Edeb8 Debate Theory vs DDO Debate Theory

I noticed that edeb8 is mainly a result of immigration from DDO. Different specialty sites always develop different theories, and since DDO was the first, I feel it had a hard start developing its theory. The problem is that users are still coming in from DDO establishing debates and making judgements as if we are on DDO. I'm not a fan of DDO, because the administrator created a lot of this site with "professional" in mind, and DDO isn't exactly comparable to "professional".

Here's a summary of popular aspects of debate theory on DDO.
- Extremely high emphasis placed on burden of proof
- More focus on delivering evidence over delivering convincing speeches
- Judgements weigh out who is right as the winner
- Rarely any opening speeches
- Many rounds are lists of arguments and lists of rebuttals
- Debate topics are usually opinion, troll, or true fact related

Those are the main differences I see. Are there any more? Are the aspects of DDO theory we should turn away? What image is edeb8 trying to promote? Are we a "do your own thing" kind of site, or are we trying to appeal to debate connoisseurs? Professional debaters? High school debate teams? What is our target audience? How do we attract them? Do we have a clear identity?

What's our debate theory?

I personally would like this site to target high school and college debate teams. Many schools offer debate classes. I feel if debate teachers knew of our sites existence...

IMPO, the forums are kind of our ruin. If I had my way, the only threads would be "edeb8, community, debate theory (because we need a debate discussion thread), and debate topics". Games should be moved to groups. This also isn't a political forum. We should remove the other threads.

Because we're trying to be a professional debate site while also trying to be a "one size fits all" site.
Sizing down and putting more focus just into the debate aspect of the site is really what we need.
Said this many times. Strip down features and focus solely on our greatest assets.

Blackflag: Here's my view, though of course I take the wants of the community pretty seriously too.

- I think edeb8 has a much greater emphasis on improvement than other debate sites, both as a debater and as a judge.
- Edeb8 also has a greater focus on co-operation. We don't have much drama and we have groups and teams etc.
- Edeb8 encourages you to debate in several different styles mimicking real-life school and college level debate.
- Topics most frequently come from the random topic list.

I'm pretty clear about our identity. Debate comes FIRST, but that doesn't mean the other stuff is neglected. You may have noticed that debate features are implemented much faster than non-debate features, for example. Our target audience really are people who think they might enjoy serious debate, and people who already do enjoy it and are looking to further their passion online. Edeb8's niche is that we provide them with a unique experience that's ahead of all the other debate sites in terms of encouraging them to actually debate and develop. Pros and high school teams are awesome too but I don't think casting the net slightly wider is illegitimate.

It's like chess websites - the core feature of most chess websites is playing chess, so that tends to be their focus. But that doesn't mean they can't have articles, social features, rankings etc. If a grandmaster wants to play on the site that's awesome, but chess sites do not limit themselves to only attracting grandmasters.

I think edeb8 has a much greater emphasis on improvement than other debate sites, both as a debater and as a judge.
Agreed. How can we evolve and improve this?

Edeb8 also has a greater focus on co-operation. We don't have much drama and we have groups and teams etc.
The teams help, but the community infrastructure may be a bit fragile.

Edeb8 encourages you to debate in several different styles mimicking real-life school and college level debate.
Agreed. There are many forms of debate we can start to include once we establish a proven product. Which I think we have done for the most part.

Our target audience really are people who think they might enjoy serious debate, and people who already do enjoy it and are looking to further their passion online
The other aspects of the site may turn away those serious debaters. We are kind of one sock fits all. I would slash and burn. Focus solely on serious debating while eliminating social features, and consider adding the as the right community grows.