There are/were many interesting people on this site

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#1
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One thing I've noticed about dart is that it's always been home to a lot of unique people, both in terms of their personality and systems of belief. 

People on this site tend to have very strong personalities and a lot of them just radiate confidence to the point where it seems like they are certain that they have it all figured out. This is especially conspicuous when you consider that a lot of them have views that are diametrically opposed to one another. I have never been good at projecting confidence and tend to think that self-assuredness conveys some degree of ignorance, but nonetheless it's much more interesting to speak to people who are absolutely sure about these complex views about the world than just speaking to your average joe. Everyone is different, too, in some way or another. Even the trolls tended to share that conviction, not necessarily in favor of any particular side but just in their unwavering desire to watch the world burn. 

As for the belief systems themselves a lot of them are normal if not trending towards the extreme a little bit, but also an outsized number came on here holding views that are bizarre, pattern-based, and sometimes even a little disturbed. All of these things I've been talking about are why that personality thread RM made last year got so successful, because it's really not hard to understand some aspects of people here just by looking at their forum posts and debates. Obviously, there are normal people too but normalcy actually is a little abnormal here. 

I wonder if debate websites naturally attract these eccentric kinds of people or if online forums do more broadly, though I haven't actually been to too many online forums besides this so I'm not sure. Obviously a debate website probably selects for people with strong opinions. I imagine though that most people are pretty interesting when they're allowed to slip off their IRL identities and just take up a new persona.

I just thought I'd point this out, more as a positive observation than anything else, and see other people's thoughts. This isn't me being snobby and trying to act like I'm much more normal than everyone else. In fact, I don't think I would consider myself very normal at all. For me this website has been a formative experience where I can share my learning and purge all these juvenile beliefs that I've now outgrown into the outside world. I'm much more agnostic now, on everything. 

Edit: Obviously things might've changed since it's been a while since I actively contribute here, but. Yeah. 
#2
RationalMadman
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I never related to very humble people. I relate to quiet people at times who are quietly arrogant and cocky but never to people far on the humble end of the spectrum.

I can be humble in environments I am shit at ofc but that is because of how certain I am that it is a weakness.

I know what I am sure of and what I am unsure of and work hard to be sure of as many things as is reasonable. So, if you wonder why somebody like myself is not unsure of himself, it is because I know precisely what I am unsure of and only act humble or nervous around the topics I know I suck at.

What you are seeing is people who stick to their niches and debate well enough within them, naturally they seem very sure of themselves. However, look at some of the better debaters in a Mafia game environment and you will see the awkwardness and social either shyness or abrasiveness that you would more commonly expect (whether they are sure of themselves or not).

You do not see every member in every subforum or debating every topic genre. There is a reason for that. It is easy to hide insecurity when you are not thrusted into what you are not sure of and are able to type without revealing tone, a nervous stammer or body language.
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#3
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@RationalMadman
That's a very good point. But I'd say that there are probably significant amounts of people who never project an air of confidence or knowledge on any topic regardless of how much they know. Humble people like you say.  On this site it's easy to find people who give off that vibe, maybe because people who not only debate but also go somewhere for the purpose of debating are more confident. 

#4
ADreamOfLiberty
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@Username
Debate is exactly what you should be doing if you're confident because either you are deluding yourself and need some help destroying the delusion or you're right and the best way to assure that is again to expose your arguments to debunking.

People who aren't confident (and that goes with a context, confident in their arguments and conclusions) don't have anything that needs proving, they need to learn and think before they are ready to debate.

Now of course some people just like conflict and this has nothing to do with debate, that's annoying.
#5
oromagi
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radiate confidence to the point where it seems like they are certain that they have it all figured out.
This is an important debate tactic.   I think it would be a mistake to assume our "debate voice"  reflects our personality.  In fact, I think it would be a mistake to assume that anything written anonymously on a website reflects actual personality.  
#6
Polytheist-Witch
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There's a lot of trolls on this site.
#7
ILikePie5
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@Polytheist-Witch
There's a lot of trolls on this site.
Trolls make the site fun
#8
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@ILikePie5
No they don't. 
#9
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@Polytheist-Witch
No they don't. 
Can’t always be serious in life
#10
zedvictor4
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If what constitutes a "Troll", is someone that doesn't agree with another persons  every whacky or illogical word, or all atheists.....Then you will find Trolls everywhere.

As far as I am concerned a "Troll" is a creature of Scandinavian folklore.

I therefore would have expected a certain person to be heavily into worshiping Trolls this weekend.
#11
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@zedvictor4
I like grumpy old trolls who live under a bridge
#12
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@ILikePie5
Good morning Mr Pie.

