Taking it seriously

[HLGStrider]

A charge leveled at me recently stated I didn't take the judging of a guild debate "seriously enough." This is debateable, and I admit a weakness in not taking most things seriously enough. . .then that debate broke into a quarrel over judging. One member called another member very nasty names. That member responded in a surly manner. The mods closed the thread.

Seems that was taken pretty seriously. I also know that when giving me some advice about my judging, another member listed two members he said would "tear me apart" for judging the way I had. . .so is this usual? This tearing people apart over judging methods?

Are these debates really life and death? Do they matter THAT much? Too me, they don't. I admit it. I don't take the debates that seriously. However, I try to take the people within the debates, and without, seriously. The debates have to me minimal value when compared to the members. . .all members. No member has more value than another.

If we are willing to tear each other apart over these debates, then it seems we must take them pretty seriously. More seriously than we do each other. . .

I'll hazard a remark that we take them too seriously.
Will the forum fall apart if someone makes a faulty judgement? No.
Will the forum fall apart if someone makes a flippant judgement? No.
Will the forum fall apart if someone dislikes the way someone else judged? No.
Will the forum fall apart if we all start calling each other names? I don't know, but I'm not willing to take the risk.

So, how seriously do you take the debates?

Now, this thread COULD turn into a thread that needs to be closed. . .if we take it too seriously, perhaps? Or if we don't, perhaps?

Don't let it happen. We can think. We can take each other seriously.

Let's try it.

[Nóm]

There are very few who have given judges trouble. And I know at least some of us are disgusted by them doing so.


I think a lot of people do take the judgements pretty seriously. I don't see any harm in that really. All I know is that it annoys the heck out of me when I see someone continue to give judges a hard time, or try to change the way the judge voted. I mean, if someone is a poor judge... why care who they voted for? Why value their judgement if you disagree with the criteria?

Someone was unhappy with the way I judge, yet they didn't ever tell me this until my vote against their guild caused them to lose the round... so it does make one wonder: Does this person really have some suggestions for how people might judge, or do they just want to win so badly they'll be a jerk about it? Another thing to make one wonder is the fact that someone does this in a judgement thread rather than starting a general thread to discuss which criterias people use for judging... and asking for others' opinions on those criteria.

I'll add that I think the host is ultimately responsible for the quality of the judgements. Hosts are to pick people who they deem are good judges or who would make good judges.


My idea of a good judge is just this: Someone who knows the material well enough, who will actually read the debate closely, and who I trust to vote for the team they honestly think won, and will give their reasoning for their vote.

But the tournament is over, I think? Personaly I am glad, and will not be in the next one. Next time guilds want to beat eachother why not have an essay contest.

[Gil-Galad]

I have been offline for some time (I am on my vacation now)and now,being online for 20 minutes I already have an awful headache "thanks to'" all these problems.
Things should be changed.

[baragund]

Elgee, this might explain the reaction of some of the more competitive participants of the tournament:

Many of the participants put a lot of effort into the debates...researching the books for material, preparing drafts of their posts, circulating to the other team members for review and comment, strategizing responses to the opposing teams posts, and so on. So much time and energy is invested that the participants could feel slighted if they feel the judge didn't give the debate the consideration it was due.

No, you don’t have to approach judging like it is some solemn duty, like a Supreme Court decision. Yes, there should be plenty of room for levity and friendly ribbing (I wish there was more of it). The key for the judges is to convey that they read the debate, they understand it (more or less), and that they put a reasonable amount of thought into their judgments.

Hope that helps.

[Scatha]

A good point Baragund, tho it must be said that 'reasonable' is different to each debator, but also to those that judge.

The key issue is that we should all be a little more polite to eachother, before flying off the handle at eachother. We all are members of this board and should learn to get along and respect the point of view of others a little more.

I have seen to many people charging off headlong into 'battle', without even a shred of common curtesy, because their method of judging was below the standard that was expected of them. I personally do not like this trend, nor would I except it from anyone within the Guild I represent.

The tournament is a game, thus should be treated as such, even though we spend a lot of work on it. The fact remains that not everyone has the same amount of time to do this. We should be thankful for those that judge, spending their time on our posts and debates, as they too have their own things to do.

Everyone should consider that these judges and hosts are doing this for our pleasure, not necessary for their own enjoyment. This is a key element we should all bear in mind, as without those willing to host and judge, there would be no debating tournament.

This tournament that gave many of us a lot of fun, might not be taking place again, if the mods need to step in all the time. At that point, it becomes a liability to the atmosphere on the boards in general, thus will be shut down.

*my $0.02*