Howdy, homies!
It's been about half a year since I logged onto this site. I apologize to all the opponents whom I forfeit my debates with; it was not respectful of my opponent's time/effort and I accepted the debate upon the assumption that I would see the debate through barring any extenuating circumstances. Nonetheless, I hope you all have been doing well since I've last talked to you all.
I left for a few reasons, but they all contributed to a simple fact: I was mad.
- At the time I made the decision to leave, half of my debates were accepted by a brand new account that either immediately forfeit or presented an argument that was so self-evidently fallacious that it was insulting. I put a lot of effort into the debates I did, and to see that effort being awarded a metaphorical slap in the face made me not want to participate at all.
- I had 3-5 debates at the time I decided to leave that were in or had finished the voting process. 3 of those 5 were forfeits where I won by default. 1 of the 5 (the one regarding social media checks) had a single vote against me that seemed to me, at least at the time, like it made absolutely no sense. The last of the 5 (the one regarding FPTP voting) had 2 votes and was tied, and one of the votes also seemed to make no sense at all, seemed to flagrantly ignore all rebuttals I made, and seemed to just ignore the entire point of the resolution. I won't name names, and I'm also not trying to say they're an idiot or they were wrong or anything, I'm just saying that nobody likes to lose for what they perceive to be an unfair reason. This site does not have enough voters for the law of big numbers to apply, so a single voter making an unreasonable vote can sway a debate's vote, especially in situations where said voter is the only voter.
- I've had some very good debates on this site, but I have had some questionable ones as well. My first debate involved Wylted literally using slurs during his intro and then forfeiting after I spent a week crafting my first speech. Another one of my debates involved Fruit_Inspector presenting a single case where my arguments did not apply and trying to claim victory in a debate with a resolution I specifically said was a general resolution. In another one of my debates, and I won't specify which because I think they were being fully reasonable and I was just babyraging, constantly claimed I had some logical flaw in my case that I either did not understand or simply felt didn't exist.
It was for all of these things combined that I decided the time I was investing in DART was not being respected. And I do want to emphasize that I was being a baby and I got mad that I wasn't winning or was not being given the treatment I believed I deserved. Even if I 'should' have won, it doesn't matter. I debate for fun, and it's not like the results count for anything other than a d*ck measuring contest. Even if the time I was putting into debates was being rewarded with forfeits or non-sequitur arguments, I should have just used it as practice and been proud of making a good case regardless of my opponents. That is the philosophy I will be following moving forward.
I might not be as active anymore since I'm very busy, but I'm glad to be back, and I hope you guys are glad I'm back as well! I hope this site continues to thrive well into the future, because, without it, I wouldn't be able to have fun, well-researched debates online as I have on here.