of which I have nine, at present, of 49 current completed debates iin my 10 months of membership. That loss had nothing to do with my vote RFD in his debate noted above. I never expected to have an unbeaten record, so although first, it was just another loss. Our debate was a brilliant stroke on his part.
The above debate, not so much, and the purpose of this post is to equate it to a series of chess matches I once had with my oldest brother, who is now in the long beyond. My brother was a master chess player, able to play multiple matches simultaneously, and almost always won. His IQ approached 170. He taught me how to play when I was 5 [he, 13] I never, ever beat him until I was 16, but I considered the win flawed because our mother constantly interrupted his play, but he was too honorable to complain. I won by her distraction, so I don't count it. 2 years later, in an uninterrupted match, I played him to a draw. I saw the possibility four moves in advance. Once seeing it, it was utterly dependent on his making moves that would not deter the outcome. He didn't see it until my last, decisive move that trapped his king in the one safe square on the board, and with no other moves of other pieces available. When he saw it, and realized what my move meant, tears came to his eyes and said, "Well done. Did you see it before you made it happen?" "I did, four moves ago," i said. "Very well done," he replied. He was very proud of me. However, he and I never played another match but that he turned from the table, never seeing his or my moves. The matches were played entirely out of his head while I played looking at the board. I never beat him again.
That is how I feel about oromagi's debate play, and his being distracted, I think, on his one loss. "Well done, oromagi."
