SFA Law subforum

One passion I hold dearly is legal debate, and it's a great experience for kids to come up with bills to solve issues, think critically about how it'd work and how it'd help, and to debate their bill's passing with other people.


What I suggest is a subforum under SFA where users can propose a mock bill that contains the stipulations of some new law. Their OP would contain opening statements and would sum up the bills intent, then people reply with their thoughts. Why it could help, why it'd be a disaster, how it could impact whatever country it's proposed for (assuming you're figuratively representing a democracy government). After a bill has been debated to shit, users can move to voting and if it passes, it would be logged in a forum sticky.


Just wondering what you think. It would be a fun passtime for avid SFA users who'd like to show off their debating skills, and flaunt their amount of passed bills.

 

This could prove fun.

 

I certainly think so too!

 

I really like this idea! Support!

Being on the debate team was probably my favorite high school experience.

 

I support this, but I am just wondering how you would do the voting system? Because you couldn't let just anyone come in and vote on the bill because the throws off the actual purpose of debating it.

 

Yaman, Youth and Government was my favorite highschool program EVER. They'd let us take over our state capitol for a week and we pretend to be real representatives and senators 'n shit, and we elect a youth governor and a bunch of other officers. It's all super legit and realistic, it's AWESOME.

 

Hmmm. This is a very interesting idea actually, and sounds like it would be alot of fun. If there were enough users who seemed interested then maybe this suggestion would actually get put into action.

If this suggestion passed, it would be cool to see some kind of "rank" system that shows off your debating skills that you could put by your name or something. For example:

- "Skills to pass the bills"
- "Master 'bater" or "Master debater"

I think it could become quite popular. Good idea!

 

Sounds like it'd be fun.

 

Yeah, we had a program called Coed HiYi but it was mostly just rich, stuck up kids who did it so I was kinda like screw that. I am fairly certain my friends and I had more interesting and philosophical debates at the lunch table anyways. It sucks being a leftist in a red state.

 

This program is a little less stuffy because the YMCA which these kids come from usually help sponsor their trip, and gracious people allow us to use their homes for free to sleep at, so less fortunate people get to go also. Our YMCA pays for all but 60 dollars for all kids willing to participate, so we have a pretty large delegation. It's a WONDERFUL opportunity.

 

This is an awesome idea though, I would love to help anyway I could with getting it off the ground. I am going into Law (Going to law school with in the next couple of years hopefully) so a little more debate experience should help.

 

I like the idea. I would participate. The one thing you must consider though is that we have many immature users who might ruin it.

 

Who will receive forum bans, just as they would if they tried to ruin SFA debate topics

 

I'm a little iffy on how much activity it would get.

 

It would be a chore to convince people it'd worth the time, but once enough people get into it, it'd be a really good program for anyone to participate in. The faster paced it becomes, the more intrigue it'll reel in, and the more people will want to participate

 

This is why I think you should consider some kind of "reward" or "rank" system for people who successfully debate their topic to the end, and get a bill passed or whatever it is they do. If you had little icons you could earn or something like that to show off your debating skills, it might be a good incentive to other users throughout the forums to pop on by and hop in the debate themselves.

 

Administrators won't agree to creating whole new ranks for something so irrelevant to the forum's focus (there isn't even mod rank images for some of the forums, I.E. minecraft forum)

As of now, the best to be offered to people who successfully pass bills would be recognition in a roster which would be stickied in the bill debate forum.

tbh if people need a reward for participating other than the satisfaction of successfully passing a bill and winning a debate, then they wouldn't be ideal users I'd like to use this potential forum.

 

An actual rank icon was just an idea I pulled out of the air and not set in stone, it doesn't have to actually be something like that at all. I figured that probably wouldn't fly anyways, considering it is too close to the symbols that mods have and could easily confuse newcomers or cause other potential problems.

A roster would be fine too. I don't think you need to worry so much about the type of people that will be attracted to this potential forum if you decide to create more of a fun and friendly environment by offering a little competition..

The "reward" isn't the point at all - it is merely an idea to possibly help with the lack of interest that this type of forum would surely suffer from in the beginning. An idea like this is unlikely to be supported if the rest of the staff feel that it would not be very popular and would generate very little interest among Sythe users. If you want the idea to be successful, it might be smart to try and think of some ways to make the whole concept alot more attractive to the average person. Hence, the idea of a little friendly competion, which would create an atmosphere of fun and may attract more users.

 

It's a nice idea, the only concern is whether it will generate enough activity. That however is a non-issue with regards to implementation as if it doesn't generated the required activity, it's not a hassle to delete the sub-forum, and, I don't think it's all that hard to create one.

 

AdminCP > create new forum > Name "Legal Debate" > Parent set to "Something For All" > ???? > profit > elseif no activity > then > delete forum "Legal Debate" > end if.