I too like old grumpy underbridge trolls.

And I also like pies.
#13
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@zedvictor4
And I also like pies.
Me too!!!
#14
Polytheist-Witch
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@ILikePie5
Trolls aren't funny unless you're a  troll too. People can be entertaining without being pricks. You basically support people being called pedophiles, comments being made about people's children in a pedophilic way and you support sexual comments made to the female members of the website. You believe the trolls are entertaining, then you support all of that and then you shouldn't bother with the MEEP.
#15
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@Username
Debating not only requires confidence, but I would argue that it inherently leads to confidence. When I joined debate club in 9th grade, I was VERY bad at public speaking. I have autism as well, so back then I was still trying to figure out how to act properly in social situations with people who were adults (sometimes it's hard to keep in mind that 9th graders are still literally children).

By 12th grade, me and my partner were going to provincial tournaments and scoring as the best team in Peel (a region near Toronto that encompasses several million people). I've had success in public speaking outside of debate through streaming and other events, and that public speaking is a direct result of learning the skill from debate. It wasn't that my public speaking skills and confidence led me to debate, it's that if I wanted to be good at debating, it necessarily required that I be capable of having those skills for at least a dozen minutes or so at a time.

This is why I think formal debating is such an important skill. It not only teaches logical reasoning, but it gives you the ability to put yourself out there with the confidence that, even if your opponent is smart as hell and vehemently disagrees with you, you can still come out on top. It gives you the ability to say that you both might be right, especially considering there's a good chance you're arguing for a position you don't agree with. Debaters then have a much greater ability to assure themselves that they can put themselves out there in many situations, whether that be business or their personal lives.

Those drawn to debate, like myself, are those who don't want to fit in and want to disagree for the sake of better understanding, reaching a compromise, or just being right. Those people will unavoidably lean towards having personalities and lifestyles that likewise don't fit in.
#16
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@Username
For me this website has been a formative experience where I can share my learning and purge all these juvenile beliefs that I've now outgrown into the outside world. I'm much more agnostic now, on everything. 
well stated
#17
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@Polytheist-Witch
everyone who disagrees with you is either, disingenuous, intellectually and or morally blind, purely and irrevocably dense, or pure evilz

or a troll
#18
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@oromagi
In fact, I think it would be a mistake to assume that anything written anonymously on a website reflects actual personality.  
doesn't the ring of gyges reveal one's "true-nature" ?
#19
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@Username
I wonder if debate websites naturally attract these eccentric kinds of people
the ENTP enjoys challenging established ideas and also enjoys having their ideas challenged
#20
Polytheist-Witch
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@3RU7AL
Didn't say a goddamn thing about any of that. Obviously you agree with the trolls who say those kind of things to me and that's fine because I'm used to The Swinging Dicks here being a little club. They're insulting to all the women that post here which by the way is basically two of us at this point and at the total max probably about 6, there's a reason for that which I'm sure you all will talk up to women being dumb f****** assholes.But what you think doesn't matter because unlike the rest of you I don't come to a debate forum or any forum on the internet to better myself. I do that in my real life.
#21
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Obviously you agree with the trolls
nope

i make a very specific point to avoid engaging in ad hominem attacks
#22
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@Polytheist-Witch
You basically support people being called pedophiles, comments being made about people's children in a pedophilic way and you support sexual comments made to the female members of the website.
Would I be a troll?  I don't think I called anyone here a pedophile.
#23
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@Nyxified
that was a great post.
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#24
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@Nyxified
I do formal debate as well. Though I agree that it requires confidence within an actual round, I've never found much confidence in any kind of worldview through debate and I'm sure many people graduate feeling the same uncertainty that I do. Really I think debate has done something closer to the inverse; it's given me an appreciation for the complexity of the issues and shown how much they eclipse the grasp of common sense and partisan bickering. Ultimately the only way you can come to a greater understanding is to get your hands dirty arguing for one side or the other and, maybe more importantly, researching. 

I agree though with you that debating seriously tends not to be something that people "who want to fit in" do. They usually show much more depth in their understanding of moral philosophy or policy. Though you could counter that anyone can just hop on this website and start arguing no matter who they are,  even the impulse to do so has a filter attached to it. 
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@oromagi
This is an important debate tactic.   I think it would be a mistake to assume our "debate voice"  reflects our personality. 
I'm more talking about the forums then an actual debate, maybe I should've clarified. But I guess debate tactics are probably also used on the forums considering that people are generally fearful about admitting defeat. 
#26
oromagi
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But I guess debate tactics are probably also used on the forums 
assuredly so.
#27
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There always will be as long as this site lasts.

14 days later

#28
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I do like DART a lot. It’s a great